Quotes & Sayings About Feigning

She snorted. "Are you seriously asking me to have a fling with you?" "Absolutely not," he said, feigning shock. "I said dinner. It was your lascivious mind that went to the bedroom."....When he met her eyes, he was stunned to see they were huge They darted once to his lips. She thought he was going to kiss her. And she wasn't running away. — Sarah Addison Allen

We all appear as dunces when feigning an interest in things we care nothing about. — C.S. Lewis

Horace sniffed the pleasant smell of wood smoke from the chimney. "Hope they're cooking something," he said. "I'm starved." "Who said that?" Will asked, feigning surprise and looking around in all directions. Then he pretended to relax. "Oh, it's only you, Horace. I didn't see you there in that cloak." Horace favored him with a long-suffering look. "Will, if it wasn't funny the first half-dozen times you said it, why do you think it would be funny now?" And — John Flanagan

The reason that the little things are more important than the big ones, turns out to be very simple: one can fake the big things in one's behaviour, but not the little things. The little things lack the three "f's": feigning, fabrication, fakeness. Plus the most important "c": contrivance. — Nicos Hadjicostis

Even Rudy stood completely erect, feigning nonchalance, tensing himself against the tension. — Markus Zusak

But the acknowledging of one God, eternal, infinite, and omnipotent, may more easily be derived, from the desire men have to know the causes of natural bodies, and their several virtues, and operations; than from the fear of what was to befall them in time to come. For he that from any effect he seeth come to pass, should reason to the next and immediate cause thereof, and from thence to the cause of that cause, and plunge himself profoundly in the pursuit of causes; shall at last come to this, that there must be, as even the heathen philosophers confessed, one first mover; that is, a first, and an eternal cause of all things; which is that which men mean by the name of God: and all this without thought of their fortune; the solicitude whereof, both inclines to fear, and hinders them from the search of the causes of other things; and thereby gives occasion of feigning of as many gods, as there be men that feign them. — Christopher Hitchens

In that case, hell, I'll even spring for the coffee. Unless you're some kind of damned tea-drinking Englishman, in which case you can buy your own dirty leafy water."
"Drink tea in America?" Jeremy's eyebrow twitched upwards in disbelief. "I'm not that sort of masochist. Coffee, at least, has the benefit of being horrible the world over, so it doesn't matter where you get it."
Simon eyed him narrowly. "And to think I was almost not hating you."
Jeremy blinked, feigning confusion. "Goodness. Did I say something wrong? — M. Chandler

There are people one knows and people one doesn't. One shouldn't cheapen the former by feigning intimacy with the latter. — Tony Horwitz

He had learnt how to feign pleasure in a state of pain; how to feign a rosy picture if there was a gloomy affair; how to feign profits when there were losses. And the art of feigning benefited him in his life, at least in business... — Girdhar Joshi

I'm embarrassed that people will know that I can't ride a bicycle. For years, I have been feigning bad ankles and saying I wasn't in the mood for a bike ride. — Jill Soloway

After I left here on Saturday, I decided never to see you again."
He was sliding the frittata under the broiler, so she could only see his profile, but damn if he didn't appear to be smirking.
"I know that, darling. It wounds my pride you won't go out with me, but I can console myself with the knowledge that when you do see me, you can't keep your knickers on for ten minutes running."
She threw her cookie at him, feigning indignation. "You bastard! Are you calling me easy?"
"I like you easy. Besides, you're not to blame. Who'd want to wear wet knickers? — Ruthie Knox

Addie," Laila says, feigning concern and jumping down next to me. "Did you get hurt? What happened? — Kasie West

You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap. there's an animal kind of trick. a human would remain in the trap endure the pain feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind. — Frank Herbert

She wore a fitted gown of gold that shimmered in the dim light. Her regal grace bedazzled him, in spite of his best attempts at feigning disinterest. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.
He let his breath out in a hiss.
He realized he had stopped breathing. There she was, the woman for whom he had risked everything. Never did he dare to harbor any hope of seeing her again. Yet after five long and bloody years, their paths had crossed once more. — Jennifer McKeithen

You realize that if you allow me to court you, all your opposition to marriage is going to have to be reconsidered." She smiled, feigning innocence. "What opposition to marriage?" "Excellent." "But I am thinking we should have a long courtship." "Why?" He looked surprised. "Because I find I've developed a taste for adventure." "That sounds dangerous. Not at all in character for a delicate flower." She laughed. "We know I've never been good at being a delicate flower. Besides, it shan't be too dangerous." "How can you be so sure?" She smiled brilliantly at him, taking his breath away. "Because, on my next adventure, I'll have you by my side." He — Sarah MacLean

Not knowing a thing is not ignorance. Feigning knowledge you don't have can be
Sholto — Laurell K. Hamilton

Isn't it possible that I'm not feigning interest? That I really do want to know more about you?"
"You've never been interested in me before."
"You've never been interesting before."
-Cassandra and Paige — Kelley Armstrong

At twenty-something he went off to London. Instinctively, he had already trained himself to the habit of feigning that he was somebody, so that his "nobodiness" might not be discovered. In London he found the calling he had been predestined to; he became an actor, that person who stands upon a stage and plays at being another person, for an audience of people who play at taking him for that person. — Anonymous

The less the mind understands and the more things it perceives, the greater its power of feigning is; and the more things it understands, the more that power is diminished. — Baruch Spinoza

No one can really claim to know politics properly until he has stayed up all night writing a speech for delivery the following day. While the world sleeps, the orator paces by lamplight, wondering what madness ever brought him to this occupation in the first place. Arguments are prepared and discarded. The exhausted mind ceases to have any coherent grip upon the purpose of the enterprise, so that often--usually an hour or two after midnight--there comes a point where failing to turn up, feigning illness, and hiding at home seem the only realistic options. And then, somehow, just asa panic and humiliation beckon, the parts cohere, and there it is: a speech. A second-rate orator now retires gratefully to bed. A Cicero stays up and commits it to memory. — Robert Harris

I wondered at first whether she might not be feigning timidity out of courtesy to a man of an older generation, but a cold gin moisture came out on her beautiful face and she appeared to be appealing to me do something. — Saul Bellow

I'd have to swing by the house first to change into something more comfortable."
"That's fine," he said. "I'm all for you changing into something more comfortable."
"I'll bet you are," she said knowingly.
"Now, don't start getting fresh," he said, feigning offense. "I don't think we know each other well enough for that. — Nicholas Sparks

The sight of a beautiful, naked Amy sliding her finger into her mouth gave Sam a little jolt, she saw. The front of his jeans instantly appeared fuller.
"What have you got baby?" he asked, feigning nonchalance and failing. His eyes had taken on a predatory gleam.
"Chocolate sauce."
He quirked his eyebrow.
"I stole it from Janie."
Sam's mouth twisted. "That's Janie's homemade chocolate sauce?"
"Yup."
"She's going to kill you," he said as he crossed the threshold.
"At least I'll die happy," she responded with a devilish grin. — J.M. Northup

Oh my," she said, feigning innocence. She fanned a hand in front of her face. "Revenge is so sweet! — Margaret Taylor

How can we expect our students to become bold and fearless in thought and action if we encase them in sentimental shrines feigning a culture which has long since disappeared? — Walter Gropius

One can acquire some virtues by feigning them for a long time. — Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Twas never merry world Since lowly feigning was called compliment. — William Shakespeare

I don't date officers. Or men who jump out of helicopters for a living."
"Technically, we rappel."
She shrugged, feigning indifference. "Same thing, really. — Loribelle Hunt

If every day a man takes orders in silence from an incompetent superior, if every day he solemnly performs ritual acts which he privately finds ridiculous, if he unhesitatingly gives answers to questionnaires which are contrary to his real opinions and is prepared to deny his own self in public, if he sees no difficulty in feigning sympathy or even affection where, in fact, he feels only indifference or aversion, it still does not mean that he has entirely lost the use of one of the basic human senses, namely, the sense of humiliation. — Vaclav Havel

On February 14, I received a telegram from Buenos Aires urging me to return home immediately; my father was "not at all well." God forgive me, but the prestige of being the recipient of an urgent telegram, the desire to communicate to all of Fray Bentos the contradiction between the negative form of the news and the absoluteness of the adverbial phrase, the temptation to dramatize my grief by feigning a virile stoicism-all this perhaps distracted me from any possibility of real pain. — Jorge Luis Borges

I didn't sleep with Brodick," she blurted out. "I have no need for a priest."
"Yes, you did too."
"Alec, it isn't polite to contradict your elders."
"But, Mama ... "
"Hush, sweetheart."
Gillian glared at Brodick. He could easily correct this horrid misunderstanding if he would only offer a quick explanation.
He wasn't inclined. He winked at her. "I didn't know a face could get that red," he remarked.
"Do explain," she demanded.
"Explain what?" he asked, feigning innocence.
She turned to Judith. "We were camping ... and it isn't what it sounds like ... I did sleep, and when I awakened ... they were all there ... "
"They?" Iain asked.
"His soldiers."
"You slept with his soldiers too? — Julie Garwood

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly. — William Shakespeare

Obamacare is a program designed to shift control of the health care industry from the private sector to the public sector, from doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to the federal government. The program was sold by Obama feigning outrage over insurance companies refusing to grant insurance to people with "preexisting conditions." But this is the same as an insurance company not granting fire insurance to a guy whose house has already burned down. The whole point of insurance is to share the risk before the catastrophe occurs, not to have a catastrophe and then get other people to pay for your losses. — Dinesh D'Souza

In the business world, what's
the female equivalent of going golfing with a client?"
Laney gave this some thought. Payton fell silent, too, contemplating. After a few moments, neither of them could come up with anything.
How depressing.
Payton sighed, feigning resignation. "Well, that's it. I guess I'll just have to sleep with them."
Laney folded her hands primly on the table. "I think I'm uncomfortable with this conversation. — Julie James

No fair maiden should die alone" he said, putting a hand on hers. "Shall I read to you in your final moments? What story would you like?"
She snatched her hand back. 'How about the story of the idiotic prince who won't leave the assassin alone?"
"Oh! I love that story! It has such a happy ending too- why, the assassin was really feigning her illness in order to get the prince's attention! Who would have guessed it? Such a clever girl. And the bedroom scene is so lovely- it's worth reading through all of their ceaseless banter! — Sarah J. Maas

You make it sound almost like a hostage situation," I tease. "It's love, darling," he says and then adds, feigning an evil grin, "It takes everyone hostage. — E.K. Blair

Your only chance of survival, if you are severely smitten, lies in hiding this fact from the woman you love, of feigning a casual detachment under all circumstances. What sadness there is in this simple observation! What an accusation against man! Love makes you weak, and the weaker of the two is oppressed, tortured, and finally killed by the other, who in his or her turn oppresses, tortures, and kills without having evil intentions, without even getting pleasure from it, with complete indifference; that's what men, normally, call love. — Michel Houellebecq

Why, Miss Wyndham," Mr. Kent replied, looking as chaste and good as a debutante at her presentation to the Queen. "I think we can all agree it's fair to punish these guilty people feigning innocence every day of their lives, all while helping a wrongfully accused innocent. I would certainly never ask you, but I suspect you agree."

"You cannot simply blackmail people into liking me! — Tarun Shanker

Suicides, in his experience, were perfectly capable of feigning an interest in a future they had no intention of inhabiting. — Robert Galbraith

You realize that is you allow me to court you, all your opposition to marriage is going to have to be reconsidered."
She smiled, feigning innocence."What opposition to marriage?"
"Excellent."
"But I'm thinking we should have a long courtship."
"Why?" He looked surprised.
"Because i find I've developed a taste for adventure."
"That sounds dangerous. Not at all in character for a delicate flower."
She laughed." We know I've never been good at being a delicate flower. Besides, it shan't be too dangerous."
"How can you be so sure?"
She smiled brilliantly at him, taking his breath away.
"Because, on my next adventure, I'll have you by my side. — Sarah MacLean

Boxer, feeling that his attentions were due to the family in general, and must be impartially distributed, dashed in and out with bewildering inconstancy; now, describing a circle of short barks round the horse, where he was being rubbed down at the stable-door; now feigning to make savage rushes at his mistress, and facetiously bringing himself to sudden stops; now, eliciting a shriek from Tilly Slowboy, in the low nursing-chair near the fire, by the unexpected application of his moist nose to her countenance; now, exhibiting an obtrusive interest in the baby; now, going round and round upon the hearth, and lying down as if he had established himself for the night; now, getting up again, and taking that nothing of a fag-end of a tail of his, out into the weather, as if he had just remembered an appointment, and was off, at a round trot, to keep it. — Charles Dickens

Job says what he thinks and feels, and how every person would likely feel in his position. His friends, on the other hand, talk as if they were secretly being watched by the powerful Ruler whose case is open to their verdict, and as if, in making their verdict, they cared more about winning His favor than about the truth. This trickery of maintaining something just to keep up appearances, contrary to their true beliefs, feigning a conviction they did not have, stands in stark contrast to Job's candor, which is so far removed from flattery that it borders on audacity, but nevertheless casts him in a very favorable light. — Immanuel Kant

Even feigning surprise, pretending it was unexpected and saying a ritual thanks, is surely wiser than just expecting everything so carelessly. — Barbara Kingsolver

In this classic reversal of reality, we do not stand before him, but the King stands before us. We question him; he doesn't question us. The irony of it all! While the name of the Lord was constantly blasphemed by men, Jesus is now accused of being a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65). Talk about a primitive form of defense - projecting your guilt onto another. Could it be any clearer that Jesus had come to the anti-kingdom, where everything was the opposite of the way it was intended? The mocking was nonstop. Accusers took turns kneeling before him, feigning homage. — Edward T. Welch

Daddy," said the toddler, now seething with righteous indignation, "you are a poo-poo head!"
Feigning outrage, JFK lowered his voice. "John," he said, "no one calls the President of the United States a poo-poo head. — Christopher Andersen

The main Business of Natural Philosophy is to argue from Phaenomena without feigning Hypotheses, and to deduce Causes from Effects till we come to the very first Cause, which certainly is not mechanical; and not only to unfold the Mechanism of the World, but chiefly to resolve these, and to such like Questions. — Isaac Newton

People are shuffling by in long coats, with shopping bags and takeout, smoking cigarettes and feigning laughter - filling up their lives with distractions to shut out the chaos. — Rob Payne

The feigning sleeper can delude others he cannot delude himself. The false mystic, unfortunately, can delude both others and himself. — Anthony De Mello

The world is not looking for Stepford-type Christians. People are tired of pretense. We struggle with failures; we long for intimacy. So why are we feigning perfection before God and one another. — Sheila Walsh

No one should be ashamed to admit that they do not know what they do not know, in case while feigning knowledge, they come to deserve to never know. — Augustine Of Hippo

Please," I murmur, surprised by how much it sounds like I'm begging. "Please what?" he murmurs, feigning coyness. "Fuck me." The low growl in his throat proves he liked my crude, blunt answer. The panties slide down my legs, leaving a damp trail from my inner thigh — C.M. Owens

Jenny Marzen made millions of dollars, as opposed to nickels, by writing novels that got seriously reviewed while selling big. Amy had skimmed her first one, a mildly clever thing about a philosophy professor who discovers her husband is cheating on her with one of her grad students, and who, while feigning ignorance of the affair, drives the girl mad with increasingly brutal critiques and research tasks, at one point banishing her to Beirut, first to learn fluent Arabic and then to read Avicenna's Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, housed in the American University. This was, Amy thought, a showoffy detail that hinted at Marzen's impressive erudition but was probably arrived at within five Googling minutes. — Jincy Willett

A king there was once reigning, Who had a goodly flea, Him loved he without feigning, As his own son were he! — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The Lord probably didn't appreciate her feigning nearsightedness in order to repeatedly lean into her husband when she should've been concentrating on the meaning behind the hymn she was singing. — Karen Witemeyer

The marquis de Carabas was not a good man, and he knew himself well enough to be perfectly certain that he was not a brave man. He had long since decided that the world, Above or Below, was a place that wished to be deceived, and, to this end, he had named himself from a lie in a fairy tale, and created himself
his clothes, his manner, his carriage
as a grand joke.
There was a dull pain in his wrists and his feet, and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe. There was nothing more to be gained by feigning unconsciousness, and he raised his head, as best he could, and spat a gob of scarlet blood into Mr. Vandemar's face.
It was a brave thing to do, he thought. And a stupid one. Perhaps they would have let him die quietly, if he had not done that. Now, he had no doubt, they would hurt him more.
And perhaps his death would come the quicker for it. — Neil Gaiman

She said you were an awesome lay, I said, feigning interest in the gush of water that spilled out from the gutter by the lockers. My face would betray me if he saw it.
Well, that's true, Noah said. — Michelle Hodkin

For many men value appearances more than reality - thus they violate what's right. Everyone's prepared to sigh over some suffering man, though no sorrow really eats their hearts, or they can pretend to join another person's happiness forcing their faces into smiling masks. But a good man discerns true character - he's not fooled by eyes feigning loyalty, favouring him with watered-down respect. — Aeschylus

Lowering my gaze , I walked to my seat, settling in next to Kriss.
"Seriously America?" she whispered.
I tilted my head in her direction. "I'm sorry?" I replied, feigning confusion.
She put her silverware down, and we stared at each other. "You look trashy."
"Well, you look jealous. — Kiera Cass

Life is really a travesty of will: it is a parade of learning how to lose people and improve at feigning indifference.

I suspect I shall always fail at this, and fail miserably. I do not know whether that is winning at life or failing at happiness. — Michelle Franklin

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. — William Shakespeare

I danced on light boxer's feet over to Barrons. "Punch me."
"Don't be absurd."
"Come on, punch me, Barrons."
"I'm not punching you."
"I said, punch--Ow!" He'd decked me. Bones vibrating, my head snapped back. And forward again. I shook it. No pain. I laughed. "I'm amazing! Look at me! I hardly even felt it." I danced from foot to foot, feigning punches at him. "Come on. Punch me again." My blood felt electrified, my body impervious to all injury.
Barrons was shaking his head.
I punched him in the jaw and his head snapped back.
When it came back down his expression said I suffer you to live. "Happy now?"
"Did it hurt?"
"No."
"Can I try again?"
"Buy yourself a punching bag."
"Fight me, Barrons. I need to know how strong I am."
He rubbed his jaw. "You're strong," he said dryly. — Karen Marie Moning

There is something distinctly odd about the argument, however. Believing is not something you can decide to do as a matter of policy. At least, it is not something I can decide to do as an act of will. I can decide to go to church and I can decide to recite the Nicene Creed, and I can decide to swear on a stack of bibles that I believe every word inside them. But none of that can make me actually believe it if I don't. Pascal's Wager could only ever be an argument for feigning belief in God. And the God that you claim to believe in had better not be of the omniscient kind or he'd see through the deception. — Richard Dawkins

It's one thing to be a high achiever; it's quite another to privately sneer at your girlfriend's friends after feigning friendliness because they have the "misfortune" to drive a bus for a living. — Mallory Ortberg

Catherine wished to discover whether her son were really ill or
feigning. But he, worthy son of such a mother, played his part
to perfection. She had wept, he had a fever. — Alexandre Dumas

Plainness has its peculiar temptations and vices quite as much as beauty; it is apt either to feign amiability, or not feigning it, to show all the repulsiveness of discontent. — George Eliot

You mean you don't wear thongs?" I ask, feigning exasperation. "Hell no! I'd be digging that thing out of my ass all night long. — K.L. Grayson

Why don't you ever call me my prince?" Galen says, feigning insult.
"Shut up, my prince. There, is that better? — Anna Banks

The truest poetry is the most feigning. — William Shakespeare

I glanced at Robert, who looked at Rose, who looked back at Robert. Well, odd one out, then. Maybe he would propose if I disappeared.

"Oh look! Upholstery," I declared, feigning fascination with a side chair in the corner of the room. — Tarun Shanker

Easy climb, Kurokuma. You do it easily.'
'Not on your life,' Horace said ... 'That's what we have Rangers for. They climb up sheer rock walls and crawl along narrow, slippery ledges. I'm a trained warrior, and I'm far to valuable to risk such shenanigans.'
'We're not valuable?' Will said, feigning insult.
Horace looked at him. 'We've got two of you. We can always afford to lose one,' he said firmly. — John Flanagan

Who continued their new policy of feigning deafness whenever Harry mentioned his Malfoy-Is-a-Death-Eater theory. — J.K. Rowling