Thanks Olive. It is more the compulsive pathological lying, that is supported by others, often involving a web of deceit. When lying becomes a character trait rather than being honest, and is supported, it can becomes dangerous when it deliberately distorts the reality of others. It's not so much about the one-off white lies, once they are not harming anyone. It's whether lies are harmful that is what I mean. Systematic lying over time that is normalised is very harmful. We can all tell white lies. If someone asks us what we think of their new dress, etc, and it's awful, we may say it's fine, to avoid offending. But even persistent white lies can be harmful. Like if we don't want to talk to someone but keep up a pretence that is false and misleading. The person who we don't want to speak to is likely to pick up cues anyway, so we are undermining their sense of reality. Honesty is always best, so long as it's not brutal.