Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

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

Best Quotes about Lies and lying

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

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

Proverb, Russian

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

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.

Pain forces even the innocent to lie.

Syrus, Publilius

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

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

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

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

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

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

Thirkell, Angela

10.

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

Wittgenstein, Ludwig

11.

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

Epictetus

12.

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

13.

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''

14.

Never forget that a half truth is a whole lie.

15.

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

Belloc, Hilaire

16.

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Evans

17.

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

18.

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

19.

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

Proust, Marcel

20.

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

Armstrong, Robert

21.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

22.

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

Haig, Alexander

23.

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

Twain, Mark

24.

They say is often a great liar.

Proverb

25.

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

Speakes, Larry

26.

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich

27.

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

28.

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

29.

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.

30.

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

31.

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

32.

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

Williams, Tennessee

33.

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

Zohar

34.

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

Thatcher, Margaret

35.

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

36.

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.

37.

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

Twain, Mark

38.

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.

39.

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

Szilard, Leo

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.

The lie is a condition of life.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

42.

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

Simon, Paul

43.

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

Twain, Mark

44.

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

Bowen, Elizabeth