I am deeply convinced that the only antidote that can make the reader forget the eternal I's that the author will write is a perfect sincerity.

Sincerity is the surest road to confidence.

Men who are never flagrantly dishonest are at times unveracious in small matters, colouring or suppressing facts with a conscious purpose; and writers who never stole an idea nor pretended to honours for which they had not striven, may be found lapsing into small insincerities, speaking a language which is not theirs, uttering opinions which they expect to gain applause rather than the opinions really believed by them. But if few men are perfectly and persistently sincere, Sincerity is nevertheless the only enduring strength. The principle is universal, stretching from the highest purposes of Literature down to its smallest details. It underlies the labour of the philosopher, the investigator, the moralist, the poet, the novelist, the critic, the historian, and the compiler. It is visible in the publication of opinions, in the structure of sentences, and in the fidelity of citations.

The secret is the secret. Sincerity is the word.

Sincerity is not only effective and honourable, it is also much less difficult than is commonly supposed. To take a trifling example: If for some reason I cannot, or do not, choose to verify a quotation which may be useful to my purpose, what is to prevent my saying that the quotation is taken at second-hand? It is true, if my quotations are for the most part second-hand and are acknowledged as such, my erudition will appear scanty. But it will only appear what it is. Why should I pretend to an erudition which is not mine? Sincerity forbids it.

Sincerity is never having an idea of oneself.

Si j'écris mon histoire, c'est telle que je l'ai vécue. Je dis toujours la vérité. Je ne vais ni enjoliver ni noircir le tableau.

One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar.

Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing.

Seriousness is the only quality of people who have no other ones.
(Italian: La serietà è la qualità di coloro che non ne hanno altre.)

Son, son, I admire your sincerity. Always be sincere - whether you mean it or not.

Sincerity is the way to Heaven.

The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.

I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own.