Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie;
A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.

Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie;
A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.

Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies,
To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.

Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies,
To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise.

I tell him, if a clergyman, he lies!
If captains the remark, or critics, make,
Why they read more

I tell him, if a clergyman, he lies!
If captains the remark, or critics, make,
Why they lie also--under a mistake.

Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat;
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate.

Quoth Hudibras, I smell a rat;
Ralpho, thou dost prevaricate.

The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.

The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.

A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.

A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not
to trust himself on the read more

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not
to trust himself on the narrow edge.
[Lat., Ita enim finitima sunt falsa veris ut in praecipitem locum
non debeat se sapiens committere.]

He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced read more

He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one.

A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.

A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.