“The art of a diplomat is to conceal all turbulence behind his smile.”

“Behind every smile there's teeth.”

“The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.”

“Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.”

“The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.”

“Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.”

“He was looking at her from behind the smiling that wasn't smiling but was something you were not supposed to see beyond.”

“Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses.”

“Leon regarded Archie with triumph, smiling almost grotesquely, a caricature of a smile really. Leon was not accustomed to smiling. But something else was behind the smile, behind those icy cold eyes, a smile that said he had not believed a word of what Archie had said. Which did not bother Archie in the least. The important thing was that Leon had chosen to pretend he had believed.”

“The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art,
Reigns more or less, and glows in ev'ry heart.”