Wit & Attitude Quote by George Herbert

Herbert’s line is a devotional mic drop dressed as plain counsel: truth isn’t just morally nicer, it’s structurally cleaner. “Dare to be true” makes honesty sound less like etiquette and more like courage under pressure, because Herbert knows the real threat isn’t ignorance but panic. People lie when they’re cornered, when reputation feels more urgent than repair.

The next sentence tightens the screw: “Nothing can need a lie.” Not “shouldn’t,” not “oughtn’t” - can’t. Herbert frames lying as a category error, a short-term hack that cannot actually serve any legitimate need. If something “needs” deceit to stand, it’s already rotten. That’s where the subtext bites: he’s not merely scolding; he’s diagnosing a spiritual logic. In Herbert’s Anglican world, truth isn’t only social honesty; it’s alignment with God’s order. A lie isn’t an isolated act but an attempt to reorder reality around the self.

Then comes the killer mechanism: “a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.” The lie doesn’t erase the original wrongdoing; it reproduces it. The “fault” becomes compound interest. First you have the sin, then you add the lie - and with it, the ongoing maintenance costs: more lies, more fear, more distancing from accountability. Herbert compresses an entire psychology of self-justification into one arithmetic image.

Written in an era obsessed with conscience, confession, and the fragility of public honor, the couplet reads like early modern crisis management advice - except the crisis is the soul, and the only sustainable PR is repentance.