Quotes About Deception

I sometimes wonder if the world is run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who mean it.

Y la iglesia era sabia, sutil y conocía muchas maneras de esquilmar una oveja, o una nación.

No high-minded man, no man of right feeling, can contemplate the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day without grieving to see a noble art so prostituted.

It is easier to fool the people, than to convince them they have been fooled.

diplomacy is simply the name we have agreed to give to lying about national affairs. I

Among other common lies, we have the silent lie—the deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth. Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they speak no lie, they lie not at all.

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

Everybody lies—every day; every hour; awake; asleep; in his dreams; in his joy; in his mourning; if he keeps his tongue still, his hands, his feet, his eyes, his attitude, will convey deception—and purposely. Even in sermons—but that is a platitude. In

My complaint simply concerns the decay of the _art_ of lying. No high-minded man, no man of right feeling, can contemplate the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day without grieving to see a noble art so prostituted.

Among other common lies, we have the _silent_ lie--the deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth. Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they _speak_ no lie, they lie not at all.

Of course, there are many rich men in the empire, but their money is buried, and they dress in rags and counterfeit poverty.

Moralizing, I observed, then, that all that glitters is not gold.

S]in takes on new and real terrors when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out.

The duke he employed the court docket residence, and we went round and glued up our payments. They read like this:

After much reflection—suppose it was a lie? What then? Was it such a great matter? Aren't we always acting lies? Then why not tell them?

No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances--the deduction that it is then a Virtue goes without saying. No virtue can reach its highest usefulness without careful and diligent cultivation--therefore, it goes without saying that this one ought to be taught in the public schools--even in the newspapers. What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert?

I said, I know what you'll say. You'll say stealing a n***** is dirty, low business, but what if it is? I'm low down; and I'm a-going to steal him, and I want you to keep mum and not let on. Will you? Tom's eyes lit up, and he says I'll help you steal him.

whitewashed

A Principle, is eternal; the Lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need

It is strong language, but true. None of us could _live_ with an habitual truthteller; but thank goodness none of us has to.

le Dieu que tu te forges n'est qu'une chimère dont la sotte existence ne se trouva jamais que dans la tête des fous ; c'est un fantôme inventé par la méchanceté des hommes, qui n'a pour but que de les tromper, ou de les armer les uns contre les autres.

Isn't human nature the most consummate sham & lie that was ever invented?

To dash a half-truth in the world's eyes is the surest way of blinding it altogether.

How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again!