History Main / HonestyIsTheBestPolicy

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[folder:Web Videos]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/{{Aladdin}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genie_tell_her_the_truth.png]]]]

* Genie attempting to get Disney/{{Aladdin}} to tell Jasmine the truth about the whole "not-really-a-prince-but-rather-a-street-urchin" thing.
* Tinkerbell tries this in ''Disney/PeterPan'' when she flat-out admits to Peter that she tried to have Wendy killed by the Lost Boys. However, she wasn't exactly successful in the "not getting punished" part.

[folder:Web Video]]

* Moist von Lipwig of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' pulls this off in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', utterly derailing a court case against him by [[spoiler:publicly admitting that he is a former con man who was {{recruit|ingTheCriminal}}ed by the Patrician. It throws off the otherwise unflappable 351-year-old zombie lawyer questioning him.]]

** [[MoralSociopathy Bronn]] makes his [[HiredGuns living]] (and keeps himself alive) basically by being Mr Honest -- if, occasionally, [[BrutallyHonest Mr Blunt]], too. He's totally upfront about his skills, about what he will do (it's a long list), what he won't do (quite short, but only if the money is good), what he has done (when it becomes relevant) and, only very occasionally, who he has worked for (only if they're in no position to care that he's outed them or if it's a matter of easily accessible record). He won't go into details, though, if he doesn't have to; and, says as much. He's also upfront about being OnlyInItForTheMoney and when/where/how he'll pull the contract on his end... And, as a result, no hard feelings -- which means he's unlikely to get a sword to the face from a disappointed ex-employer with an axe to grind.

* The page image shows Genie attempting to get Disney/{{Aladdin}} to tell Jasmine the truth about the whole "not-really-a-prince-but-rather-a-street-urchin" thing.

* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheep'':

* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'': When Ruby [[spoiler: got a ThirdEye]], she hid it from her companion Tom. Later, strong pressure from players led her to reveal it, which led to a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} and probably a ''lot'' less trouble down the line.

* WWF manager Slick's catch phrase was "Honesty is the best policy." Of course, he often averted it to so many degrees.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' has Goofy reinforce this as his motto, which leads Pete to exploit him by bringing him to work at his [[HonestJohnsDealership used car store]] and having him hypnotized into being a crooked salesman like himself. In the end, Goofy ends up taking Pete's lessons a little ''too'' literally ("finders keepers", for example, leads to him stealing a car he had just sold simply because it was parked and left unsupervised), causing Pete so much trouble that he has to "revert" Goofy toward the end of the episode.

* The page image shows Genie attempting to get ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' to tell Jasmine the truth about the whole "not-really-a-prince-but-rather-a-street-urchin" thing.

** The [[PrivateMilitaryContractor Golden Company]] has this as a basic strategy: because they're known to be exceedingly honest, the very rare occasions they do attack an ex-employer, or otherwise break a contract, everybody in both Westeros and Essos knows for absolutely ''certain'' that either A) said (stupid) employer tried to screw them over in some way (and thus had [[CurbStompBattle their inevitable, embarrassingly thorough curb-stomp]] coming) or B) they are following a Blackfyre into a battle for the Iron Throne on very short notice, so when they C) seemingly break their pattern by ditching Myr's standing contract for no discernible reason and then start hitting the Stormlands on behalf of an unknown quantity in a time without any significant Blackfyre inheritors/pretenders around to speak of, it proves the rule thanks to throwing ''a lot'' of uncertainty into the mix.
* Every last Aes Sedai in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', no matter her individual personality or Ajah, can and will pounce with this... when she's absolutely certain it'll get the people she's being overly honest at to do what she wants because they've otherwise been boxed in. However, beware some of them mixing ExactWords, a HalfTruth or two and FromACertainPointOfView in there, for all those who are properly sworn to the Oath Rod CannotTellALie, not ''all'' Aes Sedai necessarily come ''all'' the way totally, 100% honestly honest ''all the time''.

!!Examples

[[folder:Comics]]
* At the end of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:Veidt reveals his master plan to his fellow heroes after carrying out the most extreme part, confident they won't try to undo the beneficial effects of his crime. They don't. Or do they? The one fellow hero that does want to undo it, Rorschach, gets killed, ''but'' his diary is picked up by a newspaper... A small-press paper known, if at all, for racist and anti-Semitic views.]]
** ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' revealed that [[spoiler: Rorschach's diary was eventually published. It helped unravel Veidt's plans in less than a decade, leaving the world in even worse shape.]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* The protagonist of ''Fanfic/DragonAgeTheCrownOfThorns'' can somehow pull this off even when he's setting up [[ThePlan plan after plan]] plus a [[spoiler:ZeroApprovalGambit]] on the side. He also manages to make people believe whatever he wants, like [[spoiler:Trian being dead when he isn't]] yet ''still'' avoids lying by phrasing his words as questions and hypotheses. That said, every one of his direct statements can qualify as BrutalHonesty.

-->'''Norrington''': You actually were telling the truth.\\
'''Jack Sparrow''': I do that quite a lot. Yet people are always surprised.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', Agent Coulson decides to earn the trust of Skye, resident anti-government hacker activist, by injecting his fellow Agent, Ward, with a truth serum and locking them in an interrogation room. [[spoiler: Subverted when it later turns out S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have a truth serum at all, its left ambiguous as to how much of what Ward revealed while pretending to be under its effects was actually true and what was made up]].

[[folder:ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': When they meet for the first time in ''Literature/AgentsOfArtifice'', Nicol Bolas gives Jace Beleren a pretty frank explanation of how he lost control of the Consortium and his secret attempts to take it back. And then when Jace asks "Why are you telling me this?", he further explains that it made for a magnificent diversion to get him to let his mental guard down, and immediately launches a telepathic attack.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'': When Ruby [[spoiler: got a ThirdEye]], she hid it from her companion Tom. Later, strong pressure from players led her to reveal it, which led to a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} and probably a ''lot'' less trouble down the line.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Subverted in ''[[VideoGame/TwentyTwentySeven 2027]]''. Being honest with Magnus in the game will [[spoiler: prevent him from fighting you at the end, except when he wants you to retrieve the Amita, being honest about stealing it will have him kill you]]. Very much averted with the Human Horizon Agent in Paris. Telling him who you are will have him try to kill you.
* Averted in ''PizzaTycoon'', being open about your intentions to buy weapons or bribe officials will have you arrested.
* Zig-zagged by Kerrigan's first conversation with Mengsk in ''[[VideoGame/StarcraftI Brood War]]'': "The only thing I can assure you of, Arcturus, is that without my help, you'll be the Emperor of your own little eight by eight cell for the rest of your life." But earlier she had mentioned that she didn't want petty grudges to get in the way of her plans for the UED, which was a lie.
** Oh, she was 100% truthful about that. Once her plans for the UED have come to pass, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness on the other hand]]...
* Mentioned by [[MadGod Sheogorath]] in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'': "Speak up! Honesty is the best policy, as far as you know."
* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', most if not all friendship scenes where you can lie (or try to convince someone else to) will turn out better if you're just honest and upfront instead. For example, in one scene at the clinic, you startle Maru into dropping a beaker, and she's concerned about what Harvey will say when he finds out. You can either tell her to clean up the evidence and pretend it didn't happen (she refuses and tells him what happened; you lose points with her for your bad suggestion), tell her to blame you instead (he'll reprimand her for not taking personal responsibility and cut her pay to recoup the expenses; you lose points with her), or tell her to admit that she had an accident (he'll tell her not to worry about it, because she's such a reliable employee; you gain points with her). Often averted when people ask for your opinion on things: you tend to gain points if you pick the option that affirms their own belief, even if you - the player - disagrees. For example, when you catch Linus digging through a trashcan for discarded food, he tells you that there's nothing wrong with it because it'd just go to waste anyway, then asks you if you think otherwise. If you do say so, he'll be disappointed and you'll lose points with him.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The first-season ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' episode, "The Edge", where Xanatos reveals the entirety of his [[EvilPlan Gambit-of-the-week]] to a VERY irritated Goliath, as part of a ''second'' plan that has nothing to do with the first... and succeeds.
** Also, the second-season's "Eye of the Beholder." Xanatos's "Plan D" consists of telling the Gargoyles "I fucked up, I need help." And that's the one that works. The "avoiding punishment" part comes in that the Gargoyles not only help him save his fiancée, but [[KarmaHoudini don't seek retribution on him]] for unleashing the crazy monster she'd become on the city in the first place (though they do demand that he give up the ArtifactOfDoom that caused her to become a crazy monster). Their reason? [[LoveRedeems He's discovered love.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E24EquestriaGames Equestria Games]]'', when Spike thinks he can light fires with his mind and tries to do it again, Twilight takes him aside and explains that she lit the torch for him instead of letting him keep thinking that he has psychic powers or something. If she hadn't told him the truth right away, he would probably have gotten himself into big trouble somehow. It does make sense since there's already been at least two episodes this season about the importance of telling the truth, and one was right before this one.
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* In 1960, Israeli Mossad forces kidnapped Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Though the covert operation did proceed (more or less) as expected, the contingency plan if Argentinian police intervened was to disclose everything.
* University courses on the study of propaganda often note that the most effective propaganda is that which is true, as it leaves no chance for someone [[PullTheThread pulling the thread]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The first-season ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' episode, "The Edge", where Xanatos reveals the entirety of his [[EvilPlan Gambit-of-the-week]] to a VERY irritated Goliath, as part of a ''second'' plan that has nothing to do with the first... and succeeds.
** Also, the second-season's "Eye of the Beholder." Xanatos's "Plan D" consists of telling the Gargoyles "I fucked up, I need help." And that's the one that works. The "avoiding punishment" part comes in that the Gargoyles not only help him save his fiancée, but [[KarmaHoudini don't seek retribution on him]] for unleashing the crazy monster she'd become on the city in the first place (though they do demand that he give up the ArtifactOfDoom that caused her to become a crazy monster). Their reason? [[LoveRedeems He's discovered love.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E24EquestriaGames Equestria Games]]'', when Spike thinks he can light fires with his mind and tries to do it again, Twilight takes him aside and explains that she lit the torch for him instead of letting him keep thinking that he has psychic powers or something. If she hadn't told him the truth right away, he would probably have gotten himself into big trouble somehow. It does make sense since there's already been at least two episodes this season about the importance of telling the truth, and one was right before this one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* In 1960, Israeli Mossad forces kidnapped Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Though the covert operation did proceed (more or less) as expected, the contingency plan if Argentinian police intervened was to disclose everything.
* University courses on the study of propaganda often note that the most effective propaganda is that which is true, as it leaves no chance for someone [[PullTheThread pulling the thread]].

** The [[PrivateMilitaryContractor Golden Company]] has this as a basic strategy: because they're known to be honest, the very rare occasions they do attack an ex-employer, or otherwise break a contract, everybody in both Westeros and Essos knows for absolutely certain that either A) said (stupid) employer tried to screw them over in some way (and thus had [[CurbStompBattle the inevitable curb-stomp]] coming) or B) they are following a Blackfyre into a battle for the Iron Throne on short notice, so when they C) seemingly break their pattern by ditching Myr's standing contract and hitting the Stormlands on behalf of an unknown quantity in a time without any significant Blackfyres around to speak of, it proves the rule thanks to throwing ''a lot'' of uncertainty into the mix.

** The [[PrivateMilitaryContractor Golden Company]] has this as a basic strategy: because they're known to be honest, the very rare occasions they do attack an ex-employer, or otherwise break a contract, everybody in both Westeros and Essos knows for absolutely certain that either A) said (stupid) employer tried to screw them over in some way (and had it coming) or B) they are following a Blackfyre into battle on short notice, so when they C) seemingly break their pattern by ditching Myr's standing contract and hitting the Stormlands on behalf of an unknown quantity, it proves the rule thanks to throwing ''a lot'' of uncertainty into the mix.

** [[MoralSociopathy Bronn]] makes his [[HiredGun living]] (and keeps himself alive) basically by being Mr Honest -- if, occasionally, [[BrutallyHonest Mr Blunt]], too. He's totally upfront about his skills, about what he will do (it's a long list), what he won't do (quite short, but only if the money is good), what he has done (when it becomes relevant) and, only very occasionally, who he has worked for (only if they're in no position to care that he's outed them or if it's a matter of easily accessible record). He won't go into details, though, if he doesn't have to; and, says as much. He's also upfront about being OnlyInItForTheMoney and when/where/how he'll pull the contract on his end... And, as a result, no hard feelings -- which means he's unlikely to get a sword to the face from a disappointed ex-employer with an axe to grind.