The torment of a liar: who to trust

“The liars punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.” George Bernard Shaw

A white lie here and there is innocent. We all tell little white lies so as not to hurt the feelings of others: “your haircut is nice”

Those who lie more often than that, who do it consistently, create their own torment. The biggest side effect of lying is the liar can’t trust anyone else. The liar can never believe anyone else. A liar who does it well always suspects others of doing the same thing to him.

The better a person is at lying, the less he or she will believe anything anyone else says. They create their own hell, never believing anyone. They cannot love, for love requires trust. They might be loved, but only until their lies are found out.

Eventually, the liar becomes a lonely person. A lonely paranoid person.

Show your friends the honor they deserve

“It is more shameful to distrust ones friends than to be deceived by them.”             Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld

What this quote means is that not trusting those around you is a much worse offense than to have them deceive you. It is about having faith in those who have earned the right to be part of your inner circle. If you cannot trust a person, he or she should not be part of your inner circle, should not be a friend.

Friendship automatically signifies trust. Distrusting friends before they have proven they can’t be trusted is a very serious offense. It means that you have not truly accepted that person into your heart as a friend.

If you are deceived by someone you consider a friend, then the remedy, depending on the circumstance and their ability to earn your trust again, is to break the friendship. If you distrust them, you are treating them as a stranger. You are not giving them the honor that friendship entails.