Lester Bangs Quotes

Acting is like lying. The art of lying well. I'm paid to tell elaborate lies.

Acting is technically just lying, so I guess I've been acting since I was about 7.

What is a writer of fiction but a liar with a licence?

Being a blues singer is like being black two times.

You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way.

I think all actors are professional liars.

I think finding a way to relate material to yourself can be useful to some people but acting for me is just being really good at make-pretend and lying. I've always been a great liar.

Glam rock always has a story to tell and has that powerful voice with a little hint of libretto.

I think singing is such an important and incredible art form and it is quite undervalued at times.

When I would be on the stage singing, I would see a movie of something that happened, I would be telling the story. I would be describing the story in sound, but my goal would be to make somebody else run their own movie.

It's kind of strange-- in fiction you get to tell lies and are applauded for it.

People think the blues is sad. They hear people moaning and such. That's not the blues. That's just somebody singing slow...The blues is about truth-telling.

I sing as an actress. Whatever I'm singing about, I just become the story.

I think blues music is music of the soul. Of course, there are other forms. You could call some classical music blues music in that way.

"So you're always honest," I said. "Aren't you?" "No," I told him. "I'm not." "Well, that's good to know, I guess." "I'm not saying I'm a liar," I told him. He raised his eyebrows. "That's not how I meant it, anyways." "How'd you mean it, then?" "I just...I don't always say what I feel." "Why not?" "Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said. "Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though."

Once upon a time I was such a good liar; I could talk the fish right into my mouths.

Poets themselves, tho' liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air of truth to their fictions.

Especially difficult when the first and best unconscious move of a dedicated liar is to persuade himself he's sincere. And once he's sincere, all deception vanishes.

Being a writer of fiction isn't like being a compulsive liar, honestly.

The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilized being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company.

Writers tell more truths, and more lies, than most.

Acting is telling the truth under imaginary circumstances. I cannot think of a worse way to describe acting. Also, I'm the worst liar ever.

...and wondering where he had read that clever liars give details, but that the cleverest do not.

This be an empty world without the blues.

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 or escape. I suppose if that definition is strictly held to, then a writer of stories is a liar - if he is financially fortunate.