Proverbs & Sayings about Sincerity
Better an honest slap in the face than an insincere kiss. ~ Yiddish Proverb
A hundred “no’s” are less painful than one insincere “yes.” ~ Chinese Proverb
To act sincerely with the insincere is dangerous. ~ Taoist Proverb
Sayings by Unknown
Sincerity is not to say everything you think but to mean everything you say.
Sincerity is an expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.
Sincerity gives wings to power.
Fundamental sincerity is the only proper basis for forming a relationship.
We are very apt to measure ourselves by our aspiration instead of our performance. But in truth the conduct of our lives is the only proof of the sincerity of our hearts.
Quotations about Sincerity
Sincerity doesn’t mean anything. A person can be sincere and be more destructive than a person who is insincere. ~ Edward Albee
Faithfulness and sincerity first of all. ~ Confucius
I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth. ~ Henry David Thoreau
The tongue of the sincere is rooted in his heart; hypocrisy and deceit have no place in his words. ~ Robert Dodsley
The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity. ~ Thomas Carlyle
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Nothing is less sincere than the act of asking and giving advice. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
A habit of sincerity in acknowledging faults is a guard against committing them. ~ Goold Brown
Those that vow the most are the least sincere. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Sincerity is to speak as we think, to do as we pretend and profess, to perform and make good what we promise, and really to be what we would seem and appear to be. ~ John Tillotson
Always be sincere, even when you don’t mean it. ~ Irene Peter
Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character. ~ James Russell Lowell
Sincerity: if you can fake it, you’ve got it made. ~ Daniel Schorr
As her technique became sounder, sincerity became less necessary. ~ Thornton Wilder
Sincerity is the highest compliment you can pay. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sincerity is not a spontaneous flower nor is modesty either. ~ Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
Everyone says he’s sincere, but everyone isn’t sincere. If everyone was sincere who says he’s sincere, there wouldn’t be half so many insincere ones in the world and there would be lots, lots, lots more really sincere ones! ~ Tennessee Williams
Sincerity and honesty carry one through many difficulties which all the arts he can invent would never help him through. ~ Benjamin Stillingfleet
I would replace the quality of sincerity with honesty, since one can hold a conviction sincerely without examining it, while honesty would require that one subject one’s convictions to frequent scrutiny. ~ Christopher Phillips
Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts, and you will see something quite new. You must go on trying to be sincere. Each day you put on a mask, and you must take it off little by little. ~ G. I. Gurdjieff
Sincerity is the face of the soul, as dissimulation is the mask. ~ Joseph Sanial-Dubay
Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength. ~ George Henry Lewes
Teach French and un-teach sincerity. ~ Leo Tolstoy
A silent address is the genuine eloquence of sincerity. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
Sincerity is an openness of heart that is found in very few people. What we usually see is only an artful disguise people put on to win the confidence of others. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Sincerity and plain dealing are conducive to the interest of mankind at large because they afford that ground of confidence and reasonable expectation which are essential to wisdom and virtue. ~ W. Godwin
Sincerity is the way of heaven. ~ Confucius
Nothing is more disgraceful than insincerity. ~ Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
Sincerity is the most compendious wisdom. ~ Philip Dormer Stanhope
Weak people cannot be sincere. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Sincerity is always subject to proof. ~ John F. Kennedy
One who is very variable cannot be very sincere; today’s truth is tomorrow’s falsehood. ~ Madame Swetchine
Sincerity does not and cannot substitute for truth. ~ Jimmy Pritchard
Sincerity may be humble, but she cannot be servile. ~ Lord Byron
Sincerity is like traveling on a plain, beaten road, which commonly brings a man sooner to his journey’s end than by-ways, in which men often lose themselves. ~ John Tillotson
Where there is the greatest sincerity, there is the greatest humility; and where the least truth, there is the greatest pride. ~ Asen Nicholson
If I’m sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow? ~ José Saramago
What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
Of all the evil spirits abroad at his hour in the world, insincerity is the most dangerous. ~ James Anthony Froude,
Even when exercising their greatest duplicity, women are always sincere because they are yielding to some natural feeling. ~ Honore de Balzac
Be sincere; be brief; be seated. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere. ~ John Coltrane
Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people’s hearts. ~ Lao Tzu
Sincerity is the parent of truth. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
An inward sincerity will of course influence the outward deportment; but where the one is wanting, there is great reason to suspect the absence of the other. ~ Laurence Sterne
Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue. ~ Confucius
The great man fights the elements in his time that hinder his own greatness, in other words his own freedom and sincerity. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Sincere deeds invite new friends. ~ Toba Beta
Bashful sincerity and comely love. ~ William Shakespeare
However we distrust the sincerity of those whom we talk with, we always believe them more sincere with us than with others. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Insincerity in a man’s own heart must make all his enjoyments, all that concerns him, unreal; so that his whole life must seem like a merely dramatic representation. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. ~ Confucius
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. ~ Oscar Wilde
Private sincerity is a public welfare. ~ Cyrus Augustus Bartol
Sincerity increases willingness to care. ~ Toba Beta
Loss of sincerity is loss of vital power. ~ Christian Nestell Bovee,
Frank sincerity, though no invited guest, is free to all, and brings his welcome with him. ~ William Havard
To be sincere means to be the same person when one is with oneself; that is to say, alone — but that is all it means. ~ Paul Valery
There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination. ~ Mencius
The way I see it, it doesn’t matter what you believe just so you’re sincere. ~ Charles M. Schulz
I should say sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic. ~ Thomas Carlyle
My chief talent is to be frank and sincere. ~ Molère
There should be more sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked. ~ Anton Chekhov
We are to give in sincerity, not to make a show of our good deeds. Sincerity of purpose, real kindness of heart, is the motive that heaven values. ~ Maxine Biome
Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank. Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Better is the wrong with sincerity, rather than the right with falsehood. ~ Martin Farquhar Tupper
Insincerity is merely a method by which we can multiply our personalities. ~ Oscar Wilde
It is best to be yourself, imperial, plain and true. ~ Robert Browning
Sincerity is the way of heaven; to think how to be sincere is the way of man. ~ Mencius
The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh