Quotes about lies and lying

"Husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency."

Addison, Joseph on lies and lying
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"Liars are always ready to take oaths."

Alfieri, Vittorio, Conte Di on lies and lying
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"The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it."

Antrim, Minna on lies and lying
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"It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully."

Aristotle on lies and lying
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"It contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth."

Armstrong, Robert on lies and lying   

"Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance."

Bacon, Francis on lies and lying   

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"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 on lies and lying
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"It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation."

Belloc, Hilaire on lies and lying   

"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 on lies and lying   

"Nobody speaks the truth when there's something they must have."

Bowen, Elizabeth on lies and lying
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"Never to lie is to have no lock to your door, you are never wholly alone."

Bowen, Elizabeth on lies and lying
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"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. on lies and lying   

"Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well."

Butler, Samuel on lies and lying
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"The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way."

Butler, Samuel on lies and lying
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"I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy."

Butler, Samuel on lies and lying
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"Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him."

Butler, Samuel on lies and lying
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"And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in masquerade."

Byron, Lord on lies and lying
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"Someone who always has to lie discovers that every one of his lies is true."

Canetti, Elias on lies and lying
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"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 on lies and lying
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"So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge."

Cicero, Marcus T. on lies and lying   

"I am a lie who always speaks the truth."

Cocteau, Jean on lies and lying
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"A liar is full of oaths."

Corneille, Pierre on lies and lying
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"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 on lies and lying   

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

Crowley, Aleister on lies and lying
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"Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others."

Dostoevsky, Fyodor on lies and lying
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"It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest."

Douglas, Norman on lies and lying
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"A lie with a purpose is one of the worst kind, and the most profitable."

Dunne, Finley Peter on lies and lying
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"Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed."

Eisenhower, Dwight D. on lies and lying
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"Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on lies and lying
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"Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world."

Epictetus on lies and lying
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"Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable."

Evans on lies and lying   

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

Feather, William on lies and lying   

"Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom."

France, Anatole on lies and lying
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"Lying rides upon debt's back."

Franklin, Benjamin on lies and lying   

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

Frost, Robert on lies and lying
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"There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on lies and lying
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"He entered the territory of lies without a passport for return."

Greene, Graham on lies and lying   

"In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths."

Greene, Graham on lies and lying
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"That's not a lie, it's a terminological inexactitude. Also, a tactical misrepresentation."

Haig, Alexander on lies and lying
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