Benjamin Franklin Quotes

If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

I suppose that an honest man shines more in politics than he does elsewhere.

If I'm elected, at the end of four years or eight years I hope the people will say, "You know, Jimmy Carter made a lot of mistakes, but he never told a lie."

If you have to keep a secret it's because you shouldn't be doing it in the first place

The black hole in democracy is integrity. The great unspoken is integrity. When integrity is not first and foremost, it's quite palpable but not visible. It's always there. Jazz highlights it because musicians and jazz always represented a high level of integrity.

If you are going to do something that you have to lie about, don't do it, it's very simple.

It is wise not to seek a secret, and honest not to reveal one.

With integrity you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt. With fear and guilt removed you are free to be and do your best.

One thing I have always promised is to be open and transparent and to treat employees and partners with respect and integrity.

While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive.

Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.

If you have nothing to hide, there is no reason not to be transparent.

Be honest. Be honest with yourself, be honest with, you know, your fellow politicians. This is a rare quality of politicians.

It's important to be honest and truthful with your constituents. At the end of the day, we represent them.

We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep.

I'm not a Saban guy, because I don't like liars, and I think he lied. I think he lied to the Miami Dolphins and to the fans of Miami, and he left. And it's pretty simple: I think integrity is very important; if you don't have integrity, I don't know how you can be successful.

I've tried to do away with lying in my life in the last few years, but it's hard.

All my life I have fought corruption.

We talk about honesty, but the reality is we have lots of human values, and they are not all compatible. We don't always tell the truth about everything, no matter what the consequences.

No matter what you do, be honest. That sticks out in Washington.

If we insist that public life be reserved for those whose personal history is pristine, we are not going to get paragons of virtue running our affairs. We will get the very rich, who will contract out the messy things in life: the very dull, who have nothing to hide and nothing to show: and the very devious, expert at covering their tracks and ambitious enough to risk their discovery.

If there is one thing that our role models in this election have taught us, it's that omitting important information is completely different from lying.

We have to be responsible in what we say as leaders.

Compromise on ethical conduct is not an option.