The craftiest trickery are too short and ragged a cloak to cover a bad heart.
The crafty person is always in danger; and when they think they walk in the dark, all their pretenses are transparent.
The easiest way to be cheated is to believe yourself to be more cunning than others.
The great advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. First to lay asleep opposition and to surprise. For where a man's intentions are published, it is an alarum to call up all that are against them. The second is to reserve a man's self a fair retreat: for if a man engage himself, by a manifest declaration, he must go through, or take a fall. The third is, the better to discover the mind of another. For to him that opens himself, men will hardly show themselves adverse; but will fair let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought.
The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself.
The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified.
To know how to disguise is the knowledge of kings.
Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.
Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
We like to be deceived.
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment.
When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.
Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth.
Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?
You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.
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