… Just gonna stand there and watch me burn?
Well, that’s alright, because I like the way it hurts
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry?
Well, that's alright, because I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie … Eminem ft. Rihanna
Lie detectors are bullshit. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s7e5: Lie Detectors, Showtime 2009
There are 3,500 of these damned things in use in America alone. ibid.
Polygraphs have been virtually inadmissible since the case of Fry v United States ... Polygraph evidence is generally not accepted by the scientific community. ibid.
The only way a lie detector can possibly work is if people think it works. ibid.
I don’t know how these people sleep at night. Barbra Streisand, interview BBC
Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes. Hilaire Belloc, 1870-1953, Cautionary Tales, 1907
For every time She shouted ‘Fire!’
They only answered ‘Little Liar!’ ibid.
We lie for a living. Bill Shankly, Liverpool F.C. manager
A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Francis Bacon, Essays: ‘Of Truth’, 1625
It is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt. Francis Bacon
Propaganda: That branch of the art of lying which consists in very nearly deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies. Francis MacDonald Cornford, Microcosmographia Academica, 1908
Liars ought to have good memories. Algernon Sidney, Discourses concerning Government, 1698
I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet. George Washington, attributed
If the makers of this film attempted to cover all of Obama’s lies this documentary would never be released because there are new ones every day ... Barack and his campaigners made the cornerstone of his campaign keeping lobbyists and donors out of their campaign. Within hours of being elected he did a 180 and filled the White House and government with lobbyists and donors at all levels ... Obama is a fantastic actor and an even better liar. Alex Jones, the Obama Deception
Most of what we’ve ever been taught has been a lie. Bill Cooper
Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth. Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: every single one was a liar. J Edgar Hoover
These allegations are wicked lies. Jonathan Aitken
Young as he was, his instincts told him that the best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way. Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh
Our old friend economical ... with the actualité. Alan Clark, under cross-examination at Old Bailey in Matrix Churchill case
It contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth. Robert Armstrong, British civil servant, during Spycatcher trial in New South Wales
Whoever would lie usefully should lie seldom. Lord Hervey
VERY SORRY CAN’T COME. LIE FOLLOWS BY POST. Lord Charles Beresford, telegraph to Prince of Wales
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright,
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight. Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Grandmother, 1859
When a man lies he murders some part of the world. Excalibur 1981 starring Nigel Terry & Helen Mirren & Nicholas Clay & Cherie Lunghi & Paul Geoffrey & Nicol Williamson & Corin Redgrave & Patrick Stewart & Keith Buckley & Clive Swift & Liam Neeson & Gabriel Byrne & Robert Addie & Charley Boorman & Katrine Boorman & Ciaran Hinds et al, director John Boorman, Merlin
I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman – Ms Lewinski. Bill Clinton, 27th January 1998
cf.
Indeed I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinski that was not appropriate. In fact it was wrong. Bill Clinton, 18th August 1998
I remember flying over the countryside, you know, with bullet-proof everything on ... I remember landing under sniper fire ... There was no greeting ceremony and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now that is what happened. Hillary Clinton, remembering trip to Bosnia with daughter
Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom. Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault, 1844-1924, La Vie en Fleur, 1922
It is a true saying that ‘One falsehood leads easily to another’. Cicero
A lie, once uttered, changes reality just as surely as if it were a great truth. Peter Ackroyd, English Music
The cruellest lies are often told in silence. Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque, 1881
There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
David [Attenborough], how long have you been lying on Natural History programmes? Spitting Image s1e7, ITV 1984
It’s not true that the inhalation and retention of coal dust in the lungs necessarily results in any impairment of the pulmonary function. Attorney for Bitumous Coal Operators Association, televised address, cited Barbara Kopple, Harlan Country USA 1976
Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf. Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest, 1924
I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you. Friedrich Nietzsche
The lie is a condition of life. Friedrich Nietzsche
The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception. Friedrich Nietzsche
I want you to know lying does not come easy to me. I want you to know it doesn’t come easy to anybody. But I think we all had to weigh in the balance the difference between lives and lies. Colonel Oliver North
Throughout the war in Vietnam the United States has exercised a degree of restraint unprecedented in the annals of war. Richard Nixon
I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in. I neither took part in it nor knew about any of the subsequent cover-up activities. Richard Nixon, televised address
People have got to know whether their president’s a crook. Well I’m not a crook. Richard Nixon
A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent. William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19
Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? Job 13:7