40 Integrity Quotes

Integrity is a fundamental virtue that underpins trust, fosters authentic relationships, and guides individuals in making principled decisions. In a world where honesty and moral character often come into question, the wisdom of great thinkers and leaders can serve as a beacon of light. In this blog post, we've curated a collection of the top 40 integrity quotes that encapsulate the essence of living with unwavering honesty and ethical fortitude. Whether you're seeking inspiration for personal growth or looking to infuse your professional life with greater moral clarity, these quotes offer timeless insights that are sure to resonate. Join us in exploring the profound impact of integrity, as articulated through the words of some of the most respected voices throughout history.

1. “He is one of those who has had the wilderness for a pillow, and called a star his brother. Alone. But loneliness can be a communion.” - Dag Hammarskjöld

2. “Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.” - Barbara de Angelis

3. “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” - Lao Tzu

5. “The thought manifests the word;The word manifests the deed;The deed develops into habit;And habit hardens into character;So watch the thought and its ways with care,And let them spring forth from loveBorn out of compassion for all beings.As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.” - Dhammapada

6. “If you don't know where you are going,you'll end up someplace else.” - Yogi Berra

7. “In History, stagnant waters, whether they be stagnant waters of custom or those of despotism, harbour no life; life is dependent on the ripples created by a few eccentric individuals. In homage to that life and vitality, the community has to brave certain perils and must countenance a measure of heresy. One must live dangerously if one wants to live at all.” - Herbert Read

8. “Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” - George Eliot

9. “Be good to your work, your word, and your friend.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. “It's not a man's working hours that is important, it is how he spends his leisure time.” - Marilynne Robinson

11. “In a room wherepeople unanimously maintaina conspiracy of silence,one word of truthsounds like a pistol shot.” - Czesław Miłosz

12. “He caught a glimpse of that extraordinary faculty in man, that strange, altruistic, rare, and obstinate decency which will make writers or scientists maintain their truths at the risk of death. Eppur si muove, Galileo was to say; it moves all the same. They were to be in a position to burn him if he would go on with it, with his preposterous nonsense about the earth moving round the sun, but he was to continue with the sublime assertion because there was something which he valued more than himself. The Truth. To recognize and to acknowledge What Is. That was the thing which man could do, which his English could do, his beloved, his sleeping, his now defenceless English. They might be stupid, ferocious, unpolitical, almost hopeless. But here and there, oh so seldome, oh so rare, oh so glorious, there were those all the same who would face the rack, the executioner, and even utter extinction, in the cause of something greater than themselves. Truth, that strange thing, the jest of Pilate's. Many stupid young men had thought they were dying for it, and many would continue to die for it, perhaps for a thousand years. They did not have to be right about their truth, as Galileo was to be. It was enough that they, the few and martyred, should establish a greatness, a thing above the sum of all they ignorantly had.” - T.H. White

13. “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” - Warren Buffett

14. “I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.” - Henry James

15. “Justification for infidelity and dishonesty in all their manifestations lies in the marginal cost economics of “just this once.” - Clayton M. Christensen

16. “Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.” - Ayn Rand

17. “Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.” - James E. Faust

18. “I knew, as every peasant does, that land can never be truly owned. We are the keepers of the soil, the curators of trees.” - Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

19. “If you do politics the right way, I believe, you can actually make people's lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game.” - Joe Biden

20. “When people cheat in any arena, they diminish themselves-they threaten their own self-esteem and their relationships with others by undermining the trust they have in their ability to succeed and in their ability to be true.” - Cheryl Hughes

21. “Royse Bergon: "I've seen your integrity in action. It...widened my world. I'd been raised by my father, who is a prudent, cautious man, always looking for men's hidden, selfish motivations. No one can cheat him. But I've seen him cheat himself. If you understand what I mean."Caz: "Yes."R.B.: "It was very foolish of you to attack that vile Roknari galley-man."Caz: "Yes."R.B.: "And yet, I think, given the same circumstances you would do it again."Caz: "Knowing what I know now...it would be harder. But I would hope... I would pray, Royse, that the gods would still lend me such foolishness in my need."R.B: "What is this astonishing foolishness, that shines brighter than all my father's gold? Can you teach me to be such a fool, too, Caz?"Caz: "Oh," "I'm sure of it.” - Lois McMaster Bujold

22. “The armour of falsehood is subtly wrought out of darkness, and hides a man not only from others, but from his own soul.” - E.M. Forster

23. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” - Abraham Lincoln

24. “If it ever occurs to people to value the honour of the mind equally with the honour of the body, we shall get a social revolution of a quite unparalleled sort.” - Dorothy L. Sayers

25. “Good men don't become legends," he said quietly."Good men don't need to become legends." She opened her eyes, looking up at him. "They just do what's right anyway.” - Brandon Sanderson

26. “Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. ” - Will Rogers

27. “Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds.” - Alexandre Dumas

28. “However much we obfuscate or ignore it, we know that the factory farm is inhumane in the deepest sense of the word. And we know that there is something that matters in a deep way about the lives we create for the living beings most within our power. Our response to the factory farm is ultimately a test of how we respond to the powerless, to the most distant, to the voiceless--it is a test of how we act when no one is forcing us to act one way or another.” - Jonathan Safran Foer

29. “The one thing which seems to me quite impossible is to take into consideration the kind of book one is expected to write; surely one can only write the book that is there to be written.(Letter to Muriel St. Clare Byrne, 8 September 1935)” - Dorothy L. Sayers

30. “They all have excellent resumes... So what I’m trying to find out is how they will behave under pressure.” - Hyman G. Rickover

31. “[I]t is not by being richer or more powerful that a man becomes better; one is a matter of fortune, the other of virtue. Nor should she deem herself other than venal who weds a rich man rather than a poor, and desires more things in her husband than himself. Assuredly, whomsoever this concupiscence leads into marriage deserves payment rather than affection.” - Héloïse

32. “A few people of integrity can go a long way.” - Bill Kauth

33. “Would to God we were all Christians who profess to be Christians, and that we lived up to what we profess. Then would the Christian shine forth “clear as the sun, fair as the moon,” and what besides—why, “amazing as an army withbanners”! A consistent Church is an amazing Church—an honest, upright Church would shake the world! The tramp ofgodly men is the tramp of heroes; these are the thundering legions that sweep everything before them. The men that arewhat they profess to be, hate the semblance of a lie—whatever shape it wears—and would sooner die than do that which is dishonest, or that which would be degrading to the glory of a Heaven-born race, and to the honor of Him by whose name they have been called! O Christians! You will be the world’s contempt; you will be their despising, and hissing unless you live for one objective!” - Charles H. Spurgeon

34. “A wise woman knows when to stay silent. However, a wiser woman of faith knows that sometimes words can win the battle, when all odds stand against her.” - Shannon L. Alder

35. “Speak your truth with grace and integrity, even though it might upset some people. You never know who else, besides yourself, it might help.” - Leila Summers

36. “...Helen sipped peppermint schnapps and considered the world made of her design. My religion is keeping peace, she thought. It hadn't begun that way, was nothing she'd planned, but now she saw that's how it was. I just ran a grocery, she thought. I don't want this. I ain't the one to make the world right.” - Alan Heathcock

37. “Integrity is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake existence.” - Ayn Rand

38. “There have been times when I could have succumbed to some form of bribe, or could have had my way by offering one. But ever since that night in Dover prison I have never been tempted to break my vow.. My Parents always drummed into me that all you have life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name you'll never be happy.” - Richard Branson

39. “Leaders always choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong.” - Orrin Woodward

40. “Don’t force your gifts: if you are a rascal, live like one; if you are half honest, be half honest; if you are completely honest, live absolutely honestly.” - Pierre Ceresole