小さな嘘

解説

付記

ダビデは言った――「人は皆、偽り者だ」と。 だが自らも偽りを語る彼は、 盗人同様に嘘をついたのだ。 おそらく彼は、 「自分ですら真実の奴隷ではない」と示すことで、 人々の不信を和らげようとしたのだろう。 いや、むしろ逆だ。 裸の真実に仕えた者は彼こそであったかもしれぬ。 たとえそれが無花果の葉一枚よりも乏しい姿でも。 だが彼の言葉は的を外した。 理性はそれを否定し、 事実は彼の面前で反証する。 人は皆うそつきではない―― なぜなら死人は嘘をつかないからだ。 ―― バートル・クインカー

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Original

A lie that has not cut its teeth. An habitual liar's nearest approach to truth: the perigee of his eccentric orbit.

Additional notes

When David said: "All men are liars," Dave, Himself a liar, fibbed like any thief. Perhaps he thought to weaken disbelief By proof that even himself was not a slave To Truth; though I suspect the aged knave Had been of all her servitors the chief Had he but known a fig's reluctant leaf Is more than e'er she wore on land or wave. No, David served not Naked Truth when he Struck that sledge-hammer blow at all his race; Nor did he hit the nail upon the head: For reason shows that it could never be, And the facts contradict him to his face. Men are not liars all, for some are dead. Bartle Quinker