In either case the orator should bear clearly in mind throughout his whole speech what the fiction is to which he has committed himself, since we are apt to forget our falsehoods, and there is no doubt about the truth of the proverb that a liar should have a good memory.

Vtrubique autem orator meminisse debebit actione tota quid finxerit, quoniam solent excidere quae falsa sunt: verumque est illud quod vulgo dicitur, mendacem memorem esse oportere.

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Notes from Wikiquote

Book IV, Chapter II, 91; translation by H. E. Butler | Compare: "Liars ought to have good memories", Algernon Sidney, Discourses on Government, chapter ii, section xv.

Variants

for "solent excidere quae falsa sunt": False things tend to be forgotten

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Quintilian (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.