“
Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"
"Yes."
"You called her a liar?"
"Yes."
"You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?"
"Yes."
"Have a biscuit, Potter.
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5))
“
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
“
If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!
”
”
Shel Silverstein
“
So you're always honest," I said.
"Aren't you?"
"No," I told him. "I'm not."
"Well, that's good to know, I guess."
"I'm not saying I'm a liar," I told him. He raised his eyebrows. "That's not how I meant it, anyways."
"How'd you mean it, then?"
"I just...I don't always say what I feel."
"Why not?"
"Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said.
"Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though.
”
”
Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)
“
[H]iding how you really feel and trying to make everyone happy doesn't make you nice, it just makes you a liar.
”
”
Jenny O'Connell (The Book of Luke)
“
Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
”
”
Criss Jami
“
You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way.
”
”
Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1))
“
When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
Be bad, but at least don't be a liar, a deceiver!
”
”
Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)
“
Actually," said Jace, "I prefer to think that I'm a liar in a way that's uniquely my own.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
“
Be a little kinder than you have to.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
The liar's punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.
”
”
George Bernard Shaw (The Quintessence of Ibsenism)
“
I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.
”
”
J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
“
You have nice manners for a thief and a liar," said the dragon.
”
”
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again)
“
He was brother to a liar and brother to an angel, son of a dream and son of a dreamer.
”
”
Maggie Stiefvater (The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2))
“
Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.
”
”
Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
“
People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.
”
”
Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)
“
Do not accept an evil you can change.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
”
”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“
The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.
”
”
Stephen King
“
Always do what you're afraid to do.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
livid, adj.
Fuck You for cheating on me. Fuck you for reducing it to the word cheating. As if this were a card game, and you sneaked a look at my hand. Who came up with the term cheating, anyway? A cheater, I imagine. Someone who thought liar was too harsh. Someone who thought devastator was too emotional. The same person who thought, oops, he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Fuck you. This isn’t about slipping yourself an extra twenty dollars of Monopoly money. These are our lives. You went and broke our lives. You are so much worse than a cheater. You killed something. And you killed it when its back was turned.
”
”
David Levithan (The Lover's Dictionary)
“
Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.
[Verse 223]
”
”
Gautama Buddha (The Dhammapada)
“
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar
”
”
Abraham Lincoln
“
Love makes you a liar.
”
”
Cassandra Clare
“
I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything." -A
”
”
Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1))
“
Okay. Then...I can talk. Ask me something."
"Okay." He laughs shakily in my ear. "Why is your heart racing Tris?"
I cringe and say, "Well, I...I barely know you. I barely know you and I'm crammed up against you in a box, Four, what do you think?"...
"Maybe you were cut out for Candor," he says, "because you're a terrible liar.
”
”
Veronica Roth (Divergent (Divergent, #1))
“
There is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he'll keep to any deal you strike with him.
”
”
Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1))
“
The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets...
”
”
Sara Shepard (Flawless (Pretty Little Liars, #2))
“
There were a lot of answers I might've given, from "I knew that" to "LIAR!" to "Yeah right, and I'm Zeus." - Percy, after Quintus says that he is Daedalus
”
”
Rick Riordan (The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4))
“
Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such a love!
”
”
Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita)
“
No one believes a liar. Even when she's telling the truth.
”
”
Sara Shepard (Heartless (Pretty Little Liars, #7))
“
Never under estimate a pretty little liar.
”
”
Sara Shepard
“
He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
She is sugar, curiosity, and rain.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Liars make the best promises.
”
”
Pierce Brown (Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2))
“
The universe is seeming really huge right now. I need something to hold on to.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Are you insinuatin' that my daughter is a liar?"
"Oh, no, not at all. I'm saying your daughter is a liar. Surely you can appreciate the difference.
”
”
Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1))
“
Anybody who says they are a good liar obviously is not, because any legitimately savvy liar would always insist they're honest about everything.
”
”
Chuck Klosterman
“
What if we could stop being different colors, different backgrounds, and just be in love?
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Whoever said that loss gets easier with time was a liar. Here's what really happens: The spaces between the times you miss them grow longer. Then, when you do remember to miss them again, it's still with a stabbing pain to the heart. And you have guilt. Guilt because it's been too long since you missed them last.
”
”
Kristin O'Donnell Tubb (The 13th Sign)
“
Silence is a protective coating over pain.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Yeah, well," I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be."
"That's not entirely true." He smiles at me. "That girl who let someone throw knives at her to spare a friend, who hit my dad with a belt to protect me-that selfless girl, that's not you?"...
"You've been paying close attention, haven't you?"
"I like to observe people/"
"Maybe you were cut out for Candor, Four, because you're a terrible liar.
”
”
Veronica Roth (Divergent (Divergent, #1))
“
If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Love is by definition an unmerited gift; being loved without meriting it is the very proof of real love. If a woman tells me: I love you because you're intelligent, because you're decent, because you buy me gifts, because you don't chase women, because you do the dishes, then I'm disappointed; such love seems a rather self-interested business. How much finer it is to hear: I'm crazy about you even though you're neither intelligent nor decent, even though you're a liar, an egotist, a bastard.
”
”
Milan Kundera (Slowness)
“
See the world as it is, not as you wish it would be
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Someone once wrote that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments. I get the same thing spending an hour with you.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Here I am frozen, when I deserve to burn.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
let it go -- the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise -- let it go it
was sworn to
go
let them go -- the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
neithers -- you must let them go they
were born
to go
let all go -- the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things -- let all go
dear
so comes love
”
”
E.E. Cummings
“
Love is a verb, not a noun. It is active. Love is not just feelings of passion and romance. It is behavior. If a man lies to you, he is behaving badly and unlovingly toward you. He is disrespecting you and your relationship. The words “I love you” are not enough to make up for that. Don’t kid yourself that they are.
”
”
Susan Forward (When Your Lover Is a Liar: Healing the Wounds of Deception and Betrayal)
“
Dear parents, Jasmine was in a relationship with a dirty homeless boy named Aladdin. Snow White lived alone with 7 men. Pinnochio was a liar. Robin Hood was a thief. Tarzan walked around without clothes on. A stranger kissed sleeping beauty and she married him. Cinderella lied and snuck out at night to attend a party. You can't blame us. We were taught to rebel since a young age.
”
”
Walt Disney Company
“
I suffer migraines. I do not suffer fools.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it
”
”
Sara Shepard (Wanted (Pretty Little Liars, #8))
“
What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?
”
”
Cheryl Strayed (Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)
“
Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.
”
”
Octavia E. Butler (Parable of the Talents (Earthseed, #2))
“
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
”
”
William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
“
Always do what you're afraid to do.
...
I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick.
I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.
”
”
Mary Karr (The Liars' Club)
“
The island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Better than chocolate, being with you last night. Silly me, I thought that nothing was better than chocolate.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
Be sad, be sorry-but don't shoulder it.
”
”
E. Lockhart (We Were Liars)
“
There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul.
”
”
José N. Harris
“
If a man, who says he loves you, won’t tell you the details of a private conversation between him and another woman you can be sure he is not protecting your heart. He is protecting himself and the women he has feelings for. Wise women simply see things as they are, not as their low self-esteem allows.
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
I only steal because my dear old family needs the money to live!"
Locke Lamora made this proclamation with his wine glass held high; he and the other Gentleman Bastards were seated at the old witchwood table. . . . The others began to jeer.
"Liar!" they chorused
"I only steal because this wicked world won't let me work an honest trade!" Calo cried, hoisting his own glass.
"LIAR!"
"I only steal," said Jean, "because I've temporarily fallen in with bad company."
"LIAR!"
At last the ritual came to Bug; the boy raised his glass a bit shakily and yelled, "I only steal because it's heaps of fucking fun!"
"BASTARD!
”
”
Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1))
“
May she wake in torment!" he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. "Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—May she wake in torment!" he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. "Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!
”
”
Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights)
“
1. I’m lonely so I do lonely things
2. Loving you was like going to war; I never came back the same.
3. You hate women, just like your father and his father, so it runs in your blood.
4. I was wandering the derelict car park of your heart looking for a ride home.
5. You’re a ghost town I’m too patriotic to leave.
6. I stay because you’re the beginning of the dream I want to remember.
7. I didn’t call him back because he likes his girls voiceless.
8. It’s not that he wants to be a liar; it’s just that he doesn’t know the truth.
9. I couldn’t love you, you were a small war.
10. We covered the smell of loss with jokes.
11. I didn’t want to fail at love like our parents.
12. You made the nomad in me build a house and stay.
13. I’m not a dog.
14. We were trying to prove our blood wrong.
15. I was still lonely so I did even lonelier things.
16. Yes, I’m insecure, but so was my mother and her mother.
17. No, he loves me he just makes me cry a lot.
18. He knows all of my secrets and still wants to kiss me.
19. You were too cruel to love for a long time.
20. It just didn’t work out.
21. My dad walked out one afternoon and never came back.
22. I can’t sleep because I can still taste him in my mouth.
23. I cut him out at the root, he was my favorite tree, rotting, threatening the foundations of my home.
24. The women in my family die waiting.
25. Because I didn’t want to die waiting for you.
26. I had to leave, I felt lonely when he held me.
27. You’re the song I rewind until I know all the words and I feel sick.
28. He sent me a text that said “I love you so bad.”
29. His heart wasn’t as beautiful as his smile
30. We emotionally manipulated one another until we thought it was love.
31. Forgive me, I was lonely so I chose you.
32. I’m a lover without a lover.
33. I’m lovely and lonely.
34. I belong deeply to myself .
”
”
Warsan Shire
“
What a lousy earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused, or abandoned. How many families hungered for food they could not afford to buy? How many hearts were broken? How many suicides would take place that same night, how many people would go insane? How many cockroaches and landlords would triumph? How many winners were losers, successes failures, and rich men poor men? How many wise guys were stupid? How many happy endings were unhappy endings? How many honest men were liars, brave men cowards, loyal men traitors, how many sainted men were corrupt, how many people in positions of trust had sold their souls to bodyguards, how many had never had souls? How many straight-and-narrow paths were crooked paths? How many best families were worst families and how many good people were bad people? When you added them all up and then subtracted, you might be left with only the children, and perhaps with Albert Einstein and an old violinist or sculptor somewhere.
”
”
Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
“
MAKING THE LIE MAKE SENSE:
When denial (his or ours) can no longer hold and we finally have to admit to ourselves that we’ve been lied to, we search frantically for ways to keep it from disrupting our lives. So we rationalize. We find “good reasons” to justify his lying, just as he almost always accompanies his confessions with “good reasons” for his lies. He tells us he only lied because…. We tell ourselves he only lied because…. We make excuses for him: The lying wasn’t significant/Everybody lies/He’s only human/I have no right to judge him.
Allowing the lies to register in our consciousness means having to make room for any number of frightening possibilities:
• He’s not the man I thought he was.
• The relationship has spun out of control and I don’t know
what to do
• The relationship may be over.
Most women will do almost anything to avoid having to face these truths. Even if we yell and scream at him when we discover that he’s lied to us, once the dust settles, most of us will opt for the comforting territory of rationalization. In fact, many of us are willing to rewire our senses, short-circuit our instincts and intelligence, and accept the seductive comfort of self-delusion.
”
”
Susan Forward (When Your Lover Is a Liar: Healing the Wounds of Deception and Betrayal)