“None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.”

“Compliment but do not covet.”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

“Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

“What does he do, Clarice? What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing? He covets. How do we begin to covet? We begin by coveting what we see every day.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

“… the only way to keep your secrets safe is to have none at all…”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

“You shall not covet thy neighbor's wife? Well, how about if she goddamn covets me? What do you think about that?”

Gene Simmons (1949) Israeli-born American rock bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor

“I find that those men who are personally most polite to women, who call them angels and all that, cherish in secret the greatest contempt for them.”

Germaine Greer book The Female Eunuch

“One person can keep a secret, but not two.”

Ernest Cline book Ready Player One

“The covetous person lives as if the world were made altogether for him, and not he for the world.”

Robert South (1634–1716) English theologian

“The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep.”

E. W. Howe (1853–1937) Novelist, magazine and newspaper editor