Meaning:
Deception has many pitfalls so it is much better just to be honest
Background:
Some sources trace this idiom back to the early 17th century But, like so many
sayings, the sentiment dates back thousands of years and is found across
multiple continents.
The version perhaps best known to English speakers is a tale attributed to the
Greek storyteller Aesop about two woodcutters. The story goes that a woodcutter
accidentally dropped his beaten up old axe into the river. Seeing his livelihood
sinking to the bottom of the river, the woodcutter sat down on the bank and
sobbed. At which point Mercury, the messenger of the gods appears holding a
golden axe and asks if it belongs to the woodcutter. The woodcutter replies that
he wishes it did but it does not. Mercury disappears and reappears with a silver
axe, and asks the same question, to which the woodcutter says that sadly it
isn't because his axe is old and rusted. Again Mercury disappears and this time
returns with the woodcutter's own axe but in addition rewards him for his
honesty by presenting him with the gold and silver axes as well.
The woodcutter rushes home to tell his wife of his good fortune and soon the
story spreads. Before long, another woodcutter makes his way to the riverbank
and tosses in his axe. On cue, Mercury appears holding a golden axe and asks the
man if it is his. "Yes, yes," the lying man replies. At which Mercury tosses the
golden axe back into the water and says "I deny you that axe, and your own." The
man begs Mercury to please just return him his own axe so that he can support
his family. But Mercury leaves him empty handed--at which the woodcutter cries
out that honesty would have been the best policy.
Many famous Americans have used the idiom in their writings, including Benjamin
Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams,
James Monroe an Andrew Jackson. George Washington was particularly fond of it,
using it at least four times, including his farewell address to the nation: "I
hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that
honesty is always the best policy."
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