Hosea Ballou 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.

It is better to disappoint people with the truth than to appease them with a lie.

By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is. Our dishonesty not only influences the choices they make, it often determines the choices they can make—and in ways we cannot always predict. Every lie is a direct assault upon the autonomy of those we lie to.

You never feel good when you lie. It doesn't matter how much you want something, if you lie to somebody you love, and they actually, sincerely believe you, you feel like a cockroach that needs some serious Raid action.

Lying has become so much the accepted norm that people lie even when it would be simpler to tell the truth.

If someone's lying about something small, you don't know what else they're lying about. I'm a big girl, I can handle the truth - even if it's not good news.

It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.

All I want and all I even ask of people in Hollywood is look, just be honest with me. Please don't lie to me. Whatever the situation is, be honest with me.

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

I can't tell a lie - not even when I hear one.

I'm not big on lying. I don't like that at all.

Put away from you a dissembling mouth.

Have you weaned yourself of your off-putting proclivity for not telling the truth/

I never lie in interviews.

I never really tell lies, and sometimes it has worked against me.

It's so much easier to be truthful. Maybe I'm just too lazy to lie.

I don't lie very well!

I don't like people lying; I like honesty.

I'm not a particularly good liar.

I cannot stand dishonesty among people, the tendency to prevaricate.

The truth is always easier than a lie or an evasion - easier to deal with and easier to live with.

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

But here's the thing about being honest: All the liars HATE you for it, and most of the people in the world are liars. They lie to their bosses, they lie to their families, they lie to themselves, they lie so much they don't even know they're lying anymore. If you have the courage to be honest even a little bit all those people will hate you for it, because their lie is reflected in your honesty. Oscar Wilde wasn't kidding when he said, "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

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

Honesty, for me, is usually the worst policy imaginable.