Laudator Temporis Acti

The Day-Book of John Stuart Blackie (London: Grant Richards, 1902), pp. 62-63:

1. Lies of carelessness, from loose observation and hasty generalisation—any hour's talk full of them.

2. Lies of cowardice, from fear of facing the truth, as when a man, labouring under a dangerous disease, reasons himself into the belief that he is quite well.

3. Lies of politeness, very common with women; taking the sting out of the truth, for fear of giving offence.

4. Lies of flattery, from a benevolent desire to please, or from a selfish desire to gain something by pleasing.

5. Lies of self-glorification, magnifying our own virtues, or the virtues of the class to which we belong. This includes patriotic lies, sectarian lies, and almost every kind of lie that masks selfishness under a grand name.

6. Lies of malevolent hostility, consciously intended to deceive an adversary, as in war.

7. Lies of self-defence, to save Nature when a force is put upon her; or to save one's life, where honour is not concerned.

8. Lies of benevolence, as to save another person's life, as when a righteous man flies to you for concealment, hounded by his persecutors, and you say he is not in your house.

9. Lies of convention, as when you call a man a gentleman who is not a gentleman in any proper sense of the word; or when you call the king, in the prayer-book, a most religious and gracious sovereign, when he may be a great blackguard; or when you call yourself 'your humble servant,' when you are as proud as Lucifer.

10. Lies of modesty, when you say you cannot do what you can do, to avoid the appearance of forwardness.

11. Lies.