The Lie Lasts While the Truth Arrives

Informant:

I had a conversation about proverbs they had learned from their families with three female employees at a local taco shop during one of the less busy times of the day.  Mercedes Rodriguez, 42, Maria Lopez, 23, and Rosalba Valdez, 18 each consider themselves Mexican.  Rosalba was the only one born in the United States, though she is a second generation immigrant.  When Maria was little, her mother would use this proverb whenever she did something bad and tried to cover it up with a lie.  Of course, as all mothers do, she found out eventually.

Text:

La mentira dura mientras la verdad llega.

Transliteration: The lie lasts while the truth arrives

Translation: The lie lasts while the truth arrives

Analysis:

This proverb encourages children to tell the truth, since people will find it out eventually anyways.