Sam Harris Quotes

There were people who lied for gain, people who lied from pain, people who lied simply because the concept of telling the truth was utterly alien to them . . . and then there were people who lied because they were waiting for it to be time to tell the truth.

People seldom tell the truths that are worth telling. We ought to choose our truths as carefully as we choose our lies and to select our virtues with as much thought as we bestow upon the selection of our enemies.

I can't say why people lie; they just do. Everyone has their own reasons for not telling the truth.

There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you.

Some people will lie to you because they mean to. Others will do it to tell you what you want to hear.

It's a weird thing about the truth: It protects you. What really makes you vulnerable is when you're lying because you're going to get caught. When you tell the truth, there's a strange relief that comes.

There's hostility to lying, and there should be.

Lies are dangerous but sometimes necessary when a country is in danger.

Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever. But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.

An untruth must be spoken, where need requires. For whether men lie, or say true, it is with one and the same object. Men lie, because they think to gain by deceiving others; and speak the truth, because they expect to get something by their true speaking, and to be trusted afterwards in more important matters. Thus, though their conduct is so opposite, the end of both is alike. If there were no gain to be got, your true-speaking man would tell untruths as much as your liar, and your liar would tell the truth as much as your true-speaking man.

It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interest of the country.

I think people need fantasy, but I think they also need to know that they're not being lied to. I think sometimes the fantasy can betray people and become more difficult for people's lives than just truth. I can't stand delusion. Delusion makes me sick.

You become uneasy with people in direct proportion to how many lies you have to keep track of in their presence.

I try not to lie to people - the only way to control the way you're perceived is to tell the truth.

If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.

The truth is everything in the end. It is the greatest power in the world to make all people equal. If everyone knows what the truth is, no one can use lies to separate those people and turn them against one another.

Sometimes you're lying to protect people in a way.

An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.

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 didn't mislead people. I know I didn't lie and I have got to establish that.

When you find that people are not telling you the truth---look out!

But don't we often lie to people we love, or not tell them things, precisely because we love them?

You can fool people some of the time, but you can't fool them all of the time.

Lies cannot nourish or protect you. Only freedom from fear, freedom from lies, can make us beautiful, and keep us safe.

My central focus is what are we doing to protect the American people and the American homeland? Afghanistan and Pakistan are critical elements in that process.