Dark stratagems, and treachery, to relieve
The coward’s wants, were by mankind devis’d.[δόλοι δὲ καὶ σκοτεινὰ μηχανήματα
χρείας ἀνάνδρου φάρμαχ᾽ εὕρηται βροτοῖς.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Bellerophon [Βελλεροφῶν], frag. 288 (TGF) (c. 430 BC) [tr. Wodhull (1809)]
(Source)
Nauck frag. 290, Barnes frag. 42, Musgrave frag. 8. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Tricks and dark schemes are mankind's invention as
cowardly remedies against need.
[tr. Collard, Hargreaves, Cropp (1995)]Trickery and devious devices are man’s unmanly means to meet his needs.
[tr. Stevens (2012)]
Quotations about:
tricks
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
By and large, people who enjoy teaching animals to roll over will find themselves happier with a dog.
Throw a stick, and the servile dog wheezes and pants and shambles to bring it to you. Do the same before a cat, and he will eye you with coolly polite and somewhat bored amusement.
H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) American fabulist [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
“Cats and Dogs” (23 Nov 1926), Leaves (Summer 1937)
(Source)
Reprinted as "Something about Cats" in Something About Cats: And Other Pieces (1949) [ed. Derleth].
Tricks and Treachery are the practice of Fools that have not Wit enough to be Honest.
[Les finesses et les trahisons ne viennent que de manque d’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], ¶126 (1665-1678) [tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶127]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1665) edition. A 1665 variant reads:Si on étoit toujours assez habile, on ne ferait jamais de finesses ni de trahisons.
[If one were sufficiently able, one would never do tricks or treasons]
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Cunning and treachery proceed from want of capacity.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶80; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶122]Cunning and treachery proceed often from want of capacity.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶68]Treacheries and acts of artifice only originate in the want of ability.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶129]Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶126]Trickery and treachery are a mark of stupidity.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶126]Guile and treachery are merely the result of want of talent.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶126]Cunning and treachery come solely from a lack of skill.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶126]Tricks and treachery are merely proof of lack of skill.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶126]Intrigues and treasons simply come from lack of adroitness.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶126]Cunning and treachery are given rise to by mere incompetence.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]
