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Quotations about deception
Note that not all quotations have been tagged, so the Search function may find additional quotations on this topic.
Those who know they are profound strive for clarity. Those who would like to seem profound strive for obscurity. For the crowd believes that if it cannot see to the bottom of something it must be profound. It is timid and dislikes going into the water.
Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.
Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak.
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) English politician and author
(Attributed)
(Source)
Attributed by Mark Twain in "Chapters from My Autobiography," April 1904, North American Review (7 Sep 1906), later in : "Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'"
The phrase has not been found in any of Disraeli's works, and he is considered unlikely to be the originator (see here and here for more discussion).
Nearly always, the best deception trades on the enemy’s own preconceptions. If he already believes what you want him to believe, you have merely to confirm his own ideas rather than to undertake the more difficult task of inserting new ones into his mind.
When capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity.
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
We begin by fooling others and end up fooling ourselves.
Eric Alterman (b. 1960) American historian, journalist, author
Sound and Fury: The Washington Punditocracy and the Collapse of American Politics, Introduction (1992)
Who has deceiv’d thee so oft as thy self?
Nor can a man dupe others long, who has not duped himself first.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1852)
(Source)
Often rendered: "A man cannot dupe others long, who has not duped himself first."
When the issue is one of Truth and Justice, there can be no differentiating between small problems and great ones. For the general viewpoints on human behaviour are indivisible. People who fail to regard the truth seriously in small matters, cannot be trusted in matters that are great.
[Wenn es sich um Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit handelt, gibt es nicht die Unterscheidung zwischen kleinen und grossen Problemen. Denn die allgemeinen Gesichtspunkte, die das Handeln der Menschen betreffen, sind unteilbar. Wer es in kleinen Dingen mit der Wahrheit nicht ernst nimmt, dem kann man auch in grossen Dingen nicht vertrauen …]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
“Albert Einstein on Israeli-Arab Relations,” New Outlook (Jul 1957)
Often paraphrased / translated, "Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either." See here for more discussion.
If falsehood, like truth, had but one face, we would be more on equal terms. For we would consider the contrary of what the liar said to be certain. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
“Of Liars,” Essays, Vol. I, ch. 9 (1575)
Alt trans. [C. Cotton (1877)]: "If falsehood had, like truth, but one face only, we should be upon better terms; for we should then take for certain the contrary to what the liar says: but the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand forms, and a field indefinite, without bound or limit."
Alt trans. [Florio (1603)]: "If a lie had no more faces but one, as truth had, we should be in farre better termes than we are: For whatsoever a lier should say, we would take it in a contrarie sense. But the opposite of truth has many shapes, and an undefinite field."
The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.
Those words, “temperate and moderate,” are words either of political cowardice, or of cunning, or seduction. A thing moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
“Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation” (1791)
(Source)
Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
You can’t reason someone out of something they weren’t reasoned into.
Frank and explicit: That is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your mind and confuse the minds of others.