We are on the same page on this: a lie is a lie is a lie, period. An honest person would not lie easily, because the "opportunity cost" is too high, therefore it's just not worth it to lie.
Obviously almost everyone lies (white, black or purple), however the degree of lying varies from one person to another. My question is: is it a one-for-all deal? By that I mean if you lie once, you did commit the act of lying, how is that different from lying a thousand times? Where do we draw the line?