Integrity Quotes, Sayings
These integrity quotes describe what is essential for living a good and meaningful life: to be honest with ourselves and others and maintain strong moral principles.
When we live with integrity, we stay true to ourselves and to our values. We are also more likely to be respected and trusted by others, achieve our goals, and make a positive impact on the world. Put simply, living with integrity leads to a more fulfilling life.
Top 10 best integrity quotes
There are many quotes about integrity that can inspire us to live our lives with honesty and moral courage. Here are some of our favorites:
1.) If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.
Gordon A. Eadie
2.) Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
C.S. Lewis
3.) The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
William Safire
4.) To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare
5.) I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.
Lillian Hellman
6.) When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.
Lao Tzu
7.) Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey
8.) Character is what you are in the dark.
Dwight L. Moody
9.) It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
10.) The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Looking for more thoughtful and wise sayings about integrity? Here are more quotes from philosophers, politicians, authors and celebrities.
1. Famous integrity quotes
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.
Frederick Douglass
Calamity and prosperity are the touchstones of integrity.
Benjamin Franklin
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Thomas Paine
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
Mark Twain
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
Stevie Wonder
From books and authors
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
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
Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.
Harper Lee
If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.
Moliere
From philosophers
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
Marcus Aurelius
Integrity is your destiny — it is the light that guides your way.
Plato
Character is simply habit long continued.
Plutarch
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.
Marcus Aurelius
The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.
Confucius
A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
Baltasar Gracian
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
Marcus Aurelius
From presidents
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.
Abraham Lincoln
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
George Washington
The supreme quality for leadership is integrity.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
2. Integrity quotes for work and business
Be good to your work, your word, and your friend.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.
Harvey Mackay
If you believe in unlimited quality and act in all your business dealings with total integrity, the rest will take care of itself.
Frank Perdue
Integrity is the seed for achievement. It is the principle that never fails.
Earl Nightingale
The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.
Junius
About success
Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
R. Buckminster Fuller
The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.
Zig Ziglar
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley
Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.
Dr. William Menninger
3. Integrity quotes about leadership
Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.
Brian Tracy
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide.
Zig Ziglar
People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger
One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.
Chinua Achebe
Everyone makes mistakes, but only a person with integrity owns up to them.
Nicole Guillaume
For leaders
If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
John Lewis
Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest self.
Karla McLaren
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
Thomas Paine
When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity — regardless of what others may do — you are destined for greatness.
Napoleon Hill
Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character.
Lewis H. Lapham
4. Inspirational integrity quotes
In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s hard.
Nicholas Sparks
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
Henry David Thoreau
Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather.
John D. MacDonald
Integrity is discovering what’s inside and acting on it.
Maxime Lagacé
5. Funny integrity quotes
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
Will Rogers
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Mark Twain
A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company
Charles Evans Hughes
You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. But it isn’t necessary.
Will Rogers
I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.
Cesar Millan
6. Short integrity quotes
Integrity has no need of rules.
Albert Camus
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Albert Einstein
A quiet conscience makes one strong!
Anne Frank
A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
Thomas Paine
Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.
Oliver Cromwell
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Mark Twain
Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.
Andre Gide
7. Integrity quotes about life
A life lived with integrity — even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shining star in whose light others may follow in the years to come.
Denis Waitley
Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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.
Michelle Obama
One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.
Shannon L. Alder
Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.
Charles Caleb Colton
To live by
Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.
W. Clement Stone
You are in integrity when the life you are living on the outside matches who you are on the inside.
Alan Cohen
It takes courage to create a meaningful life of integrity. It also requires good company. And practice.
Shelley Francis
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Albert Einstein
Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.
Katrina Mayer
About character
A man is born with a character like a tree with its roots, and it is integrity alone that can keep the tree upright when all its branches have been broken.
Mahatma Gandhi
Don’t worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.
Laura Schlessinger
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.
Billy Graham
The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.
Margaret Chase Smith
By themselves, character and integrity do not accomplish anything. But their absence faults everything else.
Peter Drucker
You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.
Blaise Pascal
About respect
Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.
Stephen Covey
The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.
Joan Didion
About humility
Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.
Nelson Mandela
8. Integrity quotes about love and relationships
Be impeccable with your words and speak with integrity. Say only what you mean and use the power of your words in the direction of truth and love.
Don Miguel Ruiz
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
About friends
There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.
Samuel Johnson
9. Integrity quotes for kids
Decide on what you think is right, and stick to it.
George Eliot
Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.
Arthur Freed
Do what is right, not what is easy nor what is popular.
Roy T. Bennett
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey
Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.
Spencer Johnson
Never do anything that you can’t admit doing, because if you are that ashamed of whatever it is, it’s probably wrong.
Ashly Lorenzana
For students
Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.
George Bernard Shaw
Don’t assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don’t say anything you can’t stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.
Warsan Shire
Integrity is doing what is right and truthful, and doing as you say you would do.
Roy T. Bennett
We hope you enjoyed this look at the best integrity quotes and sayings. For more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out the following lists:
By Greg Johnson | Published 8/22/2023
