WIST Quotations

Baudelaire, Charles -- Le Spleen de Paris (Petits Poèmes en Prose), No. 29 “The Generous Gambler [Le Joueur généreux]” (1869) [tr. Kaplan (1989)]

Dave — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:09:23 +0000

My dear brothers, when you hear the progress of enlightenment extolled, never forget that the devil’s cleverest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist!

[Mes chers frères, n’oubliez jamais, quand vous entendrez vanter le progrès des lumières, que la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu’il n’existe pas!]

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) French poet, essayist, art critic
Le Spleen de Paris (Petits Poèmes en Prose), No. 29 “The Generous Gambler [Le Joueur généreux]” (1869) [tr. Kaplan (1989)]
(Source)

A warning by a Parisian preacher, as reported by the Devil himself. Used in movie The Usual Suspects (1995) as "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

My dear brethren, never forget, when you hear the progress of wisdom vaunted, that the cleverest ruse of the Devil is to persuade you he does not exist!
[tr. Shipley (<1919) "The Generous Player"]

My dear brethren, never forget, when you hear boasts about the progress of enlightenment, that the finest ruse of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist!
[tr. Hamburger (1946) "The Generous Gamester"]

My dear brothers, never forget when you hear people boast of our progress in enlightenment, that one of the devil's best ruses is to persuade you that he does not exist!
[tr. Varèse (1970)]

The Devil's subtlest ruse is to convince us that he doesn't exist.
[tr. McGowan (1993)]

Dear brethren, never forget that the finest of all the devil's tricks is to persuade you that he doesn't exist.
[tr. Lerner (2003)]

My dear brethren, do not ever forget, when you hear the progress of lights praised, that the loveliest trick of the Devil is to persuade you that he does not exist!
[Source]

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation, ch. 2 (1942)

Dave — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:11:03 +0000

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation, ch. 2 (1942)
(Source)

Epigram attributed to Salvor Hardin.

McQuarrie, Christopher -- The Usual Suspects [Kint] (1995)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

Christopher McQuarrie (b. 1968) American screenwriter, director
The Usual Suspects [Kint] (1995)

Kint gives this line twice: first about an hour into the movie, and second as one of its final lines.

See Baudelaire.

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (1775-04-07)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1775-04-07)
(Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). The full quote:

Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.

Ambrose Bierce wrote in his Devil's Dictonary, under "Patriotism," "In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first."

The saying is famous and noteworthy enough that many others have riffed on it beyond Bierce: see Wilde (and again), Roosevelt, Broun, Asimov, Lewis, and Ehrenreich.