CUNNING QUOTES II

quotations about cunning

Being cunning, one cannot be at home with enlightenment. For a mind that hates external things, to seek illumination in a mind where nothing exists is to look for a reflection on the back of a mirror.

CH'ENG HAO

attributed, The Tao and the Daimon: Segments of a Religious Inquiry


Cunning to wise, is as an Ape to a Man.

WILLIAM PENN

Some Fruits of Solitude


Life is a battle of wits, and many people have to fight it unarmed.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes


You wouldn't recognize a cunning plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again."

ROWAN ATKINSON

Blackadder


I be the cunning in your charm, and I be the needle in your arm
Call me once might, let you go; but call me twice, and then I'm gonna get ya

FERGIE

"Voodoo Doll"


Cunning grows in deceit at seeing itself discovered, and tries to deceive with truth itself.

BALTHASAR GRACIAN

The Art of Worldly Wisdom


She's cunning as a fox
Clever as a crow
Solid as a rock
She is stubborn as a stone
She's a hardheaded woman

PASSENGER

"And I Love Her"


Cunning may be called a crafty or artful passion in the human mind, which very often shows itself in the countenance; and the cunning man goes about suspecting everyone, and trying to outwit all. Did ever anyone see a truly cunning man or woman with a large eye? No; they have mostly long, straight noses, and little twinkling eyes. They are like gutter-mongrel dogs, and others of the mongrel kind, and get their living by very doubtful and dirty means. Cunning people are usually very deficient in intellect; and one will often see it well developed in half-witted, and also in insane people, but the cunning of the madman is sometimes like that of the partridge, and that bird, it is believed, thinks it cannot be seen if it hides its head, as in that position it cannot see. Cunning people are to be avoided, as, of course, they are not straightforward, and cannot, as a rule, look you in the face, and do not look straight before them, but sideways generally. This special feature in the character of people is much handed down to their children, and the little ones, like little foxes, early show it; and even, like as puppies hide bones, will they hide things.

T. AUGUSTUS FORBES LEITH

Short Essays


Cunning may acquire an estate, but it cannot gain friends.

L. MURRAY

attributed, Day's Collacon


A cunning mind emphatically delights in its own cunning, and is the ready prey of cunning.

ANNA JAMESON

A Commonplace Book of Thoughts


The greatest cunning is to have none at all.

CARL SANDBURG

The Sandburg Range


It is important to realize that the cunning are not always vicious. The cunning often do good things, but for self-interested and utility-driven reasons.

JEFFREY CORNWALL

Bringing Your Business to Life


A man without cunning is like an empty matchbox.

ARAB PROVERB


She's so cunning I almost want to keep her for myself, though I shudder when I think about the price.

CAROL K. COREY

"Plain Tales from the Trenches", National Geographic , 1918


Cunning is the dwarf of wisdom.

W. R. ALGER

attributed, Day's Collacon


That's the common fate of your Machiavellians; they draw their designs so subtle that their very fineness breaks them.

JOHN DRYDEN

Sir Martin Mar-All


Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

The Idler, No. 92


Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's: A cunning Man is overmatch'd by a cunning Man and a Half.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1754


Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.

JOSEPH ADDISON

The Spectator, November 17, 1711


And our hearts are cunning
(Like a lizard in the sun)
When they want something
(Like poison, pink wonton)
Throw you under a bus
Grind your teeth to dust
You hide in the dark
And you suck your thumb

MAN MAN

"Pink Wonton"