“It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles.”
Variant: It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist.
Source: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), P. 92
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Muriel Spark 19
Scottish writer 1918–2006Related quotes
“Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.”
Veritas autem docendo persuadet non suadendo docet.
Adversus Valentinianos (Against the Valentinians), 1.4
“Perhaps it is impossible for a person who does no good not to do harm.”
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Ch. 28.
“though mankind persuades
itself that every weed's
a rose, roses(you feel
certain) will only smile”
72
95 poems (1958)
Between the Bridge and the River (2006)
"Unification of the fatherland is an act of supreme patriotism" (1970s), quoted in Kim Jong Il Handbook (2011) by International Business Publications USA
“Distrust the man who smiles before he speaks.”
Méfie-toi de celui qui rit avant de parler!
Tartarin sur les Alpes (1885; repr. New York: H. Holt, 1917) p. 89; Katharine Prescott Wormeley (trans.) Tartarin of Tarascon. To Which is Added Tartarin on the Alps (Boston: Little, Brown, 1900) p. 241.
“The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.”
La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas.
XXIX: "Le Joueur généreux"; The devil describes having heard this statement made by a Parisian preacher
Paraphrased in The Usual Suspects as "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
Le Spleen de Paris (1862)
