With lies you may get ahead in the world — but you can never go back.

This proverb contrasts short-term advantage with long-term consequence. “Getting ahead” suggests that deception can produce immediate gains—status, money, influence—because it manipulates others’ perceptions. But “you can never go back” implies irreversibility: once a lie is told, relationships, reputation, and one’s own moral footing are altered in ways that cannot be fully undone. Even if the lie is later exposed or retracted, the original trust and the untainted past cannot be restored. The saying thus functions as a warning about path dependence in ethics: dishonest choices may open doors, but they also close off the possibility of returning to innocence, credibility, or a simpler truth.