“Clever deception is inferior to clumsy sincerity” appears in the “Shuo Lin I” chapter of Han Feizi. Mengsun caught a fawn and ordered Qin Xiba to carry it home. When the mother deer followed, crying out, Qin took pity and released the young animal. He was dismissed for doing so. Three months later, however, Mengsun recalled him to tutor his son: someone who could not bear to harm a deer would not bear to harm a child.
“Clumsy sincerity” does not mean an absence of judgement. It means refusing to make self-interest look perfectly convincing. The story suggests that an action carrying a real cost may reveal trustworthiness better than an ingenious account. It does not show that sincerity is always correct; more cautiously, it asks us to notice whether a person is willing to bear consequences for what they claim.
https://ctext.org/hanfeizi/shuo-lin-i/zh
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