Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

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

- Nietzsche, Friedrich

Best Quotes about Lies and lying

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.

Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts. It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forbearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that -- being what it is -- it falls so short of in fact and in deed.

Luce, Clare Boothe

Telling lies is a fault in a boy, an art in a lover, an accomplishment in a bachelor, and second-nature in a married man.

Rowland, Helen

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

If you do not wish to be lied to, do not ask questions. If there were no questions, there would be no lies.

Traven, B.

Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit.

Proust, Marcel

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.

Voltaire

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

10.

No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

11.

The lie is a condition of life.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

12.

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

13.

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

Mcilvanney, William

14.

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.

15.

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Evans

16.

A liar is full of oaths.

Corneille, Pierre

17.

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

Smith, Logan Pearsall

18.

The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilized being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company.

Wilde, Oscar

19.

Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.

Crowley, Aleister

20.

When you rationalize, you do just that. You make rational lies.

21.

Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

22.

Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

23.

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

Armstrong, Robert

24.

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

Twain, Mark

25.

Some lies are so well disguised to resemble truth, that we should be poor judges of the truth not to believe them.

26.

I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won t.

Twain, Mark

27.

This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed, even when he speaks the truth.

Talmud, The

28.

I would dodge, not lie, in the national interest.

Speakes, Larry

29.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

30.

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

31.

In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.

Greene, Graham

32.

Pain forces even the innocent to lie.

Syrus, Publilius

33.

One of the striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives.

Twain, Mark

34.

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

Cicero, Marcus T.

35.

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

36.

What does the truth matter? Haven't we mothers all given our sons a taste for lies, lies which from the cradle upwards lull them, reassure them, send them to sleep: lies as soft and warm as a breast!

Bernanos, Georges

37.

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time till at length it becomes habitual.

Jefferson, Thomas

38.

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

Szilard, Leo

39.

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

Dunne, Finley Peter

40.

Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. Without the ameliorations that it offers, life would become a mere syllogism and hence too metallic to be borne.

Mencken, H. L.

41.

There is no lie that a man will not believe; and there is no man who does not believe many lies; and there is no man who believes only lies.

Sterling, John

42.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

43.

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

Canetti, Elias

44.

Great talker, great liar.