Honesty is The Best Policy

Honesty is The Best Policy

It is possible that dishonesty may succeed for a short time, but honesty is sure to succeed better in the long run. This may be seen considering the career of students in schools and colleges, and of men engaged in the business of life. The student who cheats in an examination may, if he escapes detection, gain a few marks more that he would otherwise have got. But what is the probable result? He learns thereby to trust to dishonest means of passing his further examinations, and neglects hard work, the only sure means of success, Guess, even if his dishonesty remains undetected, he is likely to be out stripped by his more honest rival, and in addition he exposes himself to the risk of an ignominious conviction, which will run his reputation and surely wound the hearts of parents and friends.

The effects of dishonesty are much the same in the case of clerks, merchants, government servants and others. They may suddenly make themselves rich by dishonest means. But wealth so obtained is as a rule rapidly squandered, and to regain resource is likely to be had again to new acts of dishonesty. Thus the dishonest man lives all through his life in continual dread that his misdeeds may at any moment be revealed in the light of the day. Success in the beginning of his career only tempts him to become corrupt on a larger scale, and the end is generally disgrace and punishment. 

So far we have been considering the question merely from the point of view of material success, and have seen that the dishonest man is very unlikely to succeed in life. But even if by some rare chance he should manage to escape detection to the end and die famous and wealthy, he must nevertheless all through his life suffer pain through fear of detection and consciousness of his own baseness. Had he been an honest man, he would probably have won still more wealth and honor in the eyes of the world, and would have been spend the reproaches of a guilty conscience.