Maya Angelou wrote, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” Lying is the dark counterpart to courage: it’s the most important of all the vices, because without lying you can’t practice any other vice consistently (if you never lie, your terrorist plots just won’t pan out). Conversely, if you can’t stop lying—at least to yourself—you’ll never make it out of the inferno.
