Lying - Sam Harris

Rating 8/10

My Summary:

This book felt like a delightful opposite to Sam Harris’s End of Faith. Don’t lie, its simple. All good things come from the truth, and all negatives come from lies. Its your human duty to tell the people you care about the truth. Sugar coating only kicks the can down the road. So, tell the truth, now. A short read

Quotes:

Among the many paradoxes of human life, this is perhaps the most peculiar and consequential: We often behave in ways that are guaranteed to make us unhappy. Many of us spend our lives marching with open eyes toward remorse, regret, guilt, and disappointment.And nowhere do our injuries seem more casually self-inflicted, or the suffering we create more disproportionate to the needs of the moment, than in the lies we tell to other human beings. Lying is the royal road to chaos.

The moment we consider our dishonesty from the point of view of those we lie to, we recognize that we would feel betrayed if the roles were reversed.

But when asked for our opinion, we do our friends no favors by pretending not to notice flaws in their work, especially when those who are not their friends are bound to notice these same flaws. Saving our friends disappointment and embarrassment is a great kindness. And if we have a history of being honest, our praise and encouragement will actually mean something.