there are cases where lying is useful, for example to save your life perhaps.. but otherwise, my fear about lying is described this way: if you lie and receive a benefit, you’ve cut yourself off from knowing what the benefits of honesty would have been in that situation. cut yourself off from knowing whether the benefits of honesty, short term as well as long term, would have been more pleasant. honesty has served me so well over the years, i don’t trust lying to do me the same rich justice.