Cunning Man Quotes

• Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

  Francis Bacon

  Wise, Peace, Hurt

  'Essays' (1625) 'Of Cunning'

  90 Copy quote

  Show source

• A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

  Francis Bacon

  Inspirational, Success, Graduation

  1625 Essays, no.52,'Of Ceremonies and Respects'.

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions, for it makes the other party stick the less.

  Francis Bacon

  Party, Men, Shapes

  Francis Bacon, David Mallet (1740). “The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, Lord High Chancellor of England ...: With Several Additional Pieces, Never Before Printed in Any Edition of His Works. To which is Prefixed, a New Life of the Author”, p.334

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is a cunning which we in England call "the turning of the cat" in the pan; which is, when that which a man says to another, he says it as if another had said it to him.

  Francis Bacon

  Cat, Men, England

  Francis Bacon, David Mallet (1740). “The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, Lord High Chancellor of England ...: With Several Additional Pieces, Never Before Printed in Any Edition of His Works. To which is Prefixed, a New Life of the Author”, p.334

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is a cunning which we in England call the rning of the cat in the pan.

  Francis Bacon

  Cat, England, Deceit

  23 Copy quote

• A cunning man overreaches no one half as much as himself.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Men, Half, Cunning

  Henry Ward Beecher, Edna Dean Proctor (1858). “Life Thoughts: Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher”, p.52

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Recognize the cunning man not by the corpses he pays homage to but by the living writers he conspires against with the most shameful weapon, Silence, or the briefest review.

  Edward Dahlberg

  Men, Silence, Criticism

  21 Copy quote

• It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Men, Play, Fool

  21 Copy quote

• The cunning man steals a horse, the wise man lets him alone.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Wise, Horse, Men

  Benjamin Franklin (2007). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.101, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's; a Cunning Man is overmatched by a cunning Man and a Half.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Men, Thinking, Half

  Benjamin Franklin (1987). “Poor Richard's Almanack: Being the Choicest Morsels of Wisdom, Written During the Years of the Almanack's Publication”, p.65, Peter Pauper Press, Inc.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Self-love is more cunning than the most cunning man in the world.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Love Is, Men, Self

  5 Copy quote

• It is a pity that, commonly, more care is had--yea, and that among very wise men--to find out rather a cunning man for their horse than a cunning man for their children.

  Roger Ascham

  Wise, Horse, Children

  Roger Ascham (1815). “The English Works of Roger Ascham: Preceptor to Queen Elizabeth”, p.206

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• People kill what they fear. They burned, and drowned, and hanged those they saw as witches, the devil's servants: the wise women and the cunning men, the unfortunate, the lost and the strange

  Neil Gaiman

  Wise, Fear, Men

  4 Copy quote

• Our spiritual history is the history of God-ventriloquists! The truth is that the voice of God is the voice of cunning Man, the ventriloquist's voice!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Spiritual, Men, Voice

  4 Copy quote

• Do you come to a philosopher as to a cunning man, to learn something by magic or witchcraft, beyond what can be known by common prudence and discretion?

  David Hume

  Philosophical, Men, Magic

  David Hume (1817). “Philosophical Essays: On Morals, Literature, and Politics”, p.181

  6 Copy quote

  Show source