Quotes about con

A collection of quotes on the topic of con, people, doing, believer.

Quotes about con

Jacque Fresco photo
Friedrich Nietzsche photo
Leonardo DiCaprio photo

“You cannot con an honest man.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Uncommon Criminals

Holly Black photo
Richelle Mead photo

“love is the biggest con of all”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

Mario Puzo photo
Christopher Hitchens photo

“Even the longest con was never more than an assortment of moments that were in themselves very very short.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

“I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.”

Robyn Davidson (1950) Australian writer

Source: Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

Will Rogers photo
Miranda July photo

“There was nothing in this world that was not a con, suddenly I understood this. Nothing really mattered, and nothing could be lost.”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Donald J. Trump photo
Alice A. Bailey photo
Muhammad of Ghor photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Doris Lessing photo
John Updike photo
Margaret Thatcher photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“It's a choice between Trump, who is terrible for the country, and Cruz, who is terrible for the party. He's too smart for his act … and he's probably pissed that a bigger con man showed up.”

Mike Murphy (political consultant) (1962) American political consultant

As quoted in "Debriefing Mike Murphy" https://www.weeklystandard.com/matt-labash/debriefing-mike-murphy (18 March 2016), by Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard
2010s

Nathanael Greene photo
Robert Sheckley photo

“Your predator is close behind you and will infallibly be your death.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Carmody said, in a moment of strange calm.” But in terms of long-range planning, I never did expect to get out of this Universe alive.”
“That is meaningless,” the Prize said. “The fact is, you have lost everything.”
“I don’t agree,” Carmody said. “Permit me to point out that I am presently still alive.”
“Agreed. But only for the moment.”
“I have always been alive only for the moment,” Carmody said. “I could never count on more. It was my error to expect more. That holds true, I believe, for all of my possible and potential circumstances.”
“Then what do you hope to achieve with your moment?”
“Nothing,” Carmody said. “Everything.”
“I don’t understand you any longer,” the Prize said. “Something about you has changed, Carmody. What is it?”
“A minor thing,” Carmody told him. “I have simply given up a longevity which I never possessed anyhow. I have turned away from the con game which the Gods run in their heavenly sideshow. I no longer care under which shell the pea of immortality might be found. I don’t need it. I have my moment, which is quite enough.”
“Saint Carmody,” the Prize said, in tones of deepest sarcasm. “No more than a shadow’s breadth separates you and death! What will you do now with your pitiable moment?”

“I shall continue to live it,” Carmody said. “That is what moments are for.”
Source: Dimension of Miracles (1968), Chapter 28 (pp. 189-190; closing words)

Paul Cézanne photo

“But there are motifs that would need three or four months' work, which could be done, as the vegetation doesn't change here. There are the olive trees and the pines that always keep their leaves. The sun is so fierce that objects seem to be silhouetted, not only in black or white, but in blue, red, brown, violet. I may be wrong, but this seems to be the very opposite of 'modeling'. How happy the gentle landscapists of Auvers would be here, and that [con, or 'bastard'? ] Guillemet.”

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) French painter

Quote from Cezanne's letter to Camille Pissarro, from L'Estaque 2 July 1876, taken from Alex Danchev, The Letters of Paul Cézanne, 2013; as quoted in the 'Daily Beast' online, 13 Oct. 2013 https://www.thedailybeast.com/cezannes-letter-to-pissarro-picture-business-isnt-going-well
'The very opposite of 'modeling' meant roughly that Cézanne and Pissarro in their common painting-years in open air would lay down one plane or patch of color next to another in the painting, without any 'modeling' or shading between them - so that it looked as if each component part of the painting could be picked up from the canvas a little like a 'playing card from the table', as Cezanne explains here.
Quotes of Paul Cezanne, 1860s - 1870s

Aron Ra photo

“There are basically two types of creationists; the professional or political creationists; these are the activists who lead the movement and who will regularly deliberately lie to promote their propaganda; and the second type which are the innocently-deceived followers commonly known as “sheep”. I know lots of intellectual Christians, but I can’t get any of them to actually watch the televangelists, because they either already know how phony they are, or they don’t want to find out. But that only allows a radical fringe to claim support from they masses they now also claim to represent. So there’s nothing to stop them. Professional creationists are making money hand over fist with faith-healing scams or bilking little old ladies out of prayer donations, or selling books and videos at their circus-like seminars where they have undeserved respect as powerful leaders. All of them feign knowledge they can’t really possess, and some of them claim degrees they’ve never actually earned… Were it not for this con, they’d have to go back to selling used cars, wonder drugs, and multi-level marketing schemes. They will never change their minds no matter what it costs anyone else.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

"1st Foundational Falsehood of Creationism" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnJX68ELbAY, Youtube (November 11, 2007)
Youtube, Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

Martin Rushent photo
Ma Ying-jeou photo

“I think mutual denial of each other’s sovereignty (between ROC and PRC) and mutual non-denial of respective jurisdictions would be more appropriate, but any proposal has its pros and cons, and I think it’s up for discussion.”

Ma Ying-jeou (1950) Taiwanese politician, president of the Republic of China

Ma Ying-jeou (2011) cited in: " ‘One China’ idea up for discussion: Ma http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/06/25/2003506626" in The Taipei Times, 25 June 2011.
Statement made during the interview with Apple Daily, 24 June 2011.
Strait issues

Rob Enderle photo

“Donald [Trump] has been branded by one of his competitors as a con artist and, in a sense, he is. But so was Steve Jobs.”

Rob Enderle (1954) American financial analyst

Donald Trump vs. Steve Jobs: The tale of two con artists http://cio.com/article/3040751/leadership-management/donald-trump-vs-steve-jobs-the-tale-of-two-con-artists.html in CIO (4 March 2016)

“[Of a recipe for Chilli Con Carne] English people may like to substitute a sponge cake at this point.”

Linda Smith (1958–2006) comedian

Series 1, Episode 6
A Brief History of Timewasting

Yeshayahu Leibowitz photo
Vladimir Lenin photo
Melanie Phillips photo
Akio Morita photo
Charles Simic photo

“It’s never been such a good time to be a crook. In what other country of laws does one enjoy so much freedom to defraud one’s government and fellow citizens without having to worry about cops showing at the door? Small-time crooks sooner or later end up in the slammer, but our big-time con artists, as we’ve come to learn, are now regarded as the untouchables, too well-heeled and powerful to lock up.”

Charles Simic (1938) American poet

"A Thieves' Thanksgiving," http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/nov/26/thieves-thanksgiving/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NYR+Goya+Ferrante+crooks&utm_content=NYR+Goya+Ferrante+crooks+CID_8376c474295b4e263a32522d2bbfd922&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=A%20Thieves%20Thanksgiving New York Review of Books, November 26, 2014

Robert Fisk photo

“We have been conned again. The Israeli elections, we are told, mean that the dream of "Greater Israel" has finally been abandoned…But it is a lie.”

Robert Fisk (1946) English writer and journalist

Another Brick in the Wall http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-040406231246.htm, April 4, 2006
2006

Michael Hudson (economist) photo

“The one sure mark of a con, though, is the promise of free money.”

Michael Hudson (economist) (1939) American economist

" The $4.7 trillion pyramid: Why Social Security won't be enough to save Wall Street http://www.harpers.org/archive/2005/04/0080499" in Harper's Magazine (April 2005)

Aron Ra photo
Alex Jones photo

“If I'm in, you know, especially in a poor area, and I see guys walking like they're thugs down the street, I don't care what color they are, I go "That guy looks like they're a thug, and looks like they're tough, okay… If they try to shake me down I'm gonna ignore them and keep walking, and if they come up to me and try to put a hand on me, I'm gonna punch 'em right in the throat. 'Cause I don't wanna jump on top on of 'em and hurt my knees and stuff, when I slam their head in the ground. Plus, I don't wanna kill 'em. 'Cause then I'd have to go to jail and stuff, and they'd have to find that it was done in self defense. Been down that road." So, I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, "Alright. I'm gonna punch this guy in the throat." I'm thinking how hard am I gonna punch him. And I'm not thinking he's a black guy. I'm thinking the guy's walking like a thug, thinks they're tough, and I'm thinking about how I'm going to defend myself. Just like when I've been at the Coast, a few years ago, and walk out of a restaurant in South Padre and they're having a biker rally—and it wasn't like a nice biker rally, most rallies are nice people—it was like thug wannabes, rode up with a motorcycle…and were looking at me, and I was thinking "Okay. Alright. That guy is taking his helmet off. I'm gonna punch him in the throat the minute he tries to get up and do something, and then I'm gonna assault those next three guys. Then they'll probably pull a weapon. I need to take that." I mean, that's what I'm thinking whenever something like that is going on. I can't help it. I'm thinking, "Alright, I'm ready to kill." That's just how I am. And I'm thinking, "Alright. Okay. Instantly assess these guys. These are probably ex-con, real criminals. I've got my three kids here. That gives me, you know, just turbo dinosaur power. And I'm thinking, "Control yourself. Don't have a fight, unless you absolutely got to."”

Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker

You know, the man in me is ready to take all on! and... you know what I'm talking about, don't you? ARGH, you scum! I hate gang members and filth! And it has nothing to do with black people. But I will stump your head in if you start a fight with me, you thug scum! Anyways, excuse me ladies and gentlemen.
"Alex Jones Self-Defense Rant" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIMJ_pxy2eU, July 2013.
2013

Fred Dibnah photo

“We've become a nation of con men, living by selling double glazing to each other.”

Fred Dibnah (1938–2004) English steeplejack and television personality, with a keen interest in mechanical engineering

Unsourced

Margaret Cho photo
Shreya Ghoshal photo

“I believe, entertainment has its pros and cons. It is important, but too much involvement of kids can deter them from achieving their key goals.”

Shreya Ghoshal (1984) Indian playback singer

Talking about kids (1) http://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/hindi/music/news/I-am-a-girl-next-door-Shreya-Ghoshal/articleshow/9455640.cms

James Randi photo
Alex Jones photo

“I believe from history and my own gut, instinct, that if I go ahead and lay it all out here, what we're really facing, you've got courage and you've got will, and you're gonna get angry and stop caring. It begins with not caring about what your slack-jawed knuckle-dragging cowardly pseudo tough-guy football-watching neighbor thinks. Okay? That's where it begins. It begins with not caring what happens to your individual person. And when you have that attitude, when you have that attitude, then the enemy doesn't have anything over you anymore. Stop being gelded domesticated garbage. Stop being weak! And when you see a threat coming down on you, deal with it! Become a human again! Stop being weak! We have a bunch of criminals coming down on us. God, ugh! Murdering scum. I wanna get humanity awake. I wanna get our forces up. And I wanna bring these people to justice. And you know what I mean. You know what I mean! I wanna unleash humanity, not have a bunch of con artist pot-bellied chicken-neck pieces of garbage running our world! More importantly they act like effeminate cowardly chicken necks cuz they want to train you to act like that they want to train you to be weak they want to train you. That's a nasty taste coming up in my mouth. Tastin' those globalists. I can taste their fear and their weakness. I taste metal, I taste blood.”

Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker

Alex's Bill Gates Chicken-Neck Bastard 'Rant' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-5WgcMV_o, September 2011.

Cindy Sheehan photo

“Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel.”

Cindy Sheehan (1957) American antiwar activist

Letter to editors of ABC's Nightline, March 15 2005. http://www.slate.com/id/2124500/ http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/22/the_cindy_sheehan_you_dont_know/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460787/posts
2005

Donald J. Trump photo

“Donald Trump: Meredith, he spent two million dollars in legal fees trying to get away from this issue. And if he weren't lying, why wouldn't he just solve it? And I wish he would, because if he doesn't, it's one of the greatest scams in the history of politics, and in the history period. You are not allowed to be a president if you're not born in this country. He may not be born in this country. And I'll tell you what, three weeks ago I thought he was born in this country. Right now, I have some real doubts. I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.
Meredith Vieira: You have people now, down there searching—
Trump: Absolutely.
Vieira: I mean, in Hawaii?
Trump: Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they're finding. I would like to have him show his birth certificate, and can I be honest with you, I hope he can. Because if he can't, if he can't, if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, I'm not saying it hap— I'm saying it's a real possibility, much greater than I thought two or three weeks ago, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. And beyond politics.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Today
2011-04-07
NBC
Television
regarding Barack Obama
Two million dollars is the sum of all the Obama presidential campaign's post-election legal expenses. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/apr/12/donald-trump/donald-trump-claims-obama-has-spent-2-million-lega/
2010s, 2011

Miguel de Cervantes photo

“From pro's and con's they fell to a warmer way of disputing.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part I, Book III, Ch. 10.

Tommy Franks photo
Edmund White photo
Nathanael Greene photo
Lawrence Wright photo

“The tug-of-war between Scientologists and anti-Scientologists over Hubbard’s legacy has created two swollen archetypes: the most important person who ever lived and the world’s greatest con man. Hubbard was certainly grandiose, but to label him merely a fraud is to ignore the complexity of his character.”

Lawrence Wright (1947) American writer

[Wright, Lawrence, February 14, 2011, The Apostate, Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology, The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all]

Jerry Coyne photo
Bill Clinton photo

“I don't mind technique… I can be shameless. I have a long career at this. But when everything is a short con, then there's never another short con. Because you need trust, and you've destroyed it.”

Mike Murphy (political consultant) (1962) American political consultant

As quoted in "Debriefing Mike Murphy" https://www.weeklystandard.com/matt-labash/debriefing-mike-murphy (18 March 2016), by Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard
2010s

Gallagher photo

“If "pro" is the opposite of "con", is "progress" the opposite of "congress?"”

Gallagher (1946–2022) American comedian

From the 1985 movie The Bookkeeper.

Jeremy Corbyn photo

“The order owes nothing to the housing needs of the British people. It is not designed to do so. It is just another example of the Tory Government slaughtering the housing needs and hopes of millions of people on the altar of the market economy, with all its gobbledegook about market forces and who will set and pay rents. I shall not say that this is a landlord's charter; it is worse than that. It is a profiteering landlord's charter. The rent officer will no longer be an independent objective person who ensures that a fair rent once fixed is adhered to and to whom one can appeal if a landlord tries to increase such a rent. People, particularly in London, will be harassed out of protected tenancies by con merchants and thrown on to the streets so that the private rented sector, the free market, can allow the level of rent to rise to its natural level—the highest that can be obtained…The effect of their deregulation has been to force up private sector rents, to have people thrown out on the streets, and there will be greater homelessness and profiteering by landlords…Most of those people who tonight are sleeping on the streets around Waterloo station, the National Theatre and along the South Bank, who are begging at the main stations of this city, who are sleeping over the grilles of tube stations on Charing Cross road, not long ago had somewhere to live. Those people are the victims of market forces, the victims of what this Government are doing and believe should be done to poor people, who cannot afford the landlords' rent.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1989/mar/21/rent-officers in the House of Commons (21 March 1989).
1980s

Nathanael Greene photo
Paul LePage photo

“There's the all mighty powerful ones like Mr. Khan — which is a con artist himself, and he uses the death of his son, who's an American soldier, which we respect and honor, and he uses that to go after Trump, which I found very distasteful.”

Paul LePage (1948) American businessman, Republican Party politician, and the 74th Governor of Maine

In an interview with Boston radio host Howie Carr. http://mpbn.net/post/lepage-calls-father-slain-muslim-american-soldier-con-artist#stream/0 (August 25, 2016)

Janeane Garofalo photo
Mahatma Gandhi photo

“If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified. But I do not believe in any war. A discussion of the pros and cons of such a war is therefore outside my horizon or province.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Letter in Harijan (1938) http://web.archive.org/20021008131454/die_meistersinger.tripod.com/gandhi9.html
1930s

Matt Taibbi photo

“Quite a few of us get pissed with liver crippling draughts of prison hooch, that last vestige of herbal medicine still available to cons.”

Dennis Nilsen (1945–2018) British serial killer

As quoted in Exclusive: Dennis Nilsen: My Prison Life of Drink and Drugs http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/exclusive-dennis-nilsen-prison-life-555104, Mirror.co.uk (27 August, 2005)

Roger Waters photo
Ernest Gellner photo
Sathya Sai Baba photo
Ivan Illich photo

“Explicitly, corporeally, the central Christian celebration was understood as a co-breathing, a con-spiracy, the bringing about of a common atmosphere, a divine milieu.”

Ivan Illich (1926–2002) austrian philosopher and theologist

The Cultivation of Conspiracy (1998)
Context: The Latin osculum is neither very old nor frequent. It is one of three words that can be translated by the English, "kiss." In comparison with the affectionate basium and the lascivious suavium, osculum was a latecomer into classical Latin, and was used in only one circumstance as a ritual gesture: In the second century, it became the sign given by a departing soldier to a woman, thereby recognizing her expected child as his offspring.
In the Christian liturgy of the first century, the osculum assumed a new function. It became one of two high points in the celebration of the Eucharist. Conspiratio, the mount-to-mouth kiss, became the solemn liturgical gesture by which participants in the cult-action shared their breath or spirit with one another. It came to signify their union in one Holy Spirit, the community that takes shape in God's breath. The ecclesia came to be through a public ritual action, the liturgy, and the soul of this liturgy was the conspiratio. Explicitly, corporeally, the central Christian celebration was understood as a co-breathing, a con-spiracy, the bringing about of a common atmosphere, a divine milieu.

Andrew Dickson White photo

“When bullying was needed it was generally understood that he could do it con amore.”

Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918) American politician

Source: Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, Vol. 2 (1922), p. 13
Context: The British ambassador was Sir Robert Morier. He too was a strong character, though lacking apparently in some of General [der Infanterie] von Schweinitz's more kindly qualities. He was big, roughish, and at times so brusque that he might almost be called brutal. When bullying was needed it was generally understood that he could do it con amore.

Ivan Illich photo

“The shared breath, the con-spiratio are the "peace" understood as the community that arises from it.”

Ivan Illich (1926–2002) austrian philosopher and theologist

The Cultivation of Conspiracy (1998)
Context: Community in our European tradition is not the outcome of an act of authoritative foundation, nor a gift from nature or its gods, nor the result of management, planning and design, but the consequence of a conspiracy, a deliberate, mutual, somatic and gratuitous gift to each other. The prototype of that conspiracy lies in the celebration of the early Christian liturgy in which, no matter their origin, men and women, Greeks and Jews, slaves and citizens, engender a physical reality that transcends them. The shared breath, the con-spiratio are the "peace" understood as the community that arises from it.

Charles Stross photo

“Suppose rather than passing the plate in church, they get a radio show and pass the plate and half a million listeners donate. Isn’t that going to convince a preacher that it’s all true? Wealth comes to the faithful, that’s the message they’re going to take. An’ I never yet met a con man who wasn’t the better at the job for believing his own spiel.”

“That’s not…untrue. But money corrupts. Almost invariably, powers that arise around money are corrupted by it. He might have started out as a true believer, but money has a way of taking over. A church is a business, after all, and those employees or executives who are good at raising money are promoted by their fellows.”
Source: The Laundry Files, The Apocalypse Codex (2012), Chapter 7, “Communion” (p. 126)

Giovanni Morassutti photo

“Il suono della voce umana è il piu bello presente in natura ma solamente se connesso con le emozioni.”

Giovanni Morassutti (1980) Italian actor, theatre director and cultural entrepreneur.

From the official website

James Eastland photo
Linh Nga photo

“Human needs to go through the abyss of pains and loss, because the more we suffer-the better. Con người cần phải được đau khổ, bởi có đau khổ mới hiểu được giá trị của hạnh phúc.”

Linh Nga (1982) American-Vietnamese film director, film producer, actress, screenwriter, and news anchor

Vnexpress. Van Hoa page http://vnexpress.net/gl/van-hoa/2006/09/3b9eec76/ 2002

Francesco Berni photo

“Con le calcagna pagava lo scotto.”

Francesco Berni (1497–1535) Italian poet

With whip and spur he paid his tavern bill.
XLIV, 70
Rifacimento of Orlando Innamorato

Pauline Kael photo
Steven Crowder photo
Roger Bacon photo

“Mix together saltpetre, luru vopo vir con utriet [powdered charcoal], and sulphur, and you will make thunder and lightning, if you know the method of mixing them.”

Roger Bacon (1220–1292) medieval philosopher and theologian

Source: De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae et de Nullitate Magise, Ch. 11, in a reference to Bacon's knowledge of making gunpowder, as quoted by Thomas Thomson, The History of Chemistry (1830) Vol. 1, p. 36.

Yōsuke Kubozuka photo

“You’re working something, and I should have you arrested for impersonating a con man.”

Adam Rakunas American author

Source: Windswept (2015), Chapter 16 (p. 195)

Robert A. Heinlein photo
Eric Stuart photo

“I think the world would be a better place if we took a page out of how people treat each other at anime cons.”

Eric Stuart (1967) American voice actor, voice director, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

Source: Interview with Eric Stuart, voice actor for Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! https://jotaku.net/2020/07/14/interview-with-eric-stuart-voice-actor-for-pokemon-and-yu-gi-oh/ (July 14, 2020)

Steven Crowder photo

“You can be a namby-pamby leftie, a gun-toting neo-con or a soft, indecisive moderate. I really don’t care. Just don’t lie to me.
As an aside, I’ve never once claimed to be “offended.””

Steven Crowder (1987) American actor

Then again, I’m a grown man.
Like all great character assassination attempts, implication is much more effective than accusation.
Listen, I’m not somebody who really cares about polarization, political correctness or even what context can be fit into proper 40-character formatting. People can hold any opinion that they want on any subject that they choose. Just don’t proactively lie to people. It’s a simple request really, and one that we don’t hear nearly enough.
It’s for that same reason that I’d rather engage the president over his current policy failures than crazy conspiracy theories. By that same token, I would expect many of the HuffPo readers to hate me for plenty of things that I’ve actually said in the past as opposed to those made up by weak, lefty, online-commentating wieners.
Go ahead and take your foot off the “civility” gas pedal for all I care. We should all be replacing it with “honesty.”
Source: 13 February 2012 on Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cpac-2012-rap-video_b_1273779

Sigourney Weaver photo