Joseph Addison Quotes

It takes a wise man to handle a lie, a fool had better remain honest.

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.

The cunning man steals a horse, the wise man lets him alone.

To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.

You can always cheat an honest man, but it takes more work.

Cheating is a sin, but honest cunning is simply prudence. It is a virtue. To be sure, it has a likeness to roguery, but that cannot be helped. He who has not learned to practice it is a fool.

'There may be some, perhaps - I don't know that there are - who abuse his kindness,' said Mr. Wickfield. 'Never be one of those, Trotwood, in anything. He is the least suspicious of mankind; and whether that's a merit, or whether it's a blemish, it deserves consideration in all dealings with the Doctor, great or small.

By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is. Our dishonesty not only influences the choices they make, it often determines the choices they can make—and in ways we cannot always predict. Every lie is a direct assault upon the autonomy of those we lie to.

Wise men have but few confidants, and cunning ones none.

A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.

The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.

Heroes, classical heroes have the look of eagles, too. They're looking beyond the immediate problem and into the future.

Sometimes when I'm told to use my own discretion, if no one is looking I'll use someone else's. But I always put it back.

A game of secret, cunning stratagems, in which only the fools who are fated to lose reveal their true aims or motives - even to themselves.

Honesty is often the best policy, but sometimes the appearance of it is worth six of it.

When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy.

Leaders must not be naive. I used to say, "Liars shouldn't lie." What a sad waste of words that is! I found out liars are supposed to lie. That's why we call them liars - they lie! What else would you expect them to do?

I try to have an open ear, but at the end, it would never change direction to where I think I should go. Because if I listened to everybody else, they're thinking about what's right now or what was the last thing - they're not thinking about what's next.

I would say that today, dishonesty is the rule, and honesty the exception. It could be, statistically, that more people are honest than dishonest, but the few that really control things are not honest, and that tips the balance.

Cunning is a short blanket--if you pull it over your face, you expose your feet.

They are lying every day. They are lying always, and mainly they are lying to their public opinion

One may outwit another, but not all the others.

Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.

The whole power of cunning is privative; to say nothing, and to do nothing , is the utmost of its reach. Yet men, thus narrow by nature and mean by art, are sometimes able to rise by the miscarriages of bravery and the openness of integrity, and, watching failures and snatching opportunities, obtain advantages which belong to higher characters.