Why in fact should one tell the truth? What obliges us to do it? And why do we consider telling the truth a virtue? Imagine that you meet a madman, who claims that he is a fish and that we are all fish. Are you going to argue with him? Are you going to undress in front of him and show him that you don't have fins? Are you going to say to his face what you think? If you told him the whole truth and nothing but the truth, only what you really thought, you would enter into a serious conversation with a madman and you yourself would become mad. And it is the same way with the world that surrounds us. If you obstinately told a man the truth to his face, it would mean you were taking him seriously. And to take something so unimportant seriously means to become less than serious oneself. You see, one must lie, if you don't want to take madmen seriously and become one of them yourself.
