WIST Quotations

Talleyrand -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 18:29:01 +0000

Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts.

[La parole a été donné à l’homme pour déguiser sa pensée.]

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) French secularized clergyman, statesman, wit, diplomat
(Attributed)

For more discussion of the sources of this quote, see S. A. Bent, ed., Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men (1887). The sentiment, if not the precise wording, predates Talleyrand.

Carlyle, Thomas -- The French Revolution: A History, Part 2, Book 1, ch. 7 (2.1.7) (1837)

Dave — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 02:55:10 +0000

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).

Sexton, Anne -- “Small Wire”

Dave — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:48:17 +0000

As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.

Anne Sexton (1928-1974) American poet
“Small Wire”
(Source)

Hazlitt, William -- Characteristics in the Manner of Rochefoucault’s Maxims (1823)

Dave — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 17:27:16 +0000

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)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶245 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶253]

Dave — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:15:57 +0000

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 (1665-1678) [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]