[Lily]

We know the famous phrase of House “Everybody lies” and it is no doubt. But the question is – why does everybody lie? Lie is the easiest way to simplify our life. It is more easier to say that people want to hear or sometimes it is very hard to say what you really think because you can offend somebody. People lie to achieve their goals good or bad. And we know that it is very bad but continue to do so. Is there bad or good lie? Is there an inoffensive lie? Or maybe all lie is bad. I think we must try to be honest in everything. It is better to say nothing than say that you don't think. I want that people say me truth or nothing. I don't want to hear “sweet lie”. And it is very important don't lie to yourself! What do you think about this?

("Lie" is not a mass noun. You should either use it as a discrete noun, e.g. "It's a lie!", "I'm tired of his lies", etc., or use something like "lying" instead.)

[Emerald]

Lily, on 13 September 2011 - 02:01 PM, said:

Lie is the easiest way to simplify our life.

I never thought it is. And I don't think I ever will. That is to say I completely disagree with this statement. Why do you think lying is making makes our life easier? What about people who have become totally confused by the lies they've told? I don't think their lives get easier with every new lie they tell.
How can a lie simplify our life?

Quote

think we must try to be honest in everything. It is better to say nothing than say that you don't think. I want that people say me truth or nothing. I don't want to hear “sweet lie”. And it is very important don't lie to yourself!

Our life is not about black and white, not about bad and good only. There is always something in between. Telling lies is not the right thing to do, this is no question. What about "not telling the whole truth" when it is needed? Will it be a lie or not? I suppose not. Sometimes I would prefer to be told a lie other than truth. I would prefer not to know the real thing. There are things that are sometimes absolutely needless to be known.

[Old Toby]

We usually associate the word "lying" with malicious intent, which naturally makes the question "Is it OK to tell a lie?" sound much like "Is it OK to do a bad thing?" We wouldn't be asking the question if we were not already convinced that lying is a bad thing. It is precisely this fact that surrounds this question with such a delightful aura of profundity. Don't we sometimes have to do a bad thing, and doesn't that prove how relative everything is, and doesn't that make us such wonderfully complex creatures? In fact, I don't think it does. I think it is with lying as it is with, say, physical violence. Is it a good thing to punch someone in the face? Surely we cannot answer this unless we know who this someone is and whether he deserves such rough treatment. The act of violence itself is merely the external manifestation of certain moral choices, and it is with those choices that we should primarily be concerned. A blow may strike down the innocent man, but it may just as well protect him. It is on this that the whole question turns, not on the mere fact that a blow was struck. Similarly, if a good purpose can be served by fiction better than by truth, telling a lie is clearly the right thing to do. If this sounds outrageous, it is only because our purpose in lying is, in the majority of cases, far from being good, and we know it. And yet, as Dickens says in Martin Chuzzlewit, “There are some falsehoods on which men mount, as on bright wings, towards Heaven.”

[Fox]

Absolutely agree with two previous speakers and want to add a few other examples:


1. You meet a friend of yours. He (she) looks awful (didn’t get enough sleep, feels sick, has weird clothes on, etc.). Will you tell him (her) about it? Does he (she) need this? What’s the point?

2. You are having some problems. Do you think it’s essential to tell your friends (relatives, colleagues) about them? Haven't they got piles of their own issues to be solved?

3. And of course there is a great variety of cases in which you are actually forced to tell children lies.

Sometimes there is just no necessity in telling the truth. One shouldn’t stop lying. One should specify the types of lies. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics”. But setting jokes aside, to tell the truth always is unnatural.