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

Liars are always ready to take oaths.

Alfieri, Vittorio, Conte Di

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.

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

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

Merlin

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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

Proust, Marcel

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

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

Speakes, Larry

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

Simon, Paul

10.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

Canetti, Elias

14.

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

Watt, James

15.

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

Cicero, Marcus T.

16.

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

17.

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

18.

Liars need to have good memories.

Sidney, Algernon

19.

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

Mencken, H. L.

20.

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

Homer

21.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

22.

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

23.

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

24.

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

South, Bishop Robert

25.

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

Mcilvanney, William

26.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

27.

Lying and stealing are next door neighbors.

Proverb, Arabian

28.

Pain forces even the innocent to lie.

Syrus, Publilius

29.

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

30.

A liar is full of oaths.

Corneille, Pierre

31.

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

Thirkell, Angela

32.

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Hoffer, Eric

33.

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

Zohar

34.

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

35.

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

Twain, Mark

36.

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

Twain, Mark

37.

A lie will easily get you out of a scrape, and yet, strangely and beautifully, rapture possesses you when you have taken the scrape and left out the lie.

Montague, C. E.

38.

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

Twain, Mark

39.

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

Epictetus

40.

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.

41.

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

Williams, Tennessee

42.

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

43.

By a lie, a man...annihilates his dignity as a man.

Kant, Immanuel

44.

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

Talmud, The

45.

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

Voltaire

46.

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.

47.

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.

48.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

49.

They say is often a great liar.

Proverb

50.

The lie is a condition of life.