Quotes & Sayings About Deceiving

If you deceive someone, you lose one of life's greatest treasures, you lose the capacity to trust. Because without trust, love is not possible. — Rajneesh

When we successfully deceive others, they are not aware of it; the same is true with self-deception. — Mardy Grothe

To deceive ones selfe is very easie. — George Herbert

But most of the time, with a contented resignation that comes normally to a man only at the end of a long and busy life, he sat before the keyboard and filled the air with his beloved Bach.
Perhaps he was deceiving himself, perhaps this was some merciful trick of the mind but now it seemed to Jan that this what he had always wished to do. His secret ambition had at last dared to emerge into the full light of consciousness.
Jan had always been a good pianist, and now he was the finest in the world. — Arthur C. Clarke

One physician may gravely exaggerate an illness and give up hope altogether. Another may ignorantly declare that there is no illness and that no treatment is necessary, thus deceiving the patient with false consolation. You may call the first one pessimistic and the second one optimistic. Both are equally dangerous. — Walpola Rahula

What is called music today is all too often only a disguise for the monologue of power. However, and this is the supreme irony of it all, never before have musicians tried so hard to communicate with their audience, and never before has that communication been so deceiving. Music now seems hardly more than a somewhat clumsy excuse for the self-glorification of musicians and the growth of a new industrial sector. — Jacques Attali

It appears to be a re-run of a bad movie. [Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors. One thing is for certain - he's not disarming. — George W. Bush

Little did these theologically ignorant Nazis know that the man with whom they were dealing had worked out a theological defense of deception against the likes of them. In some ways he was their worst nightmare. He was not a "worldly" or "compromised" pastor, but a pastor whose very devotion to God depended on his deceiving the evil powers ranged against him. He was serving God by taking them all for a long ride. — Eric Metaxas

It is quite as ignominious to allow oneself to be deceived as to deceive. — Christina, Queen Of Sweden

Religious externals may have meaning for the God-inhabited soul; for any others they are not only useless but may actually become snares, deceiving them into a false and perilous sense of security. — Aiden Wilson Tozer

Perhaps that's its strength. The flexibility. The fragility. Appearances ... " He paused. " ... are often deceiving. — Julie Anne Long

Liberal of cruelty are those who pamper with promises; promisers destroy while they deceive, and the hope they raise is dearly purchased by the dependence that is sequent to disappointment. — Johann Georg Ritter Von Zimmermann

Cheats easily believe others as bad as themselves; there is no deceiving them, nor do they long deceive. — Jean De La Bruyere

I've always thought of beauty therapy, 'alternative' treatments and the like as the female equivalent of brothels - for essentially self-deceiving people who feel a bit hollow and have to pay to be touched. — Julie Burchill

Though dreams can be deceiving; like faces are to hearts, they serve for sweet relieving, when fantasy and reality lie too far apart. — Fiona Apple

Looks are deceiving, — Richelle Mead

Subjects have no greater liberty in a popular than in a monarchial state. That which deceives them is the equal participation of command. — Thomas Hobbes

Self-defense is only an illusion, a dark cloak beneath which lurks a razor-sharp dagger waiting to be plunged into the first unwary victim. Whoever declares that any weapon manufactured today, whether it be a nuclear missile or a .38 special, is created for self-defense should look a little more closely at his own image in the mirror. Either he is a liar or is deceiving himself. — Wong Shun Leung

The love of nature is the only love that does not deceive human hopes. — Honore De Balzac

Sight is one of the most easily deceived senses. I could make a coin disappear and your eyes would believe it gone, even if it were merely up my sleeve. — Megan Chance

Winged time glides on insensibly, and deceive us; and there is nothing more fleeting than years. — Ovid

The wind is awake, pretty leave, pretty leaves, Heed not what he says, he deceives, he deceives; Over and over To the lowly clover He has lisped the same love (and forgotten it, too). He will be lisping and pledging to you. — John Vance Cheney

[ ... ]we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

James 1:22 is the theme verse of the entire book of James. It says, But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. — David Platt

My object is to mystify and entertain. I wouldn't deceive you for the world. — Howard Thurston

There's a whole [ ... ] art to finding the truth and accomplishing value from inside a human mind: we have to learn our own flaws, overcome our biases, prevent ourselves from self-deceiving, get ourselves into good emotional shape to confront the truth and do what needs doing, etcetera etcetera and so on. — Eliezer Yudkowsky

Appearances can be deceiving, but the true colours of your soul remain. — Angelica Hopes

It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We are never so easily deceived as when we imagine we are deceiving others. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Blessed is he who understandeth what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for Jesus' sake. He must give up all that he loveth for his Beloved, for Jesus will be loved alone above all things. The love of created things is deceiving and unstable, but the love of Jesus is faithful and lasting. He who cleaveth to created things will fall with their slipperiness; but he who embraceth Jesus will stand upright for ever. Love Him and hold Him for thy friend, for He will not forsake thee when all depart from thee, nor will he suffer thee to perish at the last. — Thomas A Kempis

When High and Mighty people want to make us believe that they possess some good quality which they in fact do not have, it is dangerous to show that you doubt them; because, by removing their hope of deceiving the world, you also remove their desire to perform the good acts that might have arisen from their very pretensions. — Madeleine De Souvre, Marquise De ...

There's something about the thousands of glittering lights, the veil of nighttime that almost makes this place beautiful, especially in the reflection of the water. It makes everything askew, disoriented. There's more truth in a ripple of water than in a clear day. — Ellie Lieberman

The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people. — Hugo Black

Appearances often are deceiving. — Aesop

Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself. — Ludwig Wittgenstein

...seeing is believing, but remember looks can be deceiving... — J.A. Smith

The oracles are dumb, No voice or hideous hum Runs thro' the arched roof in words deceiving. — John Milton

Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.
I'll trust in God's unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER! — Martin Luther

We find the light only after total defeat of our attempts to deceive and outwit it. — Vernon Howard

There was no deceiving himself: something terrible, new, and more important than anything before in his life, was taking place within him of which he alone was aware. — Leo Tolstoy

Looks can be deceiving. — Meg Cabot

Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. — Jeremiah

I may ... surprise you - but I shall not deceive you. — Eugene Talmadge

I'm such an awful faker. Everything that comes out of my mouth needs to be the real deal. Not that I ever try to be deceiving, but sometimes it takes a while to find your voice and find what you want to say. — Steve Grand

Appearances can be so deceiving, such a poor measure of a person. Admonished the Savior, 'Judge not according to the appearance. — Thomas S. Monson

I mean its an obsession, you follow the obsession but at the same time you have so many doubts, you know. Why am I wasting so much money going back to this place, taking more pictures? What's the point of it? No one cares about it. I think I care about it but maybe I am deceiving myself. — Alex Webb

A man of business will often deceive you without the slightest scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit a theft. — Arthur Schopenhauer

Hee that will deceive the fox, must rise betimes. — George Herbert

There is a great deal of wishful thinking in such cases it is the easiest thing of all to deceive ones self. — Demosthenes

To deceive gracefully is the very essence of social life. One must start by deceiving oneself, and make a lifelong practice of deceiving others; if one does it well enough, in time one might even become an artist, the greatest illusionists of all. — Elspeth Huxley

You can see your real face only when you stop deceiving yourself! Until then, you will always see someone which is not you! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

When we see an effect happen always in the same manner, we infer that it takes place by a natural necessity; as, for instance, that the sun will rise to morrow; but nature often deceives us, and will not submit to its own rules. — Blaise Pascal

Appearances are often deceiving. — Aesop

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. — John Galt

Whoever had said that appearances were deceiving was only partially right; they could also be deadly. — Julie McElwain

Don't lose who you are in the blur of the stars Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing — Jessie J.

And so even the righteous heart is besieged by the blinding light of false knowledge. Falsity is like an ocean that presses around solitary moments of truth, treatening to overwhelm or blind the seekers of knowledge, to eradicate them in an instant of self-deceiving brilliance.
Knowledge is power; it guards our souls - guard it well. — C.S. Goto

I mention this only to shew that the citations of the most judicious authors frequently deceive us, and consequently that prudence obliges us to examine quotations, by whomsoever alleged. — Pierre Bayle

Funny, now I can see, how looks can be deceiving. — Elvis Costello

And I know this world is so cold and deceiving but I keep my head up like my nose is bleeding. — Lil' Wayne

Experience itself, to our own great loss and bane, affords us sad proof that Satan seizes as many opportunities of deceiving and destroying mankind as there are different moods and affections natural to the human character. Demonolatry, Nicholas Remy — Phillip W. Simpson

I often had no scruples about deceiving nitwits and scoundrels and fools when I found it necessary ... We avenge intelligence when we deceive a fool, and ... deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man. What has infused my very blood with an unconquerable hatred of the whole tribe of fools from the day of my birth is that I become a fool myself when I am in their company. — Giacomo Casanova

Haven't you realized that pleasure, which is indeed certainly the one and only reason for the two sexes to come together, is nevertheless not enough to establish a relationship between them? And that though this pleasure is preceded by desire which draws people together, it is however followed by aversion which pushes them apart? It's a law of nature which only love can change. Can we feel love whenever we want? Yet love is always needed, which would be a dreadfully tiresome thing if it hadn't fortunately been realized that it's enough for just one of the partners to feel it, thereby halving the problem, and without even incurring any great loss; in fact, one party is happy to love, the other to please, which is actually a bit less exciting but which can be combined with the pleasure of deceiving and that evens things out, so everyone's happy. — Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

Man has the supreme knack of deceiving himself; the Englishman is supremest among men. — Mahatma Gandhi

But she had loved her philosopher so strongly that she had made him believe that her body was aroused and ecstatic. Ibn Rushd had been fooled. Men were easily deceived in such matters because they wanted to believe they had the power to arouse. She wanted to make him believe he pleased her. But the truth was that she could give physical pleasure to a man but not receive it, she could only imagine what such pleasure might be like, she could watch and learn, and offer up to her lover the outward signs of it, while trying to fool herself, as well as him, that yes, she was being pleasured too, which made her an actress, a phony, and a self-deceiving fool. — Salman Rushdie

The truth is that our minds are corrupted by sin. Not just a little bit, but deeply, down to the depths as far as we can perceive, and beyond. And not just grossly, so that it is easy to figure out where we went wrong, but subtly, delicately, invisibly. If we think we know and appreciate how far we have gone wrong, we are still deceiving ourselves at this point also. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

You want to watch him, Julia," he told me. "He may look harmless enough, but appearances can be deceiving." Geoff grinned. "That's slander, that is. You know I always behave like a perfect gentleman." "Right then, Sir Galahad," Iain said dryly. — Susanna Kearsley

Art, however innocent, looks like deceiving. — Aaron Hill

Sin, sin! To rid myself of boredom by committing a crime, to break up monotony by deceiving. To sin in order to be a new person, another person. To hate life worse than it hated me. To sin so as not to die. — Henri Barbusse

By deceiving one another through false assumptions and misrepresentations there has been, in reality, a great lapse and delay in achieving the real goals. — Dalai Lama

TARKIN: The wench hath lied! Deceiving,
cut-throat girl,
Most cunning princess born of
Hell's own heart! — Ian Doescher

Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. — George R R Martin

If we judge our lives by what we know or by what we say, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that we are something we are not; it is wiser to evaluate ourselves by the amount of truth we actually live. This is very humbling. — Paul Washer

So what is it that you are doing - seeking security in your restlessness? The desire to be secure is one of the most curious things. And that security must be recognized by the world; I don't know whether you see this. I write a book and in the book I find my security. But that book must be recognized by the world, otherwise there is no security. So look what I've done - my security lies in the opinion of the world!...So it means I am deceiving myself constantly. — Krishnamurti

That was when I saw it: behind the beauty and fake innocence was something else, something cold and calculating. Even when she smiled, I could see sin so deeply ingrained in her that no cardigan could hide it. [ ... ] To anyone else, she was pure and naive, but this girl was hiding something. I knew only because the same sin had dwelled in me my entire life. The difference was she held it deep within her, and I let mine out of cage on a regular basis. — Jamie McGuire

Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a morecalculated sort of pride, which debases itself with a design of being exalted; and though this vice transform itself into a thousand several shapes, yet the disguise is never more effectual nor more capable of deceiving the world than when concealed under a form of humility. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It's deceiving but true that we rarely see any immediate consequences for neglecting a single installment of time in any arena of life. But if neglect becomes your pattern, you will eventually bump up against our third principle: 3. Neglect has a cumulative effect. You — Andy Stanley

I suppose the advocates of unreason think that there is a better chance of profitably deceiving the populace if they keep it in a state of effervescence. — Bertrand Russell

He who takes delight in deceiving others must not complain when he is deceived himself. — David Miller

And when your wife is not the same person you fell in love with eight years ago, where exactly does that leave you? Do you try to get to know who she has become, and hope for the best? Or do you keep deceiving yourself in the hope that she might wake up one morning and have gone back to the woman she used to be? — Jodi Picoult

Our hopes, often though they deceive us, lead us pleasantly along the path of life. — Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is said that ridicule is the test of truth: it is never applied, but when we wish to deceive ourselves ... — Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud - that 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, where you become a pawn of their blindness, a slave of their non-thinking and their evasions, while their intelligence, their rationality, their perceptiveness become the enemies you have to dread and flee - that you do not care to live as a dependent, least of all a dependent on the stupidity of others, or as a fool whose source of values is the fools he succeeds in fooling - that honesty is not a social duty, not a sacrifice for the sake of others, but the most profoundly selfish virtue man can practice: his refusal to sacrifice the reality of his own existence to the deluded consciousness of others — Ayn Rand

He said, speaking more to himself than to me: 'It was knowledge I sought. Knowledge which is clean and pure, far above the cheating and deceiving in which most men spend their lives.'
And do you not find it,' I asked, 'this knowledge which you prize?'
In part,' he said. 'I find other things, too. Things I do not desire but must accept. There is still cheating and deceiving. — John Christopher

I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I tell them the truth and they never believe me. — Camillo Di Cavour

My friend Wicker once said to be careful what and how you say what you're really thinking to a woman. After much screwing up in that department with Emma, I've learned it's not what you should hide, but what you say that makes her react the way she does. If I am unable to make myself clear, as I so often do, it's more likely going to go to pot if I try to explain how I really feel. Instead, I rework in my brain what she needs to hear. I don't always nail it, but I'm getting better at it. And it's always the truth even if it isn't how I see it.
Is it deceiving? No. It's being considerate and aware that she is an emotional creature, and that for some crazy reason, craves my attention. I love to make her happy. My jumbled up mess of a mind isn't important in the long run if it just confuses her. So I chose words carefully. When something goes right, I use it over and over again. -Ames — Cyndi Goodgame

The actions of government, we are told, bear down only on imprudent souls who provoke them. The man who resigns himself and keeps silent is always safe. Reassured by this worthless and specious argument, we do not protest against the oppressors. Instead we find fault with the victims. Nobody knows how to be brave even prudentially. Everyone stays silent, keeping his head low in the self-deceiving hope of disarming the powers that be by his silence. People give despotism free access, flattering themselves they will be treated with consideration. Eyes to the ground, each person walks in silence the narrow path leading him safely to the tomb. — Benjamin Constant

Amusement that is excessive and followed only for its own sake, allures and deceives us. — Blaise Pascal

Propaganda is that branch of the art of lying which consists in nearly deceiving your friends without quite deceiving your enemies. — Francis Cornford

Dreams can be deceiving, like faces are to hearts. — Fiona Apple

Do I look feeble to you"
"Actually, yes."
"Well, looks can be deceiving. For instance, when I met you, I thought you look reasonably intelligent. — Neal Shusterman

Whoso neglects a thing which he suspects he ought to do, because it seems to him too small a thing, is deceiving himself; it is not too little, but too great for him, that he doeth it not. — Edward Bouverie Pusey

Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers.
And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see. — James Salter

While we are indifferent to our good qualities, we keep on deceiving ourselves in regard to our faults, until we come to look on them as virtues. — Heinrich Heine

When one is in love one begins by deceiving one's self. And one ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance." - Oscar Wilde — Ashton Cartwright

I know you'll probably get angry with me for that, shout, stamp your feet: "speak just for yourself and your miseries in the underground, and don't go saying 'we all.'" Excuse me, gentleman, but I am not justifying myself with this allishness. As far as I myself am concerned, I have merely carried to an extreme in my life what you have not dared to carry even halfway, and, what's more, you've taken your cowardice for good sense, and found comfort in thus deceiving yourselves. So that I, perhaps, come out even more "living" than you. — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My religion is not deceiving myself. — Milarepa

The miracle of order has run out and I am left in an unmiraculous city where anything may happen. I don't need more intimations of disorder. It has to be more than that! Search the smoke for the fire's base. Read from the coals neither success nor despair. This edge of boredom is as bright. I pass it, into the dark rim. There is the deceiving warmth that asks nothing. There are objects lost in double-light. — Samuel R. Delany

Am I capable of deceiving my friend? Julien asked himself peevishly. This being, for whom hypocrisy and an absence of all sympathy were the usual methods of protecting himself, could not bear, this time, the thought of the slightest trickiness in dealing with a man for whom he had friendly feelings. — Stendhal

He that once deceives is ever suspected. — George Herbert