Great talker, great liar.
—French Proverb
I don’t mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902) British Victorian Novelist, Essayist, Critic
He entered the territory of lies without a passport for return.
—Graham Greene (1904–1991) British Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright
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
Telling lies is a fault in a boy, an art in a lover, an accomplishment in a bachelor, and second-nature in a married man.
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950) American Journalist, Humorist
He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
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
Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
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
The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it.
—Minna Antrim (1861–1950) American Writer, Epigrammist
Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be discovered in a lie; for, as Montaigne saith—“A liar would be brave toward God, while he is a coward toward men; for a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
A lie with a purpose is one of the worst kind, and the most profitable.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Humorist, Journalist, Creator of “Mr. Dooley”
In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
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
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
Words that are saturated with lies or atrocity, do not easily resume life.
—George Steiner (1929–2020) American Critic, Scholar
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
Lying is a hateful and accursed vice. We have no other tie upon one another, but our word. If we did but discover the horror and consequences of it, we should pursue it with fire and sword, and more justly than other crimes.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
A fellow who says he has never told a lie has just told one.
—Unknown
Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
When the world has once got hold of a lie, it is astonishing how hard it is to get it out of the world. You beat it about the head, till it seems to have given up the ghost, and lo! the next day it is as healthy as ever.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
A wilful falsehood is a cripple, not able to stand by itself without another to support it. It is easy to tell a lie, but hard to tell only one lie.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
A lie, though it be killed and dead, can sting sometimes,—like a dead wasp.
—Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860) Irish-born Literary, Art Critic
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
Truth will lose its credit, if delivered by a person that has none.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Clever liars give details, but the cleverest don’t.
—Unknown
Nobody speaks the truth when there’s something they must have.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
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