Integrity is expensive only when dishonesty appears profitable.

Integrity has no cost in most situations. It becomes expensive only at the specific moments where cutting a corner would pay, and those moments are exactly where people conclude it is impractical. The expense is real, but it is narrow and occasional rather than constant.

When you hit one of those moments, notice the framing your mind offers: that this is an exception, that everyone does it, that the amount is small. Those arguments arrive on schedule and are the same every time. Recognising them as a pattern makes them considerably less persuasive.