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 don’t mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
—Samuel Butler
People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Media Personality, Satirist
Beware: some liars tell the truth.
—Arabic Proverb
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
If you want some lies to be believed wrap them up in truths.
—Danish Proverb
Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Someday, in the moment of death, your whole life will pass before you. In a few fractions of a second—because time no longer applies—you will see many incidents from your life in order to learn. You will review your life with two questions in your consciousness: Could I have shown a little more courage in these moments? Could I have shown a little more love? You will see where you let fear stop you from expressing who you are, how you feel, or what you need. You will see whether you were able to expand into these moments, just a little, to show love, or whether you contracted.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
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.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Women believe the strangest of lies as long as they are wrapped up in praise.
—French Proverb
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
—Henry Stanley Haskins
As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
—Unknown
A lie with a purpose is one of the worst kind, and the most profitable.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Author, Writer, Humorist
The only form of lying that is absolutely beyond reproach is lying for its own sake.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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.
—Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish-American Poet, Novelist, Polemicist
A liar is full of oaths.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
Men hate those to whom they have to lie.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
I detest that man, who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks forth another.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
Women lie about their age; men lie about their income.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
Time passes, and little by little everything that we have spoken in falsehood becomes true.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
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
A lie never lives to be old.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Liars are always ready to take oaths.
—Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803) Italian Poet, Dramatist
Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
And, after all, what is a lie? ‘Tis but the truth in masquerade.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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