Friends come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes they are wonderful all the time and occasionally they aren't. What do I mean by this? Simply that sometimes friends are great... they are honest and get back to us and have our best interests at heart. Sometimes, however, they go through a patch where they are busy or self-centered. Just because someone has a few character flaws (like us all) doesn't mean they are a bad friend.
The same goes for lying. No one likes to be lied to. But sometimes people have a hard time being honest, so they think lying is better. Is it really better? I don't know. I prefer gentle honesty but I will admit some people make it hard to be straight with.
Still, the occasional lie to protect a friend's feelings isn't so bad in my opinion. What is bad is someone that lies all the time, either because they are trying to impress people or just because they have their own version of reality. When I think of liars, I think of this quote from George Bernard Shaw:
"The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else."
I definitely had a friend once who fell into this category. This person lied constantly, and even about things you wouldn't think they would lie about. It was very odd. Like this quote suggests, they also couldn't believe anyone else. If I mentioned something great that happened in my life, they simply wouldn't believe it. It should come as no surprise that this person didn't last long as my friend.
What about you? Have you had a friend or two that lied a lot?