Pretext Quotes

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

We warn and adjure earnestly in the Lord faithful Christians of every condition that no one in the future dare to vex anyone, despoil him of his possessions, reduce to servitude, or lend aid and favour to those who give themselves up to these practices, or exercise that inhuman traffic by which the Blacks, as if they were not men but rather animals, having been brought into servitude, in no matter what way, are, without any distinction, in contempt of the rights of justice and humanity, bought, sold, and devoted sometimes to the hardest labour. Further, in the hope of gain, propositions of purchase being made to the first owners of the Blacks, dissensions and almost perpetual conflicts are aroused in these regions. We prohibit and strictly forbid any Ecclesiastic or lay person from presuming to defend as permissible this traffic in Blacks under no matter what pretext or excuse, or from publishing or teaching in any manner whatsoever, in public or privately, opinions contrary to what We have set forth in this Apostolic Letter.

The stores are already empty, as they were looted immediately…This was the first stage. As soon as it ended the second stage began: the looting of apartments…At first they used to come on the pretext of “searching for arms”…As time passed, there was no longer a need for formal pretext; they simply come and take not only gold, silver, jewelry, and precious stones, but also pillows and blankets, and often linens, clothing, furs, and even furniture ...

Those who administer or possess governing power, always try to surround their high-handed actions with a cloak of legality, and to persuade the people that they act from good motives; this they are easily able to effect when they are the sole interpreters of the law;

You just don't, in the 21st century, behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text.

It is 2017, and we are living in the golden age of lying.

The greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness—each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked—each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity.

To seek a justification for a decision already made.

So the Chinese have at last given us the grounds and the ‘incident’ which we have so long desired.

Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a pretext for a thousand.

Tyrants seldom want pretexts.

I'm not proud of it, but I'm a great liar when I travel. I smile and lie, and things are smooth.

Rulers who want to unleash war know very well that they must procure or invent a first victim.

The missiles come first, and the justifications come second.

Only lie about the future.

In the first place, when there is a policy of intentional aggression, inspired by a desire to get possession of the territory or the trade of another country, right or wrong, a pretext is always sought.

We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence. The potential weapon of mass destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq. There's just one problem - it's in North Korea.

Text without context is pretext.

I know of no sentence that can induce such immediate and brazen lying as the one that begins, 'Have you read - .'

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

Down to the present day the luminous image of democracy has often served as a pretext for the most undemocratic actions.

He who wishes to injure another, will soon find a pretext.

If I have taken the word, by any reason, it has been because I think it is grave to kill men, under the pretext that they are mistaken on the interpretation of some point, for we know that even the chosen ones are not exempt from sometimes being wrong.

And what do you say of lovers of wine... they are glad of any pretext of drinking any wine

Truth is often the favorite tool of those who deceive.