“Well, everybody lies.”
If this is a widely held belief in your culture, your country in my opinion is in deep trouble, and so is the liar.
The link between reality and your mind is your senses. Your 5 senses provide the raw data about reality. Thinking allows you to integrate that data, draw logical conclusions, resolve contradictions - to reason. The liar is anti-reality, anti-facts, anti-reason, and he lives in a meaningless, unreal world.
What does an honest man do in a world where many, if not most, believe everybody lies? He’s at a bit of a disadvantage. On first meeting many, if not most, will assume he lies like everybody else. It will take a little longer than it should to convince people that he is an honest man.
An honest man sees honesty as in his self-interest. He does not lie, cheat or steal, but to be completely honest he must be honest with his opinions. Right or wrong he says what he believes, not what he thinks others want to hear. He will listen and learn from any logical argument, but not waver without one. He does what he says he’s going to do when he says he’s going to do it.
What role does honesty play in an individual’s character? What other virtues does honesty imply? An honest man will want to do an honest day’s work; that requires focus, effort and competence – competence is a virtue. The competent know you can’t fake reality, can’t cheat reality, that any attempt to do so results in failure. They know that reason is their only means of discovering what reality can be made to do. –rationality is a virtue. The honest man knows implicitly or explicitly that rationality and competence are virtues. He knows that success in the pursuit of his values is not without risk - courage is a virtue. And because success requires work – perseverance is a virtue.
And he likes that feeling of satisfaction that comes from having done an honest day’s work.
It’s an honest man’s virtues that make worthwhile values possible. It may take some time, even years, but he will find a job, a career or build a business that he loves. If he doesn’t compromise, if he looks for the best in all things, he’ll find great friends and romantic love with his soul mate - he’ll build a life that truly is worth living.

Check out my post on morality. Click on the link – a 3 minute read.
https://www.rationalselfinterest.com/post/morality

FB Comment:
Abdullah A Sadiq
This is a great piece! It really makes you think about the value of honesty in a world where it might not always be the norm.
The author's point about the liar living in a "meaningless, unreal world" is quite striking. It highlights how dishonesty can disconnect someone from reality and the ability to reason.
The passage also explores the challenges faced by an honest person in a society where lying is prevalent. It suggests that it might take more effort for an honest person to build trust and be believed.
The author emphasizes that an honest person is true to their word, which is a cornerstone of building trust and reliability.
The author then goes on to say: "An honest man will want to do an honest day’s work; that requires focus, effort and competence – competence is a virtue." This shows that honesty goes hand in hand with other virtues like diligence and skill.

RS
Thank you for that!