174Japanese proverb ことわざ
嘘つきは泥棒の始まり
うそつきはどろぼうのはじまりUsotsuki wa dorobō no hajimari
“Lying is the beginning of theft.”
The meaning
Great derailments begin with small arrangements with the truth. Each tolerated lie lowers the threshold of the next — uprightness is kept from the first word.
At the origin
A proverb taught to Japanese children for generations.
The characters
- 嘘つき usotsukilying, liar
- は watopic marker
- 泥棒
- の
- 始まり
はParticleMarks the topic: what the sentence is about — “as for…”.
In practice
Correct one "unimportant" little lie today.