Sincerity

Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine.

It gained considerable momentum during the Romantic movement, when sincerity was first celebrated as an artistic and social ideal, exemplified in the writings of Thomas Carlyle and John Henry Newman.

[7] In middle to late nineteenth century America, sincerity was reflected in mannerisms, hairstyles, women's dress, and the literature of the time.

[5] According to Aristotle "truthfulness or sincerity is a desirable mean state between the deficiency of irony or self-deprecation and the excess of boastfulness.

The concept of chéng (誠、诚)—as expounded in two of the Confucian classics, the Da Xue and the Zhong Yong—is generally translated as sincerity.

In Japanese the character for chéng may be pronounced makoto, which carries still more strongly the sense of loyal avowal and belief.