“The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects that he will be caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in.”

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, book Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment (1866)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects that he will be caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, th…" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky155

Russian author 1821–1881

Related quotes

“It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions, for it makes the other party stick the less.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Cunning
Essays (1625)

“Reading maketh a full man; and writing an axact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know which he doth not.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

“And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant,
insufferable master.
There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught — they say —
God, when he walked on earth.”

Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) American poet

"Shine, Perishing Republic" (1939)

“The more a man knows, the more willing he is to learn. The less a man knows, the more positive he is that he knows everything…”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

“He was so crafty and cunning in petty things, as the circumventing of any great man, the change of a Favourite, &c. insomuch as a very wise man was wont to say that he believed him the wisest fool in Christendom, meaning him wise in small things, but a fool in weighty affairs.”

James I of England (1566–1625) king during union of English and Scottish crowns

The Court and Character of King James I, commonly attributed to Anthony Weldon
About James

“Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon: cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it: cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

No. 225.
The Tatler (1711–1714)
Context: At the same time that I think discretion the most useful talent a man can be master of, I look upon cunning to be the accomplishment of little, mean, ungenerous minds. Discretion points out the noblest ends to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable methods of attaining them: cunning has only private selfish aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon: cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it: cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life: cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our immediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understandings, cunning is often to be met with in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them.

“Beatrice: He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Variant: He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.
Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“Man is a truly cunning creature.”

Aristophanés The Birds

(abridged tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Birds+451) <br class="br">Birds (414 BC)

“The more a man judges, the less he loves.”

Honoré de Balzac book Physiology of Marriage

Plus on juge, moins on aime. <br class="br"> Part I, Meditation VIII: Of the First Symptoms http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Physiology_of_Marriage/Part_1/Med_8, aphorism LX. <br class="br">Physiology of Marriage (1829)

“Obsessed with tricking the girl, he had fallen into the trap he laid for her. Bitterly he recognised that he was always believing his own lies, caught in nets he had elaborately woven.”

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) American writer

“Dragonfly” (p. 211)
Earthsea Books, Tales from Earthsea (2001)

“The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects that he will be caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Fyodor Dostoyevsky155

Related quotes

Related topics