quotations about lies and lying
In thy foul throat thou liest.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Richard III
A lie always needs a truth for a handle to it. The worst lies are those whose blade is false, but whose handle is true.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
The closer to the truth, the better the lie, and the truth itself, when it can be used, is the best lie.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Foundation's Edge
Only a lie that wasn't ashamed of itself could possibly succeed.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Second Foundation
The art of living is the art of knowing how to believe lies. The fearful thing about it is that, not knowing what truth may be, we can still recognize lies.
CESARE PAVESE
This Business of Living, Jan. 8, 1938
When thou art obliged to speak, be sure to speak the truth; for equivocation is half-way to lying, and lying is the whole way to hell.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude: Wise Sayings on the Conduct of Human Life
A lie is like a vizard, that may cover the face, indeed, but can never become it.
R. SOUTH
attributed, Day's Collacon
Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.
HOSEA BALLOU
Treasury of Thought
So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.
CICERO
Academica
Though I never scruple a lie to serve my Master, it hurts one's conscience to be found out!
RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN
The Rivals
The Great Spirit is angry with all men that tell lies.
TECUMSEH
attributed, Day's Collacon
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
VLADIMIR LENIN
attributed, The Words of Power
He who clips away a little truth, and puts in a patch of falsehood to make measure, is likely to become a skillful manufacturer of lies.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
A lie ... is often the mirror image of the truth; by examining it carefully, you can reconstruct the fact that lie was designed to conceal.
K. J. PARKER
Evil for Evil
A lie never lives to be old.
SOPHOCLES
Acrisius
Little lies are very dangerous, because there are so many of them, and because each one of them scours upon the character as diamond-pointed.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
Lying is a false significance of speech, with a will to deceive, which cannot be cured but by shame and reason; it is a monstrous and wicked evil, that filthily depraved and defileth the tongue of man.
JOHN JONES
attributed, Day's Collacon
A great lie is like a great fish on dry land; it may fret and fling, and make a frightful bother, but it cannot hurt you; you have only to keep still and it will die of itself.
GEORGE CRABBE
attributed, Day's Collacon
If sentiment doesn't ultimately make fibbers of some people, their natural abominable memories almost certainly will.
J. D. SALINGER
"Seymour: An Introduction"
The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone's comfort.
KATHERINE DUNN
Geek Love