Untruths Quotes

“Lies 1: There is only the present and nothing to remember.

Lies 2: Time is a straight line.

Lies 3: The difference between the past and the future is that one has happened while the other has not.

Lies 4: We can only be in one place at a time.

Lies 5: Any proposition that contains the word 'finite' (the world, the universe, experience, ourselves...)

Lies 6: Reality as something which can be agreed upon.

Lies 7: Reality is truth.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry

“It was the last thing I ever said to her. A lie. The worst kind of lie --the kind shrouded in good intentions. The kind cowards use to justify their weakness.”
― Renee Ahdieh, The Wrath and the Dawn

“When you first meet a person, sometimes they'll pretend to be all that you like. Deception is hard to predict instantly at times, but if you hang with them for a while their true colors will eventually begin to show.”
― Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Release The Ink

“The truth is that our self-deceptive lies range from seemingly tiny untruths to massive life-altering falsehoods about reality.”
― Cortney S. Warren, Lies We Tell Ourselves: The Psychology of Self-Deception

“But the lie had to be a good one, because if your lie is badly done it makes everyone feel wretched, liar and lied-to alike plunged into the deepest lackadaisy, and everyone just feels like going into the other room and drinking a glass of water, or whatever is available there, whereas if you can lie really well then get dynamite results, 35 percent report increased intellectual understanding, awareness, insight, 40 percent report more tolerance, acceptance of others, liking for self, 29 percent report they receive more personal and more confidential information from people and that others become more warm and supportive toward them--all in consequence of a finely orchestrated, carefully developed untruth.”
― Donald Barthelme, Flying to America: 45 More Stories

“Honest dishonesty. That’s quite the oxymoron – but I like the originality that you’ve brought to bear in the art of rationalization. Maybe you should consider becoming a lawyer,” he added jokingly.”
― Zack Love, The Syrian Virgin

“I write to murder the selves that whisper untruths to me.”
― Leonard Cohen

“Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods.”
― Chuck Todd

“These are treacherous times, and I know how easily perceptions can be twisted by a single word spoken into the wrong ear. Impugn a man's character, and everything that man does is made to seem underhanded, suspect, fraught with double motives.”
― Paul Auster, Travels in the Scriptorium

“Lies can travel so fast, from one person to another. You can never take them back. It is like shaking out a pillowcase full of feathers at the top of a mountain on a windy day. Do you think you would ever be able to gather up every single feather again?”
“No, I guess not”, said the little girl.
“No, you can never find all the feathers because you will never know where they have gone – or how far”, replied the tree. “It’s the same with lies, rumours, and gossip”.”
― Martha Begley Schade, The Listening Tree: Befriending Nature

“It was my habit to lie to strangers, because how would they know the difference?”
― Laura van den Berg, The Isle of Youth: Stories

“Telling one lie begets another lie that begets another lie and before you know it that lie has grandkids, great grandkids and keeps growing. It’s like Lay’s Potato Chips, you can’t tell just one!”
― Sanjo Jendayi, I Now Pronounce You Single & Happy

“Sometimes the truth is way more comforting than the misbelief or the lie from which we derive comfort.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“You cannot fool some nations with only the truths! They believe in whatever you say outside of the truth! They are only deceived by things that are not real!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The truth lies behind the strain in her voice, wallows in her hollow laugh. And now I recognise it for what it is; a buzz that’s existed since we met; the threatening stinger of a persistent lie.”
― Soulla Christodoulou, Alexander and Maria

“Thy babbling tongue tells golden tales
Of endless treasure;
Thy bounty offers easy sales
Of lasting pleasure;
Thou ask'st the conscience what she ails,
And swear'st to ease her:
There's none can want where thou supply'st:
There's none can give when thou deny'st.
Alas! fond world, thou boast'st; false world thou ly'st.”
― Francis Quarles

“We're in a culture that doesn't value writing as highly as it should. And I think we see that in our public discourse, I think we see that in our susceptibility to the big ol' lie.”
― George Saunders

“If President Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim, let me assure you the dude is the worst Muslim of all time. He eats bacon openly, drinks alcohol, never recites the Quran while facing Mecca, believes Jesus Christ is his savior, goes to church, and says he is a Christian. It's safe to say we won't be naming him our caliph after we take over America one Subway and halal food cart at a time.”
― Wajahat Ali, Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American

“You can habitually lie to me, but in the long term it is probably not going to go well for you.”
― Steven Magee

“Lies are the American way!”
― Steven Magee