Is a lie still a lie
if you say it pretty?

Telling one lie almost always requires another, and before the storyteller knows it, they will be caught inside of their own web.

People tell all kinds of lies to save their skins.

We don't lie to protect the other person. We lie to protect ourselves from the consequences. We lie because we don't want to deal with our own feelings. We lie because we don't want things to change. Not by our hand. So a wall starts to build.

Strict and literal truthfulness was a trivial game and might even be a disagreeable neurotic affliction.

Within every elaborate lie, a kernel of truth.