It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
As witnesses not of our intentions but of our conduct, we can be true or false, and the hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself. What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
In all ages, hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns upon the heads of thieves, called kings.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
‘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
Live truth instead of professing it.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
They are not all saints who use holy water.
—English 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
An atheist is but a mad ridiculous derider of piety; but a hypocrite makes a sober jest of God and religion; he finds it easier to be upon his knees than to rise to a good action; like an impudent debtor, who goes every day to talk familiarly to his creditor, without ever paying what he owes.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
You can only be called a hypocrite if you judge others first
—Indian Proverb
If the devil ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the greatest dupes he has; they serve him better than any others, but receive no wages; nay, what is still more extraordinary, they submit to greater mortifications to go to hell, than the sincerest Christian to go to heaven.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
With affection beaming in one eye, and calculation shining out of the other.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberty by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
One may smile and smile and be a villain still.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
With devotion’s visage, and pious action, we do sugar o’er the devil himself.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
To emancipate woman is to refuse to confine her to the relations she bears to man, not to deny them to her; let her have her independent existence and she will continue nonetheless to exist for him also: mutually recognising each other as subject, each will yet remain for the other an other. The reciprocity of their relations will not do away with the miracles—desire, possession, love, dream, adventure—worked by the division of human beings into two separate categories; and the words that move us—giving, conquering, uniting—will not lose their meaning. On the contrary, when we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it implies, then the ‘division’ of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
If it were not for the intellectual snobs who pay, in solid cash, the tribute which Philistinism owes to culture, the arts would perish with their starving practitioners. Let us thank heaven for hypocrisy.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Saint abroad and devil at home.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance, and have seen no occasion to change.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
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
If there existed no external means for dimming their consciences, one-half of the men would at once shoot themselves, because to live contrary to one’s reason is a most intolerable state, and all men of our time are in such a state.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Hypocrite reader – my fellow – my brother.
—Jerome (347–420) Greek Priest, Apologist, Saint
Whoever is a hypocrite in his religion mocks God, presenting to Him the outside and reserving the inward for his enemy.
—Jeremy Taylor
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
It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when the sentence was about to be pronounced, pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was orphan.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
No habit or quality is more easily acquired than hypocrisy, nor any thing sooner learned than to deny the sentiments of our hearts and the principle we act from: but the seeds of every passion are innate to us, and nobody comes into the world without them.
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733) Anglo-Dutch Philosopher, Satirist
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
For neither man nor angel can discern
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone,
By his permissive will, through heav’n and earth.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one.
—J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) American Financier, Philanthropist, Art Collector
With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
How inexpressible is the meanness of being a hypocrite! how horrible is it to be a mischievous and malignant hypocrite.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
With people with only modest ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
‘Tis curious that we only believe as deeply as we live.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
If the world despises hypocrites, what must be the estimate of them in heaven?
—Jean-Marie Roland de la Platiere (1734–93) French Statesman
No man is a hypocrite in his pleasures.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance.
—Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015) American Catholic Educator, Clergyman
We are not hypocrites in our sleep.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
How seldom we weigh our neighbors in the same balance as ourselves.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer