Citations:the cake is a lie

Proverb: "the end you are pursuing is unattainable or misguided; the reward you have been promised is false"

 * 2011, Nick Martin, "A Hit Sitcom In Just Five Easy Steps!", Buzz Weekly, 15 December 2011, page 6:
 * The jokes are cake, and the cake is a lie — fan-service tricking nerds into watching a show designed for adults who vote Republican (Middle America!).
 * 2012 28 February, Allison Pang, A Sliver of Shadow, Pocket Books (2012), ISBN 9781439198346, page 241:
 * "The cake is a lie," I intoned gravely.
 * She stuck her tongue out at me. "It always is. But we need to be a bit more alert to what's going on this time." Her mouth curved into a wry smile. "There's science to do."
 * 2012, James Margeson, "The quiet assault on public education", The Sphinx (University of Liverpool), March 2012, page 9:
 * The assumption that a degree will vastly improve future earnings is increasingly misleading. By their very nature high paid jobs are exclusive and limited in number. "The cake is a lie."
 * 2012 12 November, J. L. Hilton, Stellarnet Prince, Carina Press (2012), ISBN 9781426894619, page 320:
 * “One shitty leader doesn't mean the cake is a lie. One man's decisions don't invalidate everything else—the ideals, the history, the words etched in marble and the sacrifices of all the people who make the United States a just and safe place to live.”
 * 2018, Jack Townsend, Tales from the Gas Station: Volume Two, page 5:
 * Life is suffering. Free will is an illusion. The cake is a lie.
 * 2019, Hsueh M. Qu, Hume's Epistemological Evolution, page 111:
 * However, Hume thinks that the cake is a lie: such a system retains the difficulties of the vulgar theory, and also carries with it some unique problems.
 * 2020, Heather Vescent & Nick Selby, Cyber Attack Survival Manual: From Identity Theft to The Digital Apocalypse, page 69:
 * Start out by talking about how criminals attract us with sexy pictures, promises of free games or movies, get-rich-quick schemes, and more. The more a link begs you to click on it, the less likely it is that it will deliver on its promise. So, point one, the cake is a lie.
 * However, Hume thinks that the cake is a lie: such a system retains the difficulties of the vulgar theory, and also carries with it some unique problems.
 * 2020, Heather Vescent & Nick Selby, Cyber Attack Survival Manual: From Identity Theft to The Digital Apocalypse, page 69:
 * Start out by talking about how criminals attract us with sexy pictures, promises of free games or movies, get-rich-quick schemes, and more. The more a link begs you to click on it, the less likely it is that it will deliver on its promise. So, point one, the cake is a lie.