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.