Sam Harris Quotes About Lying
-
Lying is, almost by definition, a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. It is both a failure of understanding and an unwillingness to be understood. To lie is to recoil from relationship.
→ -
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.
→ -
Perhaps one day we will do “everything that we can to protect our people and the timeless values that we stand for.” But today, we won’t even honestly describe the motivations of our enemies. And in the act of lying to ourselves, we continue to pay lip service to the very delusions that empower them.
→ -
[I]t is difficult to imagine a set of beliefs more suggestive of mental illness than those that lie at the heart of many of our religious traditions.
→ -
One of the worst things about breaking the law is that it puts one at odds with an indeterminate number of other people. This is among the many corrosive effects of having unjust laws: They tempt peaceful and (otherwise) honest people to lie so as to avoid being punished for behavior that is ethically blameless.
→ -
Unlike statements of fact, which require no further work on our part, lies must be continually protected from collisions with reality.
→ -
Of course, the liar often imagines that he does no harm as long as his lies go undetected.
→
Related Authors
-
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Activist -
Richard Dawkins Ethologist -
Maajid Nawaz Political activist -
Reza Aslan Writer -
PZ Myers Scientist -
Pat Condell Writer -
Bill Maher Comedian -
Jerry A. Coyne Professor -
Noam Chomsky Linguist -
Ben Affleck Actor -
Christopher Hitchens Author -
Daniel Dennett Philosopher -
Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist -
Joe Rogan Stand-up comedian -
Susan Harris Television writer -
Deepak Chopra Author -
Steven Pinker Psychologist -
Victor J. Stenger Physicist -
Lawrence M. Krauss Physicist -
Chris Hedges Author