Integrity quotes highlight the importance of honesty, moral courage, and staying true to one’s values. They celebrate the strength of character, trustworthiness, and doing what’s right—even when it’s difficult. These quotes inspire accountability, self-respect, and ethical living, reminding us that true success is rooted in authenticity and principled actions.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

C.S. Lewis

Lewis reminds us that true character is measured by our actions in private, not just by how we present ourselves in public.

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah emphasizes that integrity requires self-discipline and moral courage, especially when recognition or reward is absent.

In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.

Warren Buffett

Buffett underlines the foundational importance of integrity, suggesting that without it, other talents can become destructive.

Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.

Spencer Johnson

Johnson makes a distinction between inner and outer truth, reminding us that self-honesty is the root of true integrity.

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

Confucius

Confucius connects personal virtue with societal well-being, suggesting that integrity at the individual level builds stronger communities.

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

Chinua Achebe

Achebe asserts that integrity is most evident when we refuse to trade our values for convenience or gain.

Integrity is choosing courage over comfort.

Brené Brown

Brown encourages us to embrace vulnerability and authenticity, showing that integrity often means standing alone for what’s right.

A person is not given integrity. It results from the relentless pursuit of honesty at all times.

Unknown

This quote reminds us that integrity is not inherited but built over time through consistent truthfulness and moral effort.

Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Brown urges us to live as role models, shaping the values of the next generation through our daily actions.

Your reputation is what others think of you. Your character is what you really are.

John Wooden

Wooden distinguishes between perception and truth, making it clear that integrity is rooted in who we are when nobody is looking.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Samuel Johnson

Johnson presents integrity and intelligence as inseparable, suggesting that one without the other can lead to either ineffectiveness or harm.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu shows that integrity often means living in alignment with your true self, free from the need for comparison or external validation.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

Albert Einstein

Einstein cautions that even small compromises of truth can indicate a lack of integrity, especially when greater responsibility is involved.

Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.

Janis Joplin

Joplin’s words are a reminder to honor our own values and identity, especially when pressured to fit in or be someone else.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Martin Luther King Jr.

King powerfully reminds us that there’s never a wrong moment to act with integrity, even when the world around us delays or resists.

The glue that holds all relationships together—including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust, and trust is based on integrity.

Brian Tracy

Tracy explains that integrity is the foundation of all meaningful relationships, as it creates the trust that binds people and teams together.

You can’t, in sound morals, condemn a man for taking care of his own integrity. It is his clear duty.

Joseph Conrad

Conrad affirms that protecting one’s moral center is not selfish but essential, and that safeguarding integrity is a form of self-respect.

Integrity means that you are the same in public as you are in private.

Joyce Meyer

Meyer points out that consistency between our inner life and outer behavior is the hallmark of true integrity.

Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Proverbs 28:6

This biblical proverb shows that integrity holds greater value than wealth or status, especially when those things are gained through dishonesty.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.

Thomas Paine

Paine warns that integrity, once lost, is difficult to rebuild, which is why it must be guarded carefully every day.

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

Billy Graham

Graham reminds us that character and integrity are the most important treasures we hold, more valuable than money or even physical well-being.