Deceit Quotes - Page 12

• Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self. Look at them. The man who cheats and lies, but preserves a respectable front. He knows himself to be dishonest, but others think he’s honest and he derives his self-respect from that, second-hand. The man who takes credit for an achievement which is not his own. He knows himself to be mediocre, but he’s great in the eyes of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Lying, Eye, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.441, Penguin

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• It is my belief... that the truth is generally preferable to lies.

  J. K. Rowling

  Lying, Inspirational Harry Potter, Potters

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• When a lion stalks a herd, he sneaks in close, lies down, and surveys them to choose his victim. He takes his time. The deer or buffalo have no idea he’s near. He finds his prey and then he explodes from his hiding place and grabs it. Even if another, perfectly serviceable animal ends up within his reach, he isn’t going to alter his course. He has chosen, and he would rather go hungry than change his mind.

  Ilona Andrews

  Lying, Animal, Ideas

  Ilona Andrews (2010). “Magic Strikes: A Kate Daniels Novel: 3”, p.33, Hachette UK

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• Let us never forget this: since the day of the air, the old frontiers are gone. When you think of the defense of England you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover; you think of the Rhine. That is where our frontier lies.

  Stanley Baldwin

  Lying, Thinking, Air

  Hansard 30 July 1934, col. 2339

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• Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

  Francis Bacon

  Lying, Substance, Opinion

  Francis Bacon, Richard Whately (1858). “Essays: With Annotations by Richard Whately”, p.538

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• Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want to get something out of them, otherwise you'll come home to me with a full belly and an empty purse.

  Pietro Aretino

  Home, Men, Want

  Pietro Aretino (2003). “The School of Whoredom”, Hesperus Press

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• Power is a trick. It lies where we believe it lies.

  George R. R. Martin

  Lying, Believe, Tricks

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• We are all created to be miserable, and that we all know it, and all invent means of deceiving each other. And when one sees the truth, what is one to do?

  Leo Tolstoy

  Lying, Mean, Miserable

  Leo Tolstoy (2016). “ANNA KARENINA – Two Unabridged Translations in One Premium Edition (World Classics Series): The Greatest Romantic Tragedy of All Times from the Renowned Author of War and Peace & The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Including Biographies of the Author)”, p.1836, e-artnow

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• Children wear their natures like brightly-colored clothes; that's why they lie so transparently. Adulthood is the art of deceit.

  Robert Charles Wilson

  Art, Children, Lying

  Robert Charles Wilson (2014). “The Chronoliths”, p.156, Macmillan

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• In the essence of truth lies deceit.

  Dejan Stojanovic

  Lying, Essence

  "The Sun Watches the Sun". Book by Dejan Stojanovic, "A Deceit" (p. 29), 1999.

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• In them, she saw the sham of her life laid out like a book, the foolish belief that she, that anyone, could escape the consequences of this world, could flee from death. That was the deceit. The true serpent in the garden.

  Libba Bray

  Book, Garden, World

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• In the whole of your absurd past you discover so much that's absurd, so much deceit and credulity, that it might be a good idea to stop being young this minute, to wait for youth to break away from you and pass you by, to watch it going away, receding in the distance, to see all its vanity, run your hand through the empty space it has left behind, take a last look at it, and then start moving, make sure your youth has really gone, and then calmly, all by yourself, cross to the other side of Time to see what people and things really look like.

  Louis-Ferdinand Celine

  Running, Distance, Moving

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• Let me go over this again on the reclaiming the civil rights movement. People of faith that believe that you have an equal right to justice - that is the essence. And if it's not the essence, then we've been sold a pack of lies. The essence is everyone deserves a shot - the content of character, not the color of skin.

  Glenn Beck

  Lying, Believe, Character

  "Glenn Beck on 'Restoring Honor' Rally, America's future and His Critics". "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace", www.foxnews.com. August 29, 2010.

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• The tongue may be employed about, and made to serve all the purposes of vice, in tempting and deceiving, in perjury and injustice.

  Joseph Butler

  Lying, Vices, Purpose

  Joseph Butler (2012). “Human Nature and other Sermons”, p.26, Simon and Schuster

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• Practically all the relationships I know are based on a foundation of lies and mutually accepted delusion.

  Kim Cattrall

  Lying, Foundation, Accepted

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• The truth is not in the commercial media because the truth is a dagger pointed at its heart, which is its pocketbook.

  George Seldes

  Heart, Media, Daggers

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• A liar is always lavish of oaths.

  Pierre Corneille

  Liars, Lying, Oath

  "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, Le Menteur, III. 5, p. 485-87, 1922.

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• There is no language without deceit.

  Italo Calvino

  Language

  Italo Calvino (2013). “Invisible Cities”, p.56, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• To lie a little is not possible: he who lies, lies the whole lie.

  Victor Hugo

  Lying, Littles, Whole

  Victor Hugo (2010). “The Works of Victor Hugo”, p.886, BookCaps Study Guides

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• It was amazing how it worked: the tiniest bit of truth made credible the greatest lies.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Lying, Made, Bits

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.418, A&C Black

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• Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses.

  William Hazlitt

  Art, Knowledge, People

  William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.42

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• Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.

  Charles Dickens

  Lying, Literature, Great Expectations Important

  Charles Dickens (2015). “Great Expectations”, p.14, Booklassic

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• There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.

  Winston Churchill

  Funny, True Friend, Lying

  Sir Winston Churchill (1995). “The Proverbial Winston S. Churchill: An Index to Proverbs in the Works of Sir Winston Churchill”

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• Distrust those who love you extremely upon a slight acquaintance, and without any visible reason.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Friendship, Trust, Love You

  "The Modern Chesterfield".

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• Sneaking was a kind of deceit. So was disguise. Just past midnight, wearing dark trousers and Fox's hood, the queen snuck out of her own rooms and stepped into a world of stories and lies.

  Kristin Cashore

  Queens, Lying, Dark

  Kristin Cashore (2012). “Bitterblue”, p.22, Penguin

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