Liars are always ready to take oaths.
—Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803) Italian Poet, Dramatist
He entered the territory of lies without a passport for return.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.
—Samuel Butler
Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Nazi Leader, Chancellor of Germany
One can be absolutely truthful and sincere even though admittedly the most outrageous liar. Fiction and invention are of the very fabric of life.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
—James Thurber
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.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
When lying, be emphatic and indignant, thus behaving like your children.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
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
We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won’t.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
When you rationalize, you do just that. You make rational lies.
—Unknown
Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Truth will lose its credit, if delivered by a person that has none.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
If at first you don’t succeed, lie, lie again.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
—Unknown
Shadow-making happens in families and makes us who we are. It leads to shadow-work, which makes us who we can become.
—Connie Zweig (b.1949) American Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist
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.
—Samuel Butler
Those who foretell the future lies, even if he tells the truth.
—Arabic Proverb
Excuses are always mixed with lies.
—Arabic Proverb
To live differently, to love differently, to think differently, or to try to. Is the danger of beauty so great that it is better to live without it (the standard model)? Or to fall into her arms fire to fire? There is no discovery without risk and what you risk reveals what you value.
—Jeanette Winterson (b.1959) English Novelist, Journalist
An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Dreamlining is so named because it applies timelines to what most would consider dreams.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
Great talker, great liar.
—French Proverb
In these words lies all his power: He chose the path along which he is walking and so has no complaints.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Responsibility of any kind can seem intimidating and for this reason man may often be afraid of truly deep relationships with other human beings. A relationship suggests to him the most extreme of responsibilities. It implies a burden, a restriction of freedom, seldom the converse. A student in love class, for instance, commented, “I’ve always been afraid of deep relationship because of the responsibility it seemed to impose. I was afraid of the demands it would make of me and I worried I wouldn’t be able to meet those demands. I was amazed to find that when I did get the courage to form a relationship, I actually became stronger. I acquired two minds instead of one, four hands, four arms, four legs, and another’s world. In joining forces with someone, I got twice the strength to grow, with twice as many alternatives. Now it’s easier for me to love others. I am stronger and I am less afraid”. He had discovered an important insight.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Burning lies led to my silent cries Keeping it inside I’ve got everything to hide. lustful desire, a burning fire You are the flame, You are to blame. Beautiful light deliver me from fright dreams full of lust. Or is the dream dreaming us? PHYSICAL PAIN don’t call me insane. I don’t want to be dead but all beautiful colors bleed to red
—Unknown
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!
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Author
I do myself a greater injury in lying that I do him of whom I tell a lie.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Your great power lies not on the surface, but deep within your being.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death. I can work out a good character much faster than any one can lie me out of it.
—Lyman Beecher (1775–1863) American Presbyterian Clergyman
Unconscious of your story, you are in its grasp; but with consciousness, an alchemical process begins: The solidity of the complex dissolves and you can open up to the arrival of a new archetype, the birth of a new cycle of life. In the shadow, then, lies our myth and our fate.
—Connie Zweig (b.1949) American Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist
Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
An old man telling lies is like a rich man stealing.
—Russian Proverb
If you want some lies to be believed wrap them up in truths.
—Danish Proverb
I am a lie who always speaks the truth.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
A mind conscious of innocence laughs at the lies of rumor.
—Latin Proverb
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.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie
—Ask Ann Landers (1918–2002) American Advice Columnist
I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.
—Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) Italian Poet, Dramatist, Satirist