Rex Stout Quotes

On the whole, I should say that the person who likes to lie should never, in any circumstances, be allowed to. Leave the lying to the people who hate it. You will not find them indulging often.

I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies.

Make a habit of telling the truth, or make a habit of lying: to decide each case on its own merits is exhausting, and hardly ever worth it.

Honesty is always good, except when it's better to lie.

Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe the one thing naturally begets the other.

Never tell a lie when you can bullshit your way through it

Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind.

Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

I've tried to do away with lying in my life in the last few years, but it's hard.

Tact: to lie about others as you would have them lie about you.

There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition. There are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it.

An honorable man or woman is one who is truthful; free from deceit; above cheating, lying, stealing, or any form of deception. An honorable man or woman is one who learns early that one cannot do wrong and feel right. A man's character is judged on how he keeps his word and his agreements.

There are few reasons for telling the truth, but for lying the number is infinite.

Do the devils lie? No; for then even hell could not subsist.

There are many who say more than the truth on some occasions, and balance the account with their consciences by saying less than the truth on others. But the fact is that they are in both instances as fraudulant as he would be that exacted more than his due from his debtors, and paid less than their due to his creditors.

Dishonesty is a forsaking of permanent for temporary advantages.

It is not right or manly to lie even about Satan.

Telling the truth and making someone cry is better than telling a lie and making someone smile.

There is nothing that God hates so much as a liar.

There are 869 different forms of lying, but only one of them has been squarely forbidden. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

It is as bad to clip conscience as to clip coin; it is as bad to give a counterfeit statement as a counterfeit bill.

In this age, lies were the universal lubricant of the culture. A love of Truth and commitment to it were seldom rewarded and were often punished.

Tell the truth or trump-but get the trick.

Widespread cultural acceptance of lying is a primary reason many of us will never know love

I don’t like to lie – so there’d better be a good reason why I’m doing it.