Lying

Sam Harris

To lie is to intentionally mislead others when they expect honest communication. To speak truthfully is to accurately represent one's beliefs — which may be different than the capital-T truth. Honesty is a gift we can give to others. Acts of commission (bad things we do) are usually worse than acts of omission (good things we failed to do) White lies - lies we tell others to avoid discomfort - are still lies, and we should avoid them. Lying condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act.