Lies, so often misleading and which form the substance of all conversations, are less effective in covering up a feeling of dislike or of self-interest, or a visit one would rather people did not know about, or a one-day fling one wants to conceal from one’s wife – than a good reputation is in utterly overshadowing disreputable habits.
 Marcel Proust, The Prisoner (1923). copy citation

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Author Marcel Proust
Source The Prisoner
Topic conversation reputation
Date 1923
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Carol Clark
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