Deception Quotes - Page 2

• 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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• People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

  David Mamet

  Truth, Honesty, Mean

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• Nothing is more common on earth than to deceive and be deceived.

  Johann Gottfried Seume

  Hype, Earth, Common

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• Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.

  Oscar Wilde

  Love, Funny, Witty

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.39, Wordsworth Editions

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• LOVE: Deception of the flesh and damage to the spirit. Disease of the soul, atrophy of the brain, weakening of the heart, corruption of the senses, poetic lies from which one gets ferociously inebriated two or three times a day in order to consume this precious but stupid life more quickly. And yet I would prefer to die of love. Its the only swindler, after Judas, that can kill with a kiss.

  Renzo Novatore

  Lying, Stupid, Heart

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• There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Inspirational, Hype, Literature

  Sherlock Holmes in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (1891).

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• When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.

  Mark Twain

  Deceiving Others, People, Able

  Mark Twain, Harriet Elinor Smith (2012). “Autobiography of Mark Twain: Reader's Edition”, p.224, Univ of California Press

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• All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, War, Believe

  The Art of War (6th century b.c.).

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• Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.

  Oliver Cromwell

  Inspirational, Integrity, Hype

  Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Carlyle (1845). “Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches: with Elucidations”, p.129, New York, Wiley & Putnam

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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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• The art of pleasing is the art of deception.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Art, Hype, Deceit

  "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations". Book by John Bartlett, 1919.

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• A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.

  William Blake

  Inspirational, Funny, Fake People

  'Auguries of Innocence' (c.1803) l. 53

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

  Edwin Louis Cole

  God, Hype, Temptation

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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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• Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.

  Ludwig Wittgenstein

  Investing, Deceiving, Difficult

  "Culture and Value" by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by Peter Winch, (p. 34e), 1980.

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• The petty man is eager to make boasts, yet desires that others should believe in him. He enthusiastically engages in deception, yet wants others to have affection for him. He conducts himself like an animal, yet wants others to think well of him.

  Xunzi

  Believe, Animal, Men

  Xunzi (1999). “Xunzi”

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• Profit is sweet, even if it comes from deception.

  Sophocles

  Sweet, Saving Money, Profit

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• The easiest person to deceive is one's self.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Truth, Honesty, Hype

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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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• Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Children, Honesty, Needs

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• All war is deception.

  Sun Tzu

  War

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• Will you walk into my parlour? Said the spider to a fly: '"Tis the prettiest little parlour That ever you did spy.

  Mary Howitt

  Spy, Spiders, Littles

  'The Spider and the Fly' (1834)

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• The bird of truth would not be able to fly if it weren't for the air of lies we breathe.

  Eugene J. Martin

  Lying, Air, Bird

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• I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him.

  Samuel Johnson

  Lying, Mean, Men

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1840). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.486

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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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