Quotes About Deception

The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominate political mythology.

Whoever he said he was, thought Marsh, he was not from the immigration department, and the web that he was convinced Walsh had been weaving was beginning to unravel with disastrous and dangerous consequences.

It's so deceptively easy to get people to stop trusting their own senses. They cut you off and then put fear in you.

You can count on your enemies," said Emilia now, "but sometimes it's the one who smiles who keeps you up at night." There

Only in promotional brochures was Los Angeles the City of Angels. To those who knew it, really knew it, it was not a city, but a vast, open grave swallowing up young lives.

You're like the figures you display in your shop. A beautiful thing, shiny in sunlight, but at the core—poured metal, cold stone.

Those eyes, hidden deep in that hooded cloak, could penetrate subterfuge and dissimulation as easily as X-rays penetrated flesh and illuminated the bones for all to see.

The way Mr. Ronan had acted seemed to be of a piece with this woman's behaviour. I felt a need to see where she was leading. It was none of her business, so I lied.

It was the most important moment in human history, the telling of the first lie. That's what separates us from the other animals. It has nothing to do with humans thinking on a higher plane or having easily available credit. We lie to each other. We deliberately mislead.

Smart means you know lots of shit. Clever means you can pretend you know it.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Oscar Wilde

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. GEORGE ORWELL

is so fundamental to our existence; it is wired into our DNA. That's why babies learn to fake cry before they're a year old and to bluff by the age of two. By four a child is an accomplished liar, and by five, he or she realises that truly outrageous lies are less likely to be believed.

People think they want the truth, but the opposite is true. Honesty is mean and rough and ugly, while lying can be kinder, softer and more humane. It's not honesty that we want, but consideration and respect.

I think that sometimes you can forget what the truth is if you hear a lie often enough.

The truth is a story. The truth is a habit. The truth is a compromise. The truth is a casualty. The truth died long ago.

this is exactly how Satan works, not through what seems grotesque and repulsive, but through what seduces us.

Women have been deceiving men since the Garden of Eden. They've had centuries of practice.

He is many things - dangerous and devious, cunning and deadly, a good friend and an implacable enemy - but he comes from an age when a man's word was indeed precious.

Fools lie, clever men stick to the truth.

And that was you?" Dee breathed, looking from Marethyu to Abraham. "I thought I was working for Isis and Osiris." Death's blue eyes crinkled. "You are, but sometimes you-and they-are working for me.

Dora pushed the mirror, sending it shattering to the floor. "Whoops." She turned to face Dee and pulled off her dark glasses to reveal the mirrors of her eyes. "You should go now. You've got about three seconds." Dee didn't quite make it out of the shop before it exploded.

It was some time ago—in the twelfth century, as you humani measure time—a man from the land of the Scots. I do not remember his name." Both Sophie and Josh instinctively knew that Hekate was lying. "What happened to him?" Sophie asked. "He died." There was a peculiar high-pitched giggle.

Cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force