To be honest
Xiang Sheng Bei Shi, a Chinese idiom, means yearning for fame and departing from reality. It comes from treatise on classics.
The origin of Idioms
In the treatise on classical literature written by Wei Cao Pi of the Three Kingdoms period, it is said that "ordinary people are valued far and low, and their relatives are honest, but they are also suffering from hidden problems, which means that they are virtuous."
Idiom usage
This is not true, but false. Liu Zhiji, Tang Dynasty
To be honest
spread out and scatter about like stars in the sky or chessman on the chessboard - qí bù xīng luó
The cicada's wings are heavy, and the weight is light - chán yì wéi zhòng,qiān jūn wéi qīng