Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

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

- Watt, James

Best Quotes about Lies and lying

Time passes, and little by little everything that we have spoken in falsehood becomes true.

Proust, Marcel

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

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

It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.

Belloc, Hilaire

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

Voltaire

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

Thirkell, Angela

They say is often a great liar.

Proverb

And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in masquerade.

Byron, Lord

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

10.

Never forget that a half truth is a whole lie.

11.

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

Szilard, Leo

12.

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

13.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

France, Anatole

14.

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

Zohar

15.

Words that are saturated with lies or atrocity, do not easily resume life.

Steiner, George

16.

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

Talmud, The

17.

To the rulers of the state then, if to any, it belongs of right to use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege.

Plato

18.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

19.

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''

20.

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

Armstrong, Robert

21.

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

Twain, Mark

22.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

23.

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

Proverb, Russian

24.

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

25.

There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.

Churchill, Winston

26.

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

27.

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Evans

28.

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

Cicero, Marcus T.

29.

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

Proust, Marcel

30.

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

Haig, Alexander

31.

Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.

Epictetus

32.

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

Aristotle

33.

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

34.

Lying and stealing are next door neighbors.

Proverb, Arabian

35.

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

Feather, William

36.

There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

37.

In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

38.

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

Frost, Robert

39.

I do myself a greater injury in lying that I do him of whom I tell a lie.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

40.

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

Smith, Logan Pearsall

41.

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

Homer

42.

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

43.

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Hoffer, Eric

44.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

45.

A wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for naught.

Twain, Mark

46.

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

Thatcher, Margaret

47.

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

48.

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.

49.

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

50.

Liars need to have good memories.

Sidney, Algernon