Cunning Quotes - Page 12

• 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

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• The eyes of a man are of no use without the observing power. Telescopes and microscopes are cunning contrivances, but they cannot see of themselves.

  Edwin Paxton Hood

  Eye, Men, Use

  Edwin Paxton Hood (1885). “Bye-path Meadow”

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• To make the cunning artless, tame the rude, subdue the haughty, shake the undaunted soul; yea, put a bridle in the lion's mouth, and lead him forth as a domestic cur,--these are the triumphs of all-powerful beauty.

  Joanna Baillie

  Beauty, Powerful, Rude

  Joanna Baillie (1832). “The Complete Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie”, p.36

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• When you break the heart of the philosopher, you must apply great force and cunning strategy, but when the deed is completed, the heart lies in great stony ruin at your feet. If you succeed in breaking it, the job is done once and for all. It will not be repaired.

  Charles Baxter

  Broken Heart, Jobs, Lying

  Charles Baxter (2001). “The feast of love”, Vintage

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• Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Coward, Human Nature, Virtue

  Ambrose Bierce, S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (1998). “A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography”, p.238, Univ. of Tennessee Press

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• Cheating is a sin, but honest cunning is simply prudence. It is a virtue. To be sure, it has a likeness to roguery, but that cannot be helped. He who has not learned to practice it is a fool.

  Giacomo Casanova

  Cheating, Practice, Fool

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• I was really fascinated by the idea of how cunning and calculating Headless Horseman would be, and how much personality you can actually get from somebody when they're not expressing. They can do a lot of attitude, just within their body movements.

  Roberto Orci

  Attitude, Ideas, Personality

  Source: collider.com

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• 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, Cunning Man

  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.

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• An electric chain seems to vibrate, as it were, between our brain and him or her preserved there [in a Daguerreotype] so well by the limner's cunning. Time, space, both are annihilated, and we identify the semblance with the reality.

  Walt Whitman

  Reality, Space, Brain

  Walt Whitman (1998). “The Journalism: 1834-1846”, Peter Lang Pub Incorporated

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• People don't realize what a brilliant politician Lincoln was. Looking back, we want to ascribe a level of providence to his every decision but he was a cunning and calculating politician; from the cultivation of his image as a hayseed from Illinois, to his ability to keep this country together under dire circumstances.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Country, Illinois, People

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• Cancer is such a ruthless adversary because it behaves as if it has its own fiendishly cunning agenda.

  Paul Davies

  Cancer, Agendas, Ruthless

  "Cancer can teach us about our own evolution" by Paul Davies, www.theguardian.com. November 18, 2012.

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• 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is astounding. Not so much as a film - although it is cunning and moving - but as an event.

  John Berger

  Moving, Events, Film

  "The beginning of history" by John Berger, www.theguardian.com. August 24, 2004.

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• Force Majeure is a jolt. You won't know what hit you. Director Ostlund shifts gears from humor to psychological thriller with cunning skill.

  Peter Travers

  Skills, Directors, Gears

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• If you have ever been called defiant, incorrigible, forward, cunning, insurgent, unruly, rebellious, you're on the right track.

  Clarissa Pinkola Estes

  Track, Rebellious, Unruly

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• We have a cunning adversary, who watches to do mischief, and will promote errors, even by the words of scripture.

  Matthew Henry

  Errors, Watches, Scripture

  Matthew Henry (2011). “Matthew Henry Study Bible - KJV edition”, Importantia Publishing

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• Reading maketh a full man; and writing an axact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know which he doth not.

  Francis Bacon

  Reading, Writing, Men

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• I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.

  Anthony Hopkins

  Devious

  "Meet the painter Anthony Hopkins" by Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. January 20, 2010.

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• I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me: but once put out thy light, Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume.

  William Shakespeare

  Light, Patterns, Heat

  'Othello' (1602-4) act 5, sc. 2, l. 1

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• Look, it's easy to outsmart a werewolf or a vampire," Jace said. "They're no smarter than anyone else. But faeries live for hundreds of years and they're as cunning as snakes. They can't lie, but they love to engage in creative truth-telling. They'll find out whatever it is you want most in the world and give it to you—with a sting in the tail of the gift that will make you regret you ever wanted it in the first place." He sighed. "They're not really about helping people. More about harm disguised as help.

  Cassandra Clare

  Regret, Lying, Years

  Cassandra Clare (2012). “Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls”, p.599, Simon and Schuster

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• The media are very smart, they're very cunning, and they're very dishonest.

  Donald Trump

  Smart, Media, Very Smart

  Source: www.businessinsider.com

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• What I wanted was to die among strangers, untroubled, beneath a cloudless sky. And yet my desire differed from the sentiments of that ancient Greek who wanted to die under the brilliant sun. What I wanted was some natural, spontaneous suicide. I wanted a death like that of a fox, not yet well versed in cunning, that walks carelessly along a mountain path and is shot by a hunter because of its own stupidity.

  Yukio Mishima

  Suicide, Sky, Stupidity

  Yukio Mishima (1958). “Confessions of a Mask”, New Directions Publishing

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• So if you're not Artemis Fowl, then who are you?" The boy extended a dripping hand straight up. "My name is Orion. I am so pleased to meet you at last. I am, of course, your servant." Holly shook the proferred hand, thinking that manners were lovely, but she really needed someone cunning and ruthless right now, and this kid didn't appear to be very cunning.

  Eoin Colfer

  Kids, Thinking, Boys

  Eoin Colfer (2010). “Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex”, p.87, Penguin UK

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• Our politicians are stupid.And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them.

  Donald Trump

  Stupid, Republican Government, Mexican

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• If I want to act relaxed, it's going to take all my cunning, skill, and concentration.

  David Mitchell

  Funny, Skills, Want

  "Fictional character: Mark Corrigan". TV Series "Peep Show" ("Dance Class", 2004), 2003-2015.

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• It has been a sort of maxim, that the greatest art is to conceal art; but I know not how, among some people we meet with, their greatest cunning is to appear cunning.

  Richard Steele

  Art, People, Maxims

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1831). “Tatler and Guardian”, p.331

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