Motivational Quotes

Lies and lying

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

- Byron, Lord

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

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

Talmud, The

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

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

Mencken, H. L.

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

Proust, Marcel

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.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

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

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

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

Haig, Alexander

10.

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

Watt, James

11.

Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.

Phaedrus

12.

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

Simon, Paul

13.

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

Speakes, Larry

14.

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

15.

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Hoffer, Eric

16.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

France, Anatole

17.

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

Proust, Marcel

18.

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

Kant, Immanuel

19.

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

Byron, Lord

20.

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

Belloc, Hilaire

21.

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

Merlin

22.

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

South, Bishop Robert

23.

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''

24.

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

Crowley, Aleister

25.

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

Feather, William

26.

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

Szilard, Leo

27.

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

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

28.

The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it.

Antrim, Minna

29.

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

Armstrong, Robert

30.

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

Twain, Mark

31.

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

32.

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.

33.

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

34.

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

Thatcher, Margaret

35.

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

Bowen, Elizabeth

36.

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

37.

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

Proverb, Russian

38.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

39.

Pain forces even the innocent to lie.

Syrus, Publilius

40.

Lying and stealing are next door neighbors.

Proverb, Arabian

41.

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

42.

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.

43.

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

44.

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

Canetti, Elias

45.

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

Homer

46.

A liar is full of oaths.

Corneille, Pierre

47.

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

Twain, Mark

48.

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

Twain, Mark

49.

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

50.

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.