Great talker, great liar.
—French Proverb
Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If all mankind were suddenly to practice honesty, many thousands of people would be sure to starve.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.
—Samuel Butler
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
Everyone is born sincere and die deceivers.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Nobody speaks the truth when there’s something they must have.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
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
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 sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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
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
One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are.
—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (1862–1910) American Writer of Short Stories
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.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
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 (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
—Paul Simon (b.1942) American Singer, Songwriter
Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
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
It is easier to gather up a bag of loose feathers than to round up or head off a single lie.
—Indian Proverb
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
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
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
Man’s mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
I am a lie who always speaks the truth.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
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
Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist