Quotes About Deception

dubious means might subvert virtuous ends.

It was about such people that he complained to Atticus: "I will only say this, and I believe you know I am right: it was not enemies but jealous friends who ruined me.

but to bear in mind what Caesar, who had eliminated all his enemies, suffered at the hands of his closest friends.

He was pleased to receive his colleague's ships, but had no serious intention of finding him his legions.

the two men agreed on a plan that employed speed and surprise to turn the tables on Antony and trap him.

This development has been presented as leaving Livia and her sons, Tiberius and Drusus, out in the cold.

Believing in Arminius' honesty, he took the bait, gathered his scattered forces, and marched off

Arminius had chosen the location for the ambush with great care.

It is possible that Octavian arranged for Cleopatra's murder and put about the fiction that she killed herself.

Cicero was nothing if not a genius at character assassination.

And if you can't trust family, who in this five-cent back-alley butt-fuck of a world can you trust?

On election season politicos dawn their timber boots and red handkerchiefs. Many claim salt of the earth roots every time they eat a watermelon, but they never bite the bitterness of the rind. Everyone likes a good show and the politics of poverty never disappoint.

Telling the truth to people who misunderstand you is generally promoting a falsehood, isn't it?

A real king's life is perhaps a hard one; but a pretended king's is, I warrant, much harder.

There is a matter on my conscience which I cannot excuse but may as well confess. To deceive a maiden is a very sore thing, so sore that it had made us all hot against Constantine; but it may be doubted by a cool mind whether it is worse, nay, whether it is not more venial than to contrive the murder of a lawful wife. Poets have paid more attention to the first offence – maybe they know more about it – the law finds greater employment, on the whole, in respect to the second.

Phroso made no comment on this; and the moment I had said it I heard a voice below, a voice I knew very well. 'What's the ladder here for, my friend?' it asked. 'It enables one to ascend or descend, my lord,' answered Kortes's grave voice, without the least touch of irony.

It is only likely frauds that are detected.

People don't always tell you what they are thinking. They just see to it that you don't advance in life.

Let me tell you, Alex. He's a crook. He's based here in Miami. He's a nasty piece of work." "He's mexican" Troy added.

What were you going to do with it?" McCain asked. "I just thought it might come in useful." "Were you planning to attack me?" "No. But that's a good idea.

Alan Blunt got in touch with me and asked me to put you up here for the rest of the week, to pretend that you're my son. I have to say, you don't look anything like me." "I don't look anything like myself either," Alex said.

You couldn't trust anyone or anything that belonged to the world of espionage.

Alternatively you can twist the cylinder round twice clockwise; that turns it into a hand grenade. Five-second fuse. I tested it on one of my assistants. Poor old Bennett... he should be out of hospital in a couple of months.

Robert Pinkerton used to say that a lie was like a dead coyote. The longer you leave it, the more it smells.