The Little Liar

by Mitch Albom

but I can tell you that whatever countenance you were born with, Truth will enhance it.

“Connected,” Lazarre says. “Tradition is how you know who you are.”

If you want to get away with lying, first change the language.

We are all one fateful act from a redirected destiny, and the price we pay can be immeasurable.

By the time you share what a loved one longs to hear, they often no longer need it.

Learn certain key verbs (do, want, see, make, go, come, eat, sleep), certain key nouns (food, water, room, friend, family, country), memorize all the pronouns, then begin to fill in the rest.

Truth is universal. You often hear that expression.

But there are certain truths that are experienced universally, and one of them is loss. The hollow in your heart as you stand by a grave.

The lump in your throat as you stare at your destroyed home. Loss. Yes. Loss is universal. Everyone in their lifetime will know it.

Psychologists call it “pathological lying.” It refers to lies that do not serve a purpose, or even help the person telling them. They are simply choices made out of a disorder, a mental illness, or, in Nico’s case, because the trauma of truth was so blinding it burned his eyes to me forever.

When it comes to lies, governments can outlast anyone.