Is it worse to lie or break a promise?
- Never break a promise
- lying is worse
- Don’t get into the situation where you have to choose
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voters
Which is worse, Lying or breaking a promise?
They’re both lying.
A
PWNED.
True, so which lie is worse, going back on your word, or lying to someone to keep the promise?
Each situtation carries it’s own set of consequences. Life isn’t a business to be managed where you can work it all out and set it in a neat one dimensional box and say this is right and that is wrong. Life is a mystery to be lived. Both carry their own set of consequences, there is no such thing as right or wrong. There is no need to place a value judgement on either.
It really depends on the circumstances of both situtations. One needs to be flexible but intent is key.
When the wind blows, trees always bend themselves to accommodate the wind, but the trees never sway from the principle.
I beg your pardon sir?
A
God, I’ve become a stupid teenager, when did that happen. 
At the time it seemed a completely reasonable question.
Hardly an unreasonable question. Quite a good one actually.
A
The reason I asked was to help sort out a problem I’m having.
that is exactly right.
so answer to your question, is it worse to lie or break a promise?
it all depends on the situation, things are not ‘worse’ than something else as a matter of principle but rather it is dependent on each individual situation.
Yes, well it is still reasonable to consider that keeping a promise would be more valuable because promises can be very powerful things if they are
kept.
of course the nature of the promise makes a difference and once again it depends on the situation.
In the future, don’t make promises. Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, your ‘no’ mean ‘no’, and you won’t need special oaths and rituals to convince people that you ‘really mean it this time’.
Are you saying that agreeing to a promise is different from making a promise?
that is true, i never say to someone that ‘i promise’ them anything.
if someone tells me something and they say “Promise you won’t tell anybody”
i would never answer “I promise”, i would say “I won’t tell anybody, dont worry about it.”
your word…is also like a promise though, just minus the stupid luggage that goes along with a promise.
I am going to echo LA and suggest there there is no clear cut calculus that would allow you to calcuate which practice was worse than the other. It depends on the details of particular situation. Now you might want to keep those details to yourself, and that is fine, but that is where the answer to the question can be found.
And then having said all of that I would say that it is often, but not always, a bad idea to compound a situation with a lie. If you decide that you are going to break a promise, then make it a clean break. Be upfront about it.
You always want to ‘destroy’ these situations. Think of all the episodes of Three’s Company that could have been cut short with the right word in the right place.
So, tell everybody the truth.* If that means breaking the promise, break the promise, and tell the person that you made the promise to that you did and why. It will probably hurt you and maybe some other people depending on what exactly is going on, but at least it will be over. When you lie, it’s never over, and you’ll keep having these situations cropping up again and again.
*- I’m assuming this situation is something normal, and not one of those “If the Nazi’s were coming to take away your family” scenarios.
This person asked me to promise.
that you wouldn’t tell?
I’ll stop here.
lying is always worse, always.
situations change, promises sometimes need to be broken.
lies never need to be told.*
I disagree. i thinka promise is something sacred something special, If the words I promise come out of your mouth, and you break it, (without a really really really) good reason, taht person will never trust you again. Lies are bad, you should avoid both. but sometimes lies are necessary, expecially white ones. it really depends on the situation which course of action you should take, but personally I believe in never making a promise I can’t keep…
is your situation sorted now? is everything ok?
sara
The situation is quiet, but not delt with, so I’m going to wait to see what happens.