Posterity will do justice to that unprincipled maniac Gladstone, extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition; and with one commanding characteristic, whether Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition, whether preaching, praying, speechifying or scribbling, never a gentleman.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, none knew so well as I: for he who lives more lives than one more deaths than one must die.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Pay attention to minute particulars. Take care of the little ones. Generalization and abstraction are The plea of the hypocrite, scoundrel, and knave.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Hypocrisy, the lie, is the true sister of evil, intolerance, and cruelty.
—Raisa Gorbacheva (1932–99) Russian Activist
A hypocrite is in himself both the archer and the mark, in all actions shooting at his own praise or profit.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.
—Jean Kerr (1922–2003) Irish-American Author, Playwright
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
—Indian Proverb
If I’m a cruel satirist at least I’m not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do. Neither a politician nor a priest, I never censor what others do. Neither a philospher nor a psychiatrist, I never bother trying to analyze or resolve my fears and neuroses.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
Hypocrisy itself does great honor, or rather justice, to religion, and tacitly acknowledges it to be an ornament to human nature. The hypocrite would not be at so much pains to put on the appearance of virtue, if he did not know it was the most proper and effectual means to gain the love and esteem of mankind.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Hypocrisy is oftenest clothed in the garb of religion.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked, and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Mathematics allows for no hypocrisy and no vagueness.
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
‘Tis a cowardly and servile humor to hide and disguise a man’s self under a visor, and not to dare to show himself what he is. By that our followers are trained up to treachery. Being brought up to speak what is not true, they make no conscience of a lie.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The world is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs of his neighbor.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Few love to hear the sins they love to act.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
You can only be called a hypocrite if you judge others first.
—Indian Proverb
Be hypocritical, be cautious, be not what you seem but always what you see.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Children lack morality, but they also lack fake morality.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practiced at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Saying is one thing, doing another. We must consider the sermon and the preacher distinctly and apart.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Be what you would seem to be—or, if you’d like it put more simply—never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Logician
Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite.
—Common Proverb
Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
For every man’s nature is concealed with many folds of disguise, and covered as it were with various veils. His brows, his eyes, and very often his countenance, are deceitful, and his speech is most commonly a lie.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Hypocrisy is homage paid by vice to virtue.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
If we divine a discrepancy between a man’s words and his character, the whole impression of him becomes broken and painful; he revolts the imagination by his lack of unity, and even the good in him is hardly accepted.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
No man is a hypocrite in his pleasures.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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