Kanye West Quotes

The diplomat holds all acts honorable which bring him success, all things are righteous which serve his ends. If cheating is necessary, he will cheat; if lying is useful, he will lie; if bribery helps, he will bribe; if murder serves, he will order murder; if burglary, seduction, arson or forgery brings success nearer, all and each of these will be done.

As readers, we sense when the game is being played for real and when something else is afoot: pride, showmanship, the pursuit of power, self-aggrandizement, revenge, making money. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but I dislike closing a book with the sense that I've been had.

Scarlett O'Hara didn't think she was manipulating. That's just the way she got what she wanted.

Tactics are manipulative.

Realize that the game of life is the game of, to some extent, being taken advantage of by people who make a science of it. Whether they are in government or personal life or in business, they're everywhere.

When a man speaks of the need for realism one may be sure that this is always the prelude to some bloody deed.

Most of the great results of history are brought about by discreditable means.

Deals, flattery, threats and promises are part of the process, certainly; do not flinch from any opportunity to scheme and plot, however sordid and demeaning it may appear.

I'm very good at manipulation.

Men frequently do good only to give themselves opportunity of doing ill with impunity.

Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want to get something out of them, otherwise you'll come home to me with a full belly and an empty purse.

I've learned a lot about good and evil. They are not always what they appear to be.

I'm not naturally manipulative.

A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection.

There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.

It is a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.

What's distinctively shocking about Machiavelli is that he didn't care. He believed not only that politicians must do evil in the name of the public good, but also that they shouldn't worry about it. He was unconcerned, in other words, with what modern thinkers call 'the problem of dirty hands.'

Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.

A lot of very successful businessmen share some of these sociopathic traits - a lack of empathy, seeing people as commodities, projecting an air of sincerity when everything is actually calculated.

Proselytizing is only wrong if coercive or deceptive. Coercion, whether violent or not, is immoral, just as deception is immoral.

They talk like angels but they live like men.

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful.

Life is a racket. Writing is a racket. Sincerity is a racket. Everything's a racket.

There's good and bad everywhere in any aspect in life. The only people who we can't really trust are politicians. Because those guys lie to everybody and constantly.