Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically -- for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist -- but then what isn t?

- Crisp, Quentin

Best Quotes about Lies and lying

Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

The middle of the road is where the white line is -- and that's the worst place to drive.

Frost, Robert

You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.

Thatcher, Margaret

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.

Merlin

No lying knight or lying priest ever prospered in any age, but especially not in the dark ones. Men prospered then only in following an openly declared purpose, and preaching candidly beloved and trusted creeds.

Ruskin, John

If a lie is repeated often enough all the dumb jackasses in the world not only get to believe it, they even swear by it.

Franklin, Billy Boy

Where lies are easily admitted, the father of lies is not easily kept out. Source unknown A great leader molds public opinion, a wise leader listens to it.

If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.

Smith, Logan Pearsall

Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen.

Mailer, Norman

10.

If you tell a lie, always rehearse it. If it don't sound good to you, it won't sound good to anybody.

Paige, Leroy ''Satchel''

11.

If you wish to strengthen a lie, mix a little truth in with it.

Zohar

12.

I am a lie who always speaks the truth.

Cocteau, Jean

13.

Never forget that a half truth is a whole lie.

14.

When the world has got hold of a lie, it is astonishing how hard it is to kill it. You beat it over the head, till it seems to have given up the ghost, and behold! the next day it is as healthy as ever.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

15.

Someone who always has to lie discovers that every one of his lies is true.

Canetti, Elias

16.

It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

Aristotle

17.

Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death. I can work out a good character much faster than anyone can lie me out of it

Beecher, Lyman

18.

All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

Simon, Paul

19.

Someone who knows too much finds it hard not to lie.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig

20.

Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.

Phaedrus

21.

The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.

Mencken, H. L.

22.

The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his mouth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator.

Stevenson, Robert Louis

23.

A lie with a purpose is one of the worst kind, and the most profitable.

Dunne, Finley Peter

24.

Liars need to have good memories.

Sidney, Algernon

25.

A lie can run around the world six times while the truth is still trying to put on its pants.

Twain, Mark

26.

A lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on.

Watt, James

27.

Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically -- for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist -- but then what isn t?

Crisp, Quentin

28.

It contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth.

Armstrong, Robert

29.

I detest the man who hides one thing in the depth of his heart and speaks forth another.

Homer

30.

When lying, be emphatic and indignant, thus behaving like your children.

Feather, William

31.

One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

32.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

Cicero, Marcus T.

33.

Truth will lose its credit, if delivered by a person that has none.

South, Bishop Robert

34.

Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable.

Mcilvanney, William

35.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

France, Anatole

36.

With lies you may go ahead in the world, but you can never go back.

Proverb, Russian

37.

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Evans

38.

Pain forces even the innocent to lie.

Syrus, Publilius

39.

Don't lie if you don't have to.

Szilard, Leo

40.

The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

41.

That's not a lie, it's a terminological inexactitude. Also, a tactical misrepresentation.

Haig, Alexander

42.

Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth. Do not follow those who lie in contempt of reality. Let your lie be even more logical than the truth itself, so the weary travelers may find repose.

Milosz, Ceslaw

43.

He entered the territory of lies without a passport for return.

Greene, Graham

44.

One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life.

Miller, Henry

45.

If one cannot invent a really convincing lie, it is often better to stick to the truth.

Thirkell, Angela

46.

Lying and stealing are next door neighbors.