Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

As one knows the poet by his fine music, so one can recognize the liar by his rich rhythmic utterance, and in neither case will the casual inspiration of the moment suffice. Here, as elsewhere, practice must precede perfection.

- Wilde, Oscar

Best Quotes about Lies and lying

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

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

Lying is like alcoholism. You are always recovering.

Soderbergh, Steven

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

Belloc, Hilaire

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

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

Byron, Lord

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

South, Bishop Robert

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

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

Proust, Marcel

10.

Lying and stealing are next door neighbors.

Proverb, Arabian

11.

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.

12.

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

Smith, Logan Pearsall

13.

It is easier to gather up a bag of loose feathers than to round up or head off a single lie.

14.

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

15.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

16.

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.

17.

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.

18.

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

Homer

19.

Never to lie is to have no lock to your door, you are never wholly alone.

Bowen, Elizabeth

20.

In plain truth, lying is an accursed vice. We are not men, nor have any other tie upon another, but by our word.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

21.

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

Szilard, Leo

22.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

23.

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

Thirkell, Angela

24.

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

Frost, Robert

25.

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

Twain, Mark

26.

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

Mencken, H. L.

27.

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

Proust, Marcel

28.

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

29.

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

Dunne, Finley Peter

30.

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.

31.

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

32.

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

Voltaire

33.

Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an death's the other.

Williams, Tennessee

34.

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

Proverb, Russian

35.

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

36.

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

37.

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

38.

Never forget that a half truth is a whole lie.

39.

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

40.

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

41.

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

42.

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

Crowley, Aleister

43.

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

Zohar

44.

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

Merlin