If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Words that are saturated with lies or atrocity, do not easily resume life.
—George Steiner (1929–2020) American Critic, Scholar
Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Some lies are so well disguised to resemble truth, that we should be poor judges of the truth not to believe them.
—Unknown
Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.
—Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) British Head of State, Military Leader
You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
Nobody speaks the truth when there’s something they must have.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
This is the punishment of the liar, that when he tells the truth nobody believes him.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Truth will lose its credit, if delivered by a person that has none.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
When you rationalize, you do just that. You make rational lies.
—Unknown
The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one’s self on lies and fables.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Clever liars give details, but the cleverest don’t.
—Unknown
All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
—Paul Simon (b.1942) American Singer, Songwriter
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.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Time passes, and little by little everything that we have spoken in falsehood becomes true.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The art of pleasing is the art of deception.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Every cloud has a silver lining.
—Common Proverb
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
In plain truth, lying is an accursed vice. We are not men, nor have any other tie upon another, but by our word.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The middle of the road is where the white line is—and that’s the worst place to drive.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Never to lie is to have no lock to your door, you are never wholly alone.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
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.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself.
—The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an death’s the other.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man’s virtues the means of deceiving him.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
By a lie, a man…annihilates his dignity as a man.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
It is twice the pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
We like to be deceived.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The mole has very small eyes and it always lives under ground; and it lives as long as it is in the dark but when it comes into the light it dies immediately, because it becomes known;—and so it is with lies.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the “fronts” people assume before one another’s eyes, and the “front” a writer puts on the face of reality.
—Francoise Sagan (1935–2004) French Novelist, Playwright, Short-Story Writer
Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
A great leader molds public opinion, a wise leader listens to it.
—Unknown