“Honesty is the best policy” is a proverb of _______?

A. Benjamin Franklin

B. Edwin Sandys

C. Nathaniel Macon

D. Thomas Jefferson

Honesty is the best policy

This proverb is first found in the writings of Sir Edwin Sandys. However, the phrase honesty is the best policy is often connected to Benjamin Franklin, an American statesman who lived in the 1700s. But the origin of the phrase as per some sources trace back to the early 17th century and especially to European Speculum (1605) by English politician Sir Edwin Sandys.

Who was Sir Edwin Sandys?

Sir Edwin Sandys (9 December 1561 – October 1629) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1626. He was also one of the founders of the proprietary Virginia Company of London, which in 1606 established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in the colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown.