The most common reason why we lie is to make ourselves appear better, bigger, more awesome, more virtuous, more talented.

We lie in a misguided attempt to make someone happy, to make another person like us more, to keep someone else from something we have done that we wish we could take back or just keep a secret.

We lie to make things easier. Because we are under the mistaken impression that a quick lie saves us from a long explanation. (Spoiler: it doesn’t.)

We lie to escape consequences we don’t want to face.

Underneath nearly every lie is the fear that we are not good enough.