Which House M.D. character is known for saying, “Everybody lies”?

Gregory House is the House M.D. character associated with the line “Everybody lies.”

The phrase summarizes House’s approach to diagnosis. He assumes that patients, relatives, and sometimes fellow doctors may omit facts, distort events, or misunderstand what happened. Because hidden information can change a diagnosis, House often investigates a patient’s lifestyle and personal circumstances as aggressively as he studies test results.

The saying is not a literal claim that every person lies constantly. It is House’s deliberately cynical working principle, used to justify looking beyond the official medical history. The show repeatedly demonstrates that a patient may conceal drug use, relationships, travel, work conditions, or other details because of embarrassment, fear, or a wish to protect someone.

“Everybody lies” became one of the series’ most recognizable quotations. It is also an important contrast with the finale’s title, “Everybody Dies.” Together, the phrases reflect two recurring subjects of House M.D.: the difficulty of discovering truth and the unavoidable limits of medicine.