WIST Quotations

Levin, Bernard -- Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:50:21 +0000

You don’t need to be a genius or a sage to realise — realise, not know, let alone work out — that there is no easy path to great wealth (or to anything useful) because if there were, the poor would be in a very small minority, and everybody else would be stinking rich.

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London
(Source)

Collected in Now Read On (1980).

Sagan, Carl -- The Demon-Haunted World, ch. 13 (1995)

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 18:26:34 +0000

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
The Demon-Haunted World, ch. 13 (1995)
(Source)

Charron, Pierre -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 13:33:29 +0000

The certain way to be cheated is to fancy one’s self more cunning than others.

Pierre Charron (1541-1603) French Catholic theologian and philosopher
(Attributed)

Quoted in John Timbs, Laconics: Or, The Best Words of the Best Authors, vol. 3, #308 (1829)

Rogers, Will -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 16:12:33 +0000

Call me a “rube” and a “hick,” but I’d a lot rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
(Attributed)

Widely attributed to Rogers, though I cannot find a primary source for it.

Variants:

"They may call me a rube and a hick ..."
"Call me a rube ..."
"You could call me a hick or call me a rube ..."

Lewis, C.S. -- Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne (26 Oct 1962)

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:49:33 +0000

It will not bother me in the hour of death to reflect that I have been ‘had for a sucker’ by any number of impostors: but it would be a torment to know that one had refused even one person in need. After all, the parable of the sheep and goats makes our duty perfectly plain, doesn’t it? Another thing that annoys me is when people say ‘Why did you give that man money? He’ll probably go and drink it.’ My reply is ‘But if I’d kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.’

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne (26 Oct 1962)

Twain, Mark -- (Spurious)

Dave — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:00:11 +0000

It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Spurious)

Not found in Twain's writings. The earliest attribution to him appears to be in 2011. The connection to Twain may be his (authentic) comment, "How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!"

For more discussion of this quotation, see Quote Origin: It’s Easier To Fool People Than To Convince Them That They’ve Been Fooled – Quote Investigator®.

Lewin, Ronald -- Ultra Goes to War, ch. 10 (1978)

Dave — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:58:38 +0000

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.

Ronald Lewin (1914-1984) British military historian, radio producer publishing editor
Ultra Goes to War, ch. 10 (1978)