Cunning Quotes

• Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Wisdom, Knowledge, Justice

  90 Copy quote

• The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

  William Blake

  Strong, Weak, Fetters

  William Blake, William Butler Yeats (1905). “Collected Poems”, p.171, Psychology Press

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• In order to get the power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness, but with qualities which are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, cruelty.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Pride, Order, Opposites

  "The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy".

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• Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.

  Steve Irwin

  Funny, Betrayal, I Hate You

  "My Steve". Book by Terri Irwin, 2012.

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• Cunning is a short blanket--if you pull it over your face, you expose your feet.

  Austin O'Malley

  Feet, Over You, Faces

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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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• Bondage is the life of personality, and for bondage the personal self will fight with tireless resourcefulness and the most stubborn cunning.

  Aldous Huxley

  Character, Fighting, Self

  Aldous Huxley (1993). “After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: A Novel”, p.111, Ivan R. Dee

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• The Death Star is just full of British actors opening doors and going,Oh... I... oh... What is it Lieutenant Sebastian? It's just the Rebels, sir... they're here. My God, man! Do they want tea? No, I think they're after something a bit more than that, sir. I don't know what it is, but they've brought a flag. Damn, that's dash cunning of them.

  Eddie Izzard

  Stars, Men, Thinking

  "Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill". Documentary, Comedy, www.imdb.com. 1999.

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• Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Wise, Nature, Hate

  14 Copy quote

• Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise

  Benjamin Franklin

  Wise, Silly

  Benjamin Franklin (2008). “The Way to Wealth and Poor Richard's Almanac”, Nayika Publishing

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• Man has made many machines, complex and cunning, but which of them indeed rivals the workings of his heart?

  Pablo Casals

  Inspirational, Heart, Men

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• Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wise, Men, Wish

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: including Boswell's Journal of a tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's diary of A journey into North Wales”, p.247

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• We should do by our cunning as we do by our courage--always have it ready to defend ourselves, never to offend others.

  Sir Fulke Greville

  Should, Ready

  7 Copy quote

• Clever people, people who are cunning, do not know what love is because their minds are so sharp, because they are so clever, because they are so superficial - which means to be on the surface, and love is not a thing that exists on the surface.

  Jiddu Krishnamurti

  Clever, Mean, Love Is

  Jiddu Krishnamurti (1991). “The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti: 1952-1953, Tradition and creativity”, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company

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• More are taken in by hope than by cunning.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Taken

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• 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.

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• From the dog's point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog.

  Mabel Robinson

  Dog, Views, Canine

  11 Copy quote

• Cunning is none of the best nor worst qualities; it floats between virtue and vice; there is scarce any exigence where it may not, and perhaps ought not to be supplied by prudence.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Quality, Vices, May

  8 Copy quote

• That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, World, Found

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.7

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

  Francis Bacon

  Wise, Peace, Hurt

  'Essays' (1625) 'Of Cunning'

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• The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Thinking, Self, Deception

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• The art of using deceit and cunning grow continually weaker and less effective to the user.

  John Tillotson

  Art, Hype, Deception

  11 Copy quote

• The greatest cunning is to have none at all.

  Carl Sandburg

  Integrity, Competition, Intelligence

  Carl Sandburg (2015). “The People, Yes”, p.254, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• This is the great fault of wine; it first trips up the feet: it is a cunning wrestler.

  Plautus

  Funny, Drinking, Wine

  8 Copy quote

• Man's unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Happiness, Greatness, Men

  'Sartor Resartus' (1834) bk. 2, ch. 9

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