Quotations about cheating | WIST Quotations

Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.

Banksy (b. 1974) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Art,” “Making an Exhibition of Yourself” (2005)
(Source)

Added on 9-Apr-25 | Last updated 9-Apr-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, dishonesty, fraud, skill, success
More quotes by Banksy

Get not riches by unjust means, if thou wishest them to continue in thy family, for riches unjustly acquired quickly vanish.
[ἀδίκως δὲ μὴ κτῶ χρήματ᾽ ἣν βούλη πολὺν χρόνον μελάθροις ἐμμένειν” τὰ γὰρ κακῶς οἴκους ἐσελθόντ᾽ οὐκ ἔχει σωτηρίαν]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Erectheus [Ἐρεχθεύς], frag. 362, l. 11ff (TGF) (422 BC) [tr. Ramage (1864)]
(Source)

Nauck frag. 362, Barnes frag. 1, Musgrave frag. 2. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translation:

No ill-gotten wealth possess.
If in thy mansions long thou hop'st-to dwells
For there is no reliance on that gold
Which through injustice enters our abodes.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Added on 8-Apr-25 | Last updated 8-Apr-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, injustice, legacy, money, riches, theft, wealth
More quotes by Euripides

The surest method of being deceived is to believe that one is cleverer than others.
[Le vrai moyen d’être trompé, c’est de se croire plus fin que les autres]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶127 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶127]
(Source)

Present in the 1st (1665) edition. Another 1665 variant:
On est fort sujet à être trompé quand on croit être plus fin que les autres.

[We are very liable to be deceived when we believe ourselves to be more subtle than others.]

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The sure way to be cheated is, to fancy ourselves more cunning than others.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶81; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶123; ed. Carvill (1835), ¶69]

The true method of being deceived is to think oneself more cunning than others.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶130]

The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶127]

The surest way to be deceived is to think one's self cleverer than one's neighbor.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶127]

The best way to be outwitted is to believe ourselves cleverer than others.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶127]

The surest way to be outwitted is to suppose yourself sharper than others.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶127]

The surest way to be taken in is to think oneself craftier than other people.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶127]

The best way to be deceived is to think ourselves more cunning than others.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶127]

Added on 7-Feb-25 | Last updated 7-Feb-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, cleverness, craftiness, cunning, deceiving, deception, ego, fooling, outwitting, pride
More quotes by La Rochefoucauld, Francois

Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Max Ehrmann (1872-1945) American writer, poet, attorney
“Desiderata,” st. 3 (1927)
(Source)

Added on 11-Mar-22 | Last updated 11-Mar-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: business, caution, cheating, fraud, ideals, virtue
More quotes by Ehrmann, Max

The only way of really finding out a man’s true character is to play golf with him. In no other walk of life does the cloven hoof so quickly display itself.

P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
“Ordeal by Golf,” Collier’s Magazine (1919-12-06)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Clicking of Cuthbert, ch. 6 (1922).

Added on 28-Jan-22 | Last updated 5-Nov-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: character, cheating, golf, temptation
More quotes by Wodehouse, P. G.

Not to oversee Workmen, is to leave them your Purse open.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Nov 1751)
(Source)

Added on 23-Sep-21 | Last updated 23-Sep-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, fraud, labor, management, monitoring, oversight, suspicion, theft, watching, workmen
More quotes by Franklin, Benjamin

As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it — whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.

Harper Lee (1926-2016) American writer [Nellie Harper Lee]
To Kill a Mockingbird, ch. 23 (1960)

Added on 7-Apr-17 | Last updated 7-Apr-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: character, cheating, class, personality, prejudice, racism, white trash
More quotes by Lee, Harper

Money dishonestly acquired is never worth its cost, while a good conscience never costs as much as it is worth.

Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn (1792-1870) French-Swiss poet
Maxims and Ethical Sentences

Added on 26-Jul-16 | Last updated 26-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, clear conscience, conscience, cost, crime, fraud, money, stealing, theft, worth
More quotes by Petit-Senn, Jean-Antoine

If you attempt to beat a man down and to get his goods for less than a fair price, you are attempting to commit burglary, as much as though you broke into his shop to take the things without paying for them. There is cheating on both sides of the counter and generally less behind it than before it.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
(Attributed)

Quoted in John Bate, A Cyclopaedia Of Illustrations Of Moral And Religious Truths (1865)

Added on 5-Jul-16 | Last updated 5-Jul-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: bargain, business, cheat, cheating, haggle, theft, transaction, unfair
More quotes by Beecher, Henry Ward

Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he do not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market cart for a chariot of the sun.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6
(Source)

Based on a course of lectures, "The Conduct of Life," delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03).

Added on 19-Mar-14 | Last updated 15-Apr-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, fairness, golden rule, honesty, love your neighbor, morality, virtue
More quotes by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.
[Más vale ser engañado en el precio que en la mercadería.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

It is better to be deceived in the Price, than in the Commodity.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Far better to be cheated in the price, than in the goods.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

Added on 4-Jun-12 | Last updated 17-Jan-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: appraisal, cheating, cost, dishonesty, fraud, honesty, price, quality, value
More quotes by Gracián, Baltasar

Take heed: Most Men will cheat without Scruple where they can do it without Fear.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 525 (1725)
(Source)

Added on 21-Jul-09 | Last updated 18-Sep-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, deceit, fear, fraud, human nature, opportunity, risk, risk assessment, risk-taking, shame
More quotes by Fuller, Thomas (1654)

He that’s cheated twice by the same Man is an Accomplice with the Cheater.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2281 (1732)
(Source)

Added on 30-Mar-09 | Last updated 7-Jan-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, credulity, dupe, folly, fool, fraud, trust
More quotes by Fuller, Thomas (1654)

Cheat me in the Price, but not in the Goods.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1090 (1732)
(Source)

Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 7-Jan-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: cheating, cost, fraud, price, quality, value
More quotes by Fuller, Thomas (1654)

Tricks and Treachery are the practice of Fools that have not Wit enough to be Honest.
[Les finesses et les trahisons ne viennent que de manque d’habileté.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶126 (1665-1678) [tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶127]
(Source)

Present in the 1st (1665) edition. A 1665 variant reads:

Si on étoit toujours assez habile, on ne ferait jamais de finesses ni de trahisons.

[If one were sufficiently able, one would never do tricks or treasons]

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Cunning and treachery proceed from want of capacity.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶80; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶122]

Cunning and treachery proceed often from want of capacity.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶68]

Treacheries and acts of artifice only originate in the want of ability.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶129]

Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶126]

Trickery and treachery are a mark of stupidity.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶126]

Guile and treachery are merely the result of want of talent.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶126]

Cunning and treachery come solely from a lack of skill.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶126]

Tricks and treachery are merely proof of lack of skill.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶126]

Intrigues and treasons simply come from lack of adroitness.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶126]

Cunning and treachery are given rise to by mere incompetence.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]

Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 17-Feb-25
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: betrayal, cheating, cunning, deception, guile, intrigue, lying, treachery, tricks
More quotes by La Rochefoucauld, Francois

Quotations about: cheating

Quotations about:
cheating