Deception Quotes

• Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Practice, Political, Brain

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• Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Simple, Men, Hype

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• Deception is a developed art of civilization and the most potent weapon in the game of power

  Robert Greene

  Art, Civilization, Games

  Twitter post from Mar 13, 2016

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• Deceivers are the most dangerous members of society. They trifle with the best affections of our nature, and violate the most sacred obligations.

  George Crabbe

  Lying, Deceit, Sacred

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  The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Inspirational, Spiritual, Art

  Leonardo Da Vinci, General Press (2016). “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci”, p.444, GENERAL PRESS

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• The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.

  George Orwell

  Inspirational, Life, People

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• Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Motivational, Truth, Freedom

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1859). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence”, p.37

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• Spin' is a polite word for deception. Spinners mislead by means that range from subtle omissions to outright lies. Spin paints a false picture of reality by bending facts, mischaracterizing the words of others, ignoring or denying crucial evidence, or just 'spinning a yarn' - by making things up.

  Kathleen Hall Jamieson

  Lying, Mean, Reality

  Brooks Jackson, Kathleen Hall Jamieson (2007). “unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation”, p.7, Random House

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• The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

  Andre Gide

  Truth, Lying, Hypocrite

  Andre Gide (2012). “The Counterfeiters: A Novel”, p.427, Vintage

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  If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.

  Malcolm X

  Hate, Lying, Media

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• To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception; it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, either in time or in eternity.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Love, Heartbreak, Cheating

  78 Copy quote

• Knowledge of God's Word is a bulwark against deception, temptation, accusation, even persecution.

  Edwin Louis Cole

  God, Hype, Temptation

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• Confidence, once lost or betrayed, can never be restored again to the same measure; and we learn too late in life that our acts of deception are irrevocable - they may be forgiven, but they cannot be forgotten by their victims.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Too Late, May, Betrayed

  Sydney J. Harris (1976). “Best of Sydney J. Harris”

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• False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

  William Shakespeare

  Memorable, Heart, Lady Macbeth

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 7, l. 82

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• People always overdo the matter when they attempt deception.

  Charles Dudley Warner

  Lying, Hype, People

  Charles Dudley Warner (2006). “My Summer in a Garden: Easyread Comfort Edition”, p.44, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.

  Noel Coward

  Honesty, Lying, People

  Noel Coward (1979). “Plays, four”, Methuen Drama

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• The cruelest lies are often told in silence.

  Robert Louis Stevenson

  Heartbreak, Truth, Lying

  Robert Louis Stevenson (1903). “Virginibus Puerisque: An Essay in Four Parts”

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• While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive.

  Sissela Bok

  Hype, Deceiving, Secrecy

  Sissela Bok (2011). “Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation”, p.7, Vintage

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• The reason we bitterly hate those who deceive us is because they think they are cleverer than we are.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Hate, Thinking, Deceiving

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• If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Mistake, Ignorance, Self

  Marcus Aurelius (2006). “Meditations”, p.95, Penguin UK

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• No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Inspirational, Happiness, Reality

  "Intuitions and Summaries of Thought (Volume I)". Book by Christian Nestell Bovee, 1862.

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• I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Relationship, Trust, Cheating

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• Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work.

  Lauryn Hill

  Hard Work, Reality, Hype

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Funny, Sarcastic, Teaching

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1982). “Wilhelm Meister's Years of Travel or the Renunciants”, Riverrun Pr

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• Don't tell me of deception; a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.

  Samuel Johnson

  Lying, Eye, Deceit

  Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”, p.222

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