This over-politick‥order may reach a note higher than our grosse conceipts, who think honestie the best policie.
[1605 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum K3]
I'll filch no filching;—and I'll tell no lye; Honesty's the best policy,—say I.
[a 1763 J. Byrom Poems (1773) I. 75]
‘Honesty is the best policy’; but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man.
[1854 R. Whately Detached Thoughts ii. xviii.]
It had been in their systems just as the proverb ‘Honesty is the best policy’ was in that of the private banking which then obtained.
[1928 J. Galsworthy Swan Song vi.]
It is not a phrase I'm particularly fond of, for it endorses a virtue not for itself but for practical reasons, yet it bears repeating: Honesty is still the best policy.
[2001 Washington Times 17 July A18]
Related to: conduct; honesty and dishonesty
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
