Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Deception/Lying

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

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

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat

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

We like to be deceived.
Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian

The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician

For nothing can seem foul to those that win.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.
Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister

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

I don’t mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
Samuel Butler

If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile

If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name.
A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer

The craftiest trickery are too short and ragged a cloak to cover a bad heart.
Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet

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

Liars are always ready to take oaths.
Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803) Italian Poet, Dramatist

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

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.
John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic

All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
Paul Simon (b.1942) American Singer, Songwriter

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said Let us pray. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Desmond Tutu (b.1931) South African Clergyman

In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.
Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer

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 Novelist, Polemicist

It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are.
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (1862–1910) American Writer of Short Stories

It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) British Historian, Poet, Critic

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

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic

The justification for those actions was that we were living in a very hard, predatory, cloak-and-dagger world and that the only way to deal with a totalitarian enemy was to intimidate him. The trouble with this theory was that while we live in a world of plot and counterplot, we also live in a world of cause and effect. Whatever the cause for the decision to legitimize and regularize deceit abroad, the inevitable effect was the practice of deceit at home.
Norman Cousins (1912–1990) American Political Journalist

When lying, be emphatic and indignant, thus behaving like your children.
William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author

I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author

A liar is full of oaths.
Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist

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