Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French
Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)
“There are some occasions in which a man must tell half his secret, in order to conceal the rest; but there is seldom one in which a man should tell all. Great skill is necessary to know how far to go, and where to stop.”
15 January 1753
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)
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Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield65
British statesman and man of letters 1694–1773Related quotes
“There is great skill in knowing how to conceal one's skill.”
François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
C'est une grande habileté que de savoir cacher son habileté.
Maxim 245.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
“Where a man calls himself by a name which is not his name, he is telling a falsehood.”
William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher (1815–1899) British lawyer, judge and politician
Reddaway v. Banham (1895), L. R. 2 Q. B. D. [1895], p. 293.
“Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky book Notes from Underground
Part 1, Chapter 11 (page 35)
Notes from Underground (1864)
Context: Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has others which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But finally there are still others which a man is even afraid to tell himself, and every decent man has a considerable number of such things stored away. That is, one can even say that the more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.
“Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well.”
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Falsehood, iii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIX - Truth and Convenience
“One ought to go too far, in order to know how far one can go.”
Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) German author, novelist, and short story writer
Sie muss also zu weit gehen, um herauszufinden, wie weit sie gehen darf. <br class="br">"Die Freiheit der Kunst", speech delivered at Wuppertal on September 24, 1966; cited from Cultura 21 magazine http://www.cultura21.de/magazin/denkanstosse/d20050930a.html, September 30, 2005. Translation: Walter Laqueur Germany Today: A Personal Report (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 130.
Nick Drake (1948–1974) British singer-songwriter
River Man
Song lyrics, Five Leaves Left (1969)
Variant: Going to see the river man.
Going to tell him all I can
About the ban
On feeling free.If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows,
I don't suppose
It's meant for me.
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989), Farewell Address (1989)
Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet (1783–1870) British lawyer and Tory politician
Phillips v. Briard (1856), 4 W. R. 487.