Knaves Quotes

• The world is made up, for the most part, of fools and knaves, both irreconcileable foes to truth.

  George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

  Truth, World, Fool

  "The Works of His Grace, George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, Volume 2". Book by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ("Letter to Mr. Clifford, on his Human Reason", p. 105), 1770.

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• Necessity makes an honest man a knave.

  Daniel Defoe

  Honesty, Men, Literature

  'The Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe' (1720) ch. 2

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• We are no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes prisoner the knave of hearts.

  Mary Wortley Montagu

  Queens, Heart, Destiny

  Mary Wortley Montagu, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie Wharncliffe (1837). “The Letters and Works: In Three Volumes”, p.300

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• There's never a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he's an arrant knave.

  William Shakespeare

  Dwelling, Knavery, Denmark

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 5, l. 123

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• Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.

  John Greenleaf Whittier

  Flower, Fall, Power

  John Greenleaf Whittier (2012). “Personal Poems, Complete Volume IV., the Works of Whittier: Personal Poems”, p.131, tredition

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• Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

  Voltaire

  Knavery, Fool

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• I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike

  Harold Bloom

  World, Charlatans, I Realized

  "Criticism in Society". Interview with Imre Salusinski, 1987.

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• The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Birthday, Time, Liars

  Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Eugenia Stanhope (1827). “Letters Written by the Earl of Chesterfield to His Son”, p.179

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• We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villians by compulsion.

  William Shakespeare

  Stars, Moon, Guilt

  William Shakespeare (2008). “King Lear: Easyread Comfort Edition”, p.23, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• The credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention of knaves.

  Edmund Burke

  Dupes, Invention, Credulity

  Edmund Burke (1852). “The Works and Correspondance of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke”, p.363

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• A Whig is properly what is called a Trimmer - that is, a coward to both sides of the question, who dare not be a knave nor an honest man, but is a sort of whiffing, shuffling, cunning, silly, contemptible, unmeaning negation of the two.

  William Hazlitt

  Silly, Men, Two

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• A crafty knave needs no broker.

  Horace

  Needs, Crime, Brokers

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• That man is thought a dangerous knave, Or zealot plotting crime, Who for advancement of his kind Is wiser than his time.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Men, Reputation, Kind

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• It is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave, than to expend it, like a gentleman.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Gentleman, Wealth, Easy

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.213

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• A thorough-paced knave will rarely quarrel with one whom he can cheat: his revenge is plunder; therefore he is usually the most forgiving of beings, upon the principle that if he come to an open rupture, he must defend himself; and this does not suit a man whose vocation it is to keep his hands in the pocket of another.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Revenge, Men, Hands

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”

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• I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike - and I don't think there really is a distinction between the two - are always dominated by fools, knaves, charlatans and bureaucrats.

  Harold Bloom

  Thinking, Two, Voice

  Interview with Imre Salusinski in "Criticism in Society", 1987.

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• You are not worth another word, else I'd call you knave.

  William Shakespeare

  Sassy

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.219

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• The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse; always harder.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Heart, Age, Youth

  "The Works of Lord Chesterfield: Including His Letters to His Son, Etc : to which is Prefixed, an Original Life of the Author".

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• A knave thinks himself a fool, all the time he is not making a fool of some other person.

  William Hazlitt

  Thinking, Knavery, Fool

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1498, Delphi Classics

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• While I live, no rich or noble knave shall walk the world in credit to his grave.

  Alexander Pope

  Knavery, Noble, Credit

  Alexander Pope (1796). “The Beauties of Pope, Or, Useful and Entertaining Passages: Selected from the Works of that Admired Author : as Well as from His Translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, &c”, p.230

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• By fools, knaves fatten; by bigots, priests are well clothed; every knave finds a gull.

  Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann

  Knavery, Gulls, Fool

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• The worst of all knaves are those who can mimic their former honesty.

  Johann Kaspar Lavater

  Honesty, Knavery, Worst

  "Aphorisms on man. Translated from the original manuscript of the Rev. John Caspar Lavater, citizen of Zuric. ; [One line from Juvenal]" by Johann Kaspar Lavater, 1790.

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• Zeno first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defence against a knave.

  Plutarch

  Knavery, Doctrine, Firsts

  Plutarch (1871). “Plutarch's Morals”, p.72

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• Fashion--a word which knaves and fools may use, Their knavery and folly to excuse.

  Charles Churchill

  Fashion, Knavery, Use

  1761 The Rosciad, l.455-6.

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• Every knave is a thorough knave, and a thorough knave is a knave throughout.

  George Berkeley

  Knavery, Thorough

  George Berkeley (1837). “Works: Account of His Life and Letters”, p.362

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