Quotes about lies and lying

"We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves."

Hoffer, Eric on lies and lying
6 fans of this quote   

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

Homer on lies and lying   

"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 on lies and lying
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"By a lie, a man...annihilates his dignity as a man."

Kant, Immanuel on lies and lying
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"No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar."

Lincoln, Abraham on lies and lying
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"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 on 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 on lies and lying   

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

Mcilvanney, William on lies and lying   

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

Mencken, H. L. on lies and lying   

"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. on lies and lying   

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

Merlin on lies and lying
3 fans of this quote   

"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 on lies and lying
4 fans of this quote   

"If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name."

Milne, A. A. on lies and lying   

"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 on lies and lying   

"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. on lies and lying   

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on lies and lying   

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on lies and lying
4 fans of this quote   

"He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying."

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on lies and lying   

"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 on lies and lying   

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De on lies and lying   

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich on lies and lying
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"The lie is a condition of life."

Nietzsche, Friedrich on lies and lying   

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich on lies and lying
3 fans of this quote   

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

Nietzsche, Friedrich on lies and lying
3 fans of this quote   

"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'' on lies and lying   

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

Phaedrus on lies and lying
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"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 on lies and lying   

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

Proust, Marcel on lies and lying   

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

Proust, Marcel on lies and lying   

"They say is often a great liar."

Proverb on lies and lying   

"Lying and stealing are next door neighbors."

Proverb, Arabian on lies and lying   

"Great talker, great liar."

Proverb, French on lies and lying   

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

Proverb, Russian on lies and lying
6 fans of this quote   

"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 on lies and lying   

"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 on lies and lying   

"Lies are usually caused by undue fear of men."

Saying, Hasidic on lies and lying   

"The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else."

Shaw, George Bernard on lies and lying
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"A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood."

Shenstone, William on lies and lying
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"Liars need to have good memories."

Sidney, Algernon on lies and lying   

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

Simon, Paul on lies and lying