Quotes About Deception

Stoneville seems like a decent enough chap." She stifled a hysterical laugh. "Oh, yes, quite decent. We met him in a brothel, and he's blackmailing us into deceiving his grandmother.

Gideon went still. All his pleasure at having her there abruptly vanished. His mother? Silas had told her about his mother? That blasted old fool. When Gideon got his hands on him, he'd yank his beard out.

God, but he was sick of missives. Letters were what people resorted to when they didn't want to lie to your face. When they wanted to pretend they weren't ripping your heart out.

Perhaps everything was just as it appeared. Though the girl seemed to be up to something suspicious, it didn't seem to involve any deep feelings for Mr. Pinter. Now if only she could be as sure about Mr. Pinter's feelings for Celia...

I wish you'd tell the truth, but since I know that isn't preferable--" "The truth is always preferable, my dear. It's just not always wise.

An intellectual understanding that is not backed by experiential knowledge can lead to mind games and deceptive states.

A man who tosses worms in the river isn't 't necessarily a friend of the fish. All the fish who take him for a friend, who think the worm's got no hook in it, usually end up in the frying pan.

Even Samson, the world's strongest man, was destroyed by the woman who slept in his arms. she was the one whose words hurt him.

You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress ...

This was my first lesson about gambling: fi you see somebody winning all the time, he isn't gambling, he's cheating.

The more a politician pretended to hate something seemed to mean they were actually that thing.

Todos veem o que tu aparentas, poucos sentem aquilo que tu és.

For outward show is a wonderful perverter of the reason.

Pride is a master of deception: when you think you're occupied in the weightiest business, that's when he has you in his spell.

They contemn one another, and yet they seek to please one another: and whilest they seek to surpass one another in worldly pomp and greatness, they most debase and prostitute themselves in their better part one to another.

Pride is a master of deception: when you think you're occupied in the weightiest business, that's when he has you in his spell. (Compare Crates on Xenocrates.)

De Frontón: haber observado a qué grado de envidia, de disimulo y duplicidad llegaron los tiranos, y cómo, casi siempre, esas gentes que llamamos los «patricios» son incapaces de verdadero afecto para los demás.

Like seeing roasted meat and other dishes in front of you and suddenly realising: This is a dead fish. A dead bird. A dead pig. Or that this noble vintage is grape juice, and the purple robes are sheep wool dyed with shellfish blood. Or making love - something rubbing against your penis, a brief seizure and a little cloudy liquid. (6.13)

Be not deceived; for thou shalt never live to read thy moral commentaries, nor the acts of the famous Romans and Grecians; nor those excerpta from several books; all which thou hadst provided and laid up for thyself against thine old age. Hasten therefore to an end, and giving over all vain hopes, help thyself in time if thou carest for thyself, as thou oughtest to do.

a candor affected is a dagger concealed

Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.

A straightforward, honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you're in the same room with him, you know it. But false straightforwardness is like a knife in the back.

LII. To them that are sick of the jaundice, honey seems bitter; and to them that are bitten by a mad dog, the water terrible; and to children, a little ball seems a fine thing. And why then should I be angry? or do I think that error and false opinion is less powerful to make men transgress, than either choler, being immoderate and excessive, to cause the jaundice; or poison, to cause rage?

when things lay claim to our trust—to lay them bare and see how pointless they are, to strip away the legend that encrusts them.