LYING
NOTHING
is more criminal, mean, or ridiculous than lying. It is the production either
of malice, cowardice, or vanity; but it generally misses of its aim, in every
one of these views; for lies are always detected sooner or later. If we advance
a malicious lie, in order to affect any man's fortune or character, we may
indeed injure him for some time; but we shall certainly be the greatest
sufferers in the end; for, as soon as we are detected, we are blasted for the
infamous attempt; and whatever is said afterwards to the disadvantage of that
person, however true, passes for calumny. To lie, or to equivocate, (which is
the same thing,) to excuse ourselves for what we have said or done, and to
avoid the danger or the shame that we apprehend from it, we discover our fear
as well as our falsehood, and only increase, instead of avoiding, the danger
and the shame; we show ourselves to be the lowest and meanest of mankind, and
are sure to be always treated as such. If we have the misfortune to be in the
wrong, there is something noble in frankly owning it; it is the only way of
atoning for it, and the only way to be forgiven. To remove a present danger by
equivocating, evading, or shuffling, is something so despicable, and betrays so
much fear, that whoever practices them deserves to be chastised.
There are people who indulge themselves in
another sort of lying, which they reckon innocent, and which, in one sense is
so; for it hurts nobody but themselves. This sort of lying is the spurious
offspring of vanity begotten upon folly. These people deal in the marvelous. They
have seen some things that never existed; they have seen other things which
they never really saw, though they did exist, only because they were thought
worth seeing. Has anything remarkable been said or done in any place, or in any
company, they immediately represent and declare themselves eye or ear witnesses
of it. They have done feats themselves, unattempted, or at least unperformed by
others. They are always the heroes of their own fables, and think that they
gain consideration, or at least present attention, by it; whereas, in truth,
all that they get is ridicule and contempt, not without a good degree of distrust;
for one must naturally conclude that he who will tell any lie from idle vanity,
will not scruple telling a greater for interest. Had I really seen anything so
very extraordinary as to be almost incredible, I would keep it to myself,
rather than, by telling it, give any one body room to doubt for one minute of
my veracity. It is most certain, that the reputation of chastity is not so
necessary for a women as that of veracity is for a man: and with reason; for it
is possible for a woman to be virtuous, though not strictly chaste; but it is
not possible for a man to be virtuous without strict veracity. The slips of the
poor woman are sometimes mere bodily frailties; but a lie in a man is a vice in
the mind and of the heart.
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