He that has a secret should not only hide it, but hide that he has it to hide.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History, Part 2, Book 1, ch. 7 (2.1.7) (1837)
(Source)
Carlyle puts this in quotes, but he is again apparently quoting himself. He later used the phrase in his history of Friedrich II of Prussia (Frederick the Great).
Quotations about:
concealment
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.
Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people’s weaknesses.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Characteristics in the Manner of Rochefoucault’s Maxims (1823)
It takes a clever man to hide his cleverness.
[C’est une grande habileté que de savoir cacher son 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], ¶245 (1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶253]
(Source)
In the 1665 edition, this read: Le plus grand art d’un habile homme est celui de savoir cacher son habileté.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:It is a Great Act of Wisdom to be able to Conceal one's being Wise.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶246]It requires no small degree of ability to know when to conceal it.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), "Ability," ¶4]It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶257]There is great ability in knowing how to conceal one's ability.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶245]It is the height of art to conceal art.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶245]A very clever man will know how to hide his cleverness.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶245]It is exceedingly clever to know how to hide your cleverness.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶245]To conceal ingenuity is ingenuity indeed.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶245]It is great cleverness to know how to hide our cleverness.
[tr. Whichello (2016), ¶245]
