“To Thine Own Self Be True” “Honey, how do you like my new dress?” The dreaded question that every husband hates to hear. Having learned that an honest answer to such a question will throw the household into turmoil , he tells a little white lie, he looks at his wife and says automatically, “it looks great honey”. It doesn’t matter if the color of the dress makes her look like she has jaundice or like she’s a Paris Hilton wannabee. How many times a day are our abilities to tell the truth put to the test? Daily, we make decisions to questions like, “How are you?” We respond with the obligatory “fine” or “great” or with a truthful five minute description of all our aches and pains, both mental and physical. Constantly society dictates, “Good people don’t tell lies”, but day in and day out we have to make the decision whether we will express our true feelings, the truth, and accept the fallout from others, or say a lie to protect ourselves or our peers. We have to ask ourselves, what is a lie? How often do people lie? At what point does lying become addicting and behavioral? When it comes right down to it, Shakespeare probably had it right when he said, “to thine own self be true.” If truth is what we seek, then we should try to avoid lies. It’s helpful to take these questions out and examine them so that the truth that Shakespeare referred to is something we’ve thought about and made those “self” decisions about. What is a lie? According to Wikipedia, “A lie is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement, especially with the intention to deceive others, often with the further intention to maintain a secret or reputation, protect someone’s feelings or to avoid a punishment.” Sherry F. Colb, a professor at Rutgers Law School defines three main types of lies: Insignificant, Beneficial, and Harmful. Insignificant lies are known as the little white