Charles Baudelaire Quotes

It is the greatest art of the devil to convince us he does not exist.

The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us; but he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. His attack is psychological, Damien. And powerful.

The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.

The cleverest trick of the Devil is that nobody believes in him. It. Her. Well, we have been very stupid.

I mean, the more a man was in the Devil's power, the less he would be aware of it, on the principle that a man is still fairly sober as long as he knows he's drunk.

The true manipulator never has a reputation for manipulating.

The deadliest bullshit is odorless, and transparent.

It is twice as hard to crush a half-truth as a whole lie.

We are better deceived by having some truth told us than none.

Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile

Deception is a sort of seduction. In love and war, adultery and espionage, deceit can only succeed if the deceived party is willing, in some way, to be deceived.

A veritable incubator of short cuts, schemes and devices to overcome the truth.

I believe conspiracy theories are part of a larger conspiracy to distract us from the real conspiracy. String theory.

I don't want them to believe me, I just want them to think.

The most that can be said of flattery is that it is sometimes a cheap psychological trick with which charlatans and dishonest people lull others into a state of carelessness while they pick their pockets.

Pretences go a great way with men that take fair words and magisterial looks for current payment.

A joke is a good camouflage. Next best comes sentiment... But the best camouflage of all - in my opinion - is the plain and simple truth. Because nobody ever believes it.

Those who are overreached by our cunning are far from appearing to us as ridiculous as we appear to ourselves when the cunning of others has overreached us.

The assumption that seeing is believing makes us susceptible to visual deception.

The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

So which is the lie? Hard or soft? Silence or time?

The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him, the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free.

The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he's getting it.

An attempt to gain a value by deceiving the mind of others is an act of raising your victims to a position higher than reality.