''Frank and explicit'' — that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and to confuse the minds of others.
A ''No'' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ''Yes'' merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Candor is a proof of both a just frame of mind, and of a good tone of breeding. It is a quality that belongs equally to the honest man and to the gentleman.
Candor is the brightest gem of criticism.
Examine what is said, not him who speaks.
Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.
Gracious to all, to none subservient, Without offense he spoke the word he meant.
If all hearts were open and all desires known — as they would be if people showed their souls — how many gapings, sighings, clenched fists, knotted brows, broad grins, and red eyes should we see in the market-place!
It is the weak and confused who worship the pseudosimplicities of brutal directness.
Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.
Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards.
There is an unseemly exposure of the mind, as well as of the body.
There is no wisdom like frankness.
To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful view of their capacity, their conduct, or their position; and a robust candor never waited to be asked for its opinion.
We want all our friends to tell us our bad qualities; it is only the particular ass that does so whom we can't tolerate.
You may tell a man thou art a fiend, but not your nose wants blowing; to him alone who can bear a thing of that kind, you may tell all.