Proverb - Honesty Is The Best Policy
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| Proverb - Honesty Is The Best Policy |
Meaning
The proverb 'Honesty is the best policy' teaches that it is always better to tell the truth than to lie to avoid an unwanted situation. Honesty is an attitude, a way of life, in which a person takes a vow that he will never lie under any circumstances and will not indulge in any kind of deadly activities. On the other hand, there are some people out there who do not hesitate to lie and fabricate things for momentary gain.
But one thing is very clear, that lie might get you some benefit, but only for a certain period of time. The comfort is temporary and of course the truth has to come out, but it will only get more intense with time. Hence, this proverb teaches us to stick with 'Truth' and avoid 'Lies' no matter what the situation.
Example
Example is the best way to understand the true meaning of any proverb. Keeping this in mind, I have come up with some recent examples based on the proverb 'Honesty is the best policy' which will help you understand this proverb better.
“At the entrance of a multinational company, there was a poster which read – Honesty is the best policy.”
“Screaming at Rahul, the doctor said – why didn't you tell me before doing the treatment? You have made your illness worse! Maybe you should know that honesty is the best policy."
“An honest employee will be duly rewarded in due time; Maybe honesty is the best policy."
"Millions trusted Mahatma Gandhi simply because he always carried with him 'honesty is the best policy'."
“I don't want to get stuck in this embarrassing situation, although later, I realized that honesty is the best policy.”
Origin
The saying 'honesty is the best policy' was first used by the English politician and entrepreneur, Sir Edwin Sandys. He was in the House of Commons several times between the years 1589 and 1626.
He used this proverb in a treaty written for the religious city of Europe. This treatise was named Europa Speculum and was published in 1605 as 'Regarding the State of Religion in Europe'. The book was reprinted at The Hague in 1629
Since then this proverb – 'Honesty is the best policy', became famous all over the world and is being used in full swing among everyone today.
Expansion of idea
In this saying 'honesty is the best policy' - where honesty does not only mean being truthful to yourself and others, but also being honest in your everyday conduct. This means that if you are an employee working for someone, you should be honest with your work. You should stay clean and away from forgery and corrupt practices.
There is a reason why this proverb tells you to be honest. If you are not, you may face even more difficult and embarrassing situations later. A lie you tell to avoid a situation forces you to create a web of lies around you and eventually one day you have to pay for it. To cover up a lie, one has to tell another lie and then another lie after that. On the other hand, the truth will eventually come out, from which there is no escape.
Importance
This is a very important proverb which saves us from getting into big trouble in our personal and professional life if we follow what it says.
If you are honest in your personal and professional life, you face many troubles, but in the end, you will be happy and satisfied. People, friends, loved ones, co-workers all trust you and believe you.
On the other hand, if you lie about anything, there is always the fear of the truth coming out, which follows you all the time, even in your sleep. It is such a heavy feeling that it becomes a burden on your head, which you want to remove, but regret are unable to do so. No matter how hard you try, the truth can never be hidden, it can only be delayed. This time when the truth comes out, you lose the trust of everyone you know.
Short stories on 'Honesty is the best policy'
As I have been telling earlier also that story is a better medium to understand the moral quality of a proverb. Today I have brought some stories for you so that you can better understand the meaning of the proverb 'Honesty is the best policy'.
short story
Once there lived a king in India whose name was Krishna Dev Rai. Their king was very rich and everyone there was happy and prosperous. One day, one of his courtiers suggested that he needed an honest person to handle his royal treasury. It was a task to find an honest person in this big state. The big question was, how would he do it? One of the clever courtiers of the king, named Tenaliram, came up with a wise plan. He suggested that they leave a pot of gold at several places in the city, in the darkness of the night, and announce the next morning that whoever returned the lost pot would be praised by the king himself. He was of the view that the person, who returns the pot of gold just to be praised by the king, must be honest indeed.
The king gets ready, the soldiers place five pots of gold, in different parts of the city, in the darkness of the night. The next morning an announcement is made in the city and many anxiously await the return of the honest man with the pot of gold. Four of the five utensils were not returned, because the person who received them was not honest enough to return the luck that came to his hand. Then a weak, poor farmer comes walking to the king's court and returns that pot of gold to the king. The king is pleased to see the honesty of that farmer and immediately makes him the manager of the royal treasury. The poor farmer showed the whole world that, indeed, honesty is the best policy.
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short story
There was a boy whose name was Ankit. He was a very hardworking student and his teachers also loved him very much. He was also known for always speaking the truth no matter what.
One day, the exams arrived, and just before the distribution of the question paper, it so happened that Ankit was revising important topics from his book. Suddenly the bell rang and in haste he forgot to keep the marked book under his desk.
When the exam was about to end, Ankit suddenly realized that there was a book under his desk. As soon as he came to know about this, he felt very guilty, he called the examiner and informed about the whole situation. The examiner was furious, but also surprised to think that if Ankit had other intentions, he would not have told him about the book.
However, the examiner took Ankit to the principal, who knew Ankit very well. The principal listened patiently to Ankit and then surprisingly, he let him go without giving any punishment.
Perhaps, the Principal knew very well that Ankit is an honest student and honesty is the best policy.
