How sneaky and dishonest do you have to be to succeed in life?

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Notice I didn't say, "Do you have to be sneaky and dishonest to succeed in life?" There's a difference! I'm just assuming that you have to show some sort of guile or smarts to be successful. That perhaps it would be better to be a bit dishonest, rather than shooting yourself in the foot just to maintain your ethics. I don't truly believe that a totally honest person can be all that successful in life. And, you might disagree right off the bat, but I speak from hard experience. I went through a period of time when I was brutally honest with everyone about everything. And, I noticed that absolutely no good luck or good business opportunities came my way. Now of course, I'm not suggesting that a person should be dishonest or with hold necessary truths, but just how much information does the other person need to know. If you are flat broke and asking another person to join your business opportunity, you shouldn't tell them that. People like to be associated with others who are already successful, right? So, telling another person about your misfortune and then asking them to hand over money to join a business you own is self defeating. Don't you think? Smart business people know better than to reveal all their cards too early or reveal too much information to a competitor. So, could we say then that negotiators are bad people for doing their job? Famous people like Donald Trump are excellent negotiators and very financially successful. So, maybe with-holding the truth or not being brutally honest is a better policy. What do you think? Do you think that "ethics" is just a way for other people, richer than us to control the masses to prevent them from succeeding and doing better financially? After all, if you stop yourself from benefiting or taking an opportunity, because you don't feel it's right, then you leave more good things for others who don't mind taking advantage. Do you think it's possible to be 100% truthful, 100% ethical and not with-hold any information and still make money in life? What is your honest opinion? Has total honesty worked for you? Has total honesty caused you to lose out on really good deals?