Lies, Falsehoods Quotes

There are three kind of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Lies are told only to convey to someone that one has no need either of him or his good opinion.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority.

The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

In the tragic situation which confronts humanity, we feel that scientists should assemble in conference to appraise the perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of mass destruction.... There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.

All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth.

Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.

Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Convictions are much more an enemy of the truth than lies.

The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before. If you can live through that you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

The first casualty when war comes is truth.

The primitive simplicity of their [the masses'] minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones.

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out.

An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men.

The great enemy of the truth is often not the lie ... but the myth.