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lie quotes

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“Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
“on the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth showing through.” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“When people tell a lie about something, they have to make up a bunch of lies to go with the first one. 'Mythomania' is the word for it.” Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
“The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.” John Steinbeck, East of Eden
“He who cannot lie, doth not know what truth is.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
“One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.” Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson
“And Credulity, because men love to be hearkened unto in company, disposeth them to lying: so that Ignorance it selfe without Malice, is able to make a man bothe to believe lyes, and tell them; and sometimes also to invent them.” Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
“I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie.” Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
“The lie made into the rule of the world.” Franz Kafka, The Trial
“To lie a little is not possible: he who lies, lies the whole lie.” Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
“A lie by day, a lie by night, a lie in every touch and every look; a lie in every caress and every quarrel; a lie in every word and in every silence.” Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
“dreamers often lie.” William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
“One drinks up a flattering lie in great gulps, whereas a bitter truth one sips drop by drop” Denis Diderot, Rameau's Nephew
“he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.” Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
“Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
“the best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way” Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh
“I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for the interest of the listener as well as of the teller. A story has in it neither gain nor loss. But a lie is a device for profit...” John Steinbeck, East of Eden
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
“One of the great conditions of anger and hatred is, that you must tell and believe lies against the hated object, in order, as we said, to be consistent.” William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
“when you find that people are not telling you the truth—look out!” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“I wanted all things To seem to make some sense, So we all could be happy, yes, Instead of tense. And I made up lies So that they all fit nice, And I made this sad world A par-a-dise.” Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“Folk songs are evasive — the truth about life, and life is more or less a lie, but then again that’s exactly the way we want it to be.” Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Volume One
“What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view...” Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
“The public weal requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre; let us leave this commission to men who are more obedient and more supple.” Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne
“We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.” Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler
“I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“Half-truths are worth more than outright lies.” George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
“When a man really tells the truth, the first truth he tells is that he himself is a liar.” G. K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
“The man who lies to the world, is the world's slave from then on” Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
“In short, the way to avoid misunderstanding is for everybody to lie and slander and insinuate and pretend as hard as they can. That is what obeying your mother comes to.” George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
“Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.” C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“when grown-ups told you something wouldn’t hurt it almost always did.” Neil Gaiman, Coraline
“Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.” Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
“Patriotism, on the other hand, is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.” Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays
“My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“So, that's what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. That's what they needed. People were fools. It was going to be easy for me.” Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

Related topics

truth life betrayal lying hypocrisy foolishness sadness honesty devil sin world story knowledge writing women fear censorship religion ignorance fate

Related authors

Samuel Butler (2)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1)
Oscar Wilde (3)
Michel de Montaigne (3)
George R. R. Martin (2)
John Steinbeck (2)
Ayn Rand (2)
Kurt Vonnegut (2)
Mark Twain (1)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1)
George Bernard Shaw (1)
William Shakespeare (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)
Haruki Murakami (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
Neil Gaiman (1)
Milan Kundera (1)
Emma Goldman (1)
Franz Kafka (1)
Paulo Coelho (1)

Related sources

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1)
The Trial (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (3)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (3)
East of Eden (2)
Atlas Shrugged (2)
Cat's Cradle (2)
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1)
The Age of Innocence (1)
The Screwtape Letters (1)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1)
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1)
The Alchemist (1)
Ham on Rye (1)
A Clash of Kings (1)
Anarchism and Other Essays (1)
Norwegian Wood (1)
The Way of All Flesh (1)
Great Expectations (1)