“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
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3 comments:
A very harsh lady, Ms. Rand; she possessed that all-or-nothing Russian outlook which brooks no middle-ground. White lies are often a kindness.
I do agree with you David on the white lies. The greater point of my post being the power given by the liar to the liee (is it ok that I make up words?)
I was thinking of the classic white lie, and I carefully do not disclose the names on the grounds of self-protection:
Wife to husband: 'Does my bum look big in this?'
Husband to wife: 'No, no, not at all, darling, ...'
The missing honesty phrase insisted upon by the late Ms. Rand is, of course:
'... it looks bloody enormous!'
I don't suppose any of Ms. Rand's gentlemen friends ever dared to say it, either!
And you, Miss Red, can make up and write any damn thing you please, just so long as you continue to publish your delicious ladies!
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