As it was in Anna Karenina Madame Bovary and Othello so it is in life. Most forms of private
vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal
betrayals financial fraud government corruption— even murder and genocide— generally
require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying best-selling author and
neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society
by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white"
lies— those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort— for these are
the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell
while imagining that they are being good in the process.
