Ali Smith Quotes

The idea of being charming and really nasty at the same time is a really difficult thing to do.

Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat.

The simplest of women are wonderful liars who can extricate themselves from the most difficult dilemmas with a skill bordering on genius.

The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed To have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads.

Lies can be wonderful things, and when a lie is told artfully, if it's done with a degree of craftsmanship, I can't help but admire the liar.

I've always got a couple of tricks up my sleeve.

It is not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish it after the age of six.

It is art to conceal art. -Ars est celare artem

A picture is an artificial work, outside nature. It calls for as much cunning as the commission of a crime.

Where the lion's skin will not reach, you must patch it out with the fox's.

And she’s very clever, Peeta. Well, she was. Until you outfoxed her

A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.

He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time.

Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft.

CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses."

We were clever enough to turn a laundry list into poetry.

Oh Satan you're a wily one.

Dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a quality of the stupid as of the clever.

It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.

Cunning is the dwarf of wisdom.

I drive him to school, then I break back into Barron's house. I'm the best kind of thief, the kind that leaves behind items equal in value to those he's stolen. Then I go home and shave until my skin is as slick as any slickster's.

You've learned that every good lie is threaded with truth and every accepted truth leaks lies.

Whoever appears to have much cunning has in reality very little; being deficient in the essential article, which is, to hide cunning.

I'm not "filled with my art". I ain't got no art. I've got only a kind of craftsman's skill, and make stories as I make biscuits or embroider underwear or wrap up packages.