Discussed by Aristotle in his ''Nicomachean Ethics'', where "truthfulness or sincerity is a desirable mean state between the deficiency of [[irony]] or self-deprecation and the excess of boastfulness"[1] [2], it appears as an [[ideal]] ([[virtue]]) in Europe and North America in the 17th century; and it gained considerable momentum during the [[Romantic movement]], when sincerity was first celebrated as an artistic and social ideal. Indeed, in mid- to late-nineteenth century America, sincerity was an [[idea]] reflected in [[manner]]isms, hairstyles, women's dress, and the literature of the time. | Discussed by Aristotle in his ''Nicomachean Ethics'', where "truthfulness or sincerity is a desirable mean state between the deficiency of [[irony]] or self-deprecation and the excess of boastfulness"[1] [2], it appears as an [[ideal]] ([[virtue]]) in Europe and North America in the 17th century; and it gained considerable momentum during the [[Romantic movement]], when sincerity was first celebrated as an artistic and social ideal. Indeed, in mid- to late-nineteenth century America, sincerity was an [[idea]] reflected in [[manner]]isms, hairstyles, women's dress, and the literature of the time. |