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Devious Quotes

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Devious Quotes

“There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.”

Source: Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text

“Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuver. What is difficult about maneuver is to make the devious route the most direct and to turn misfortune to advantage.”

Art War Turns Difficult Advantage Direct Misfortunes Routes Art Of War Devious

Author:Sun Tzu

“What you hold in your hand is proof of man's power - against which our strength means nothing. It has the force of 100 spears. I warn you, man's ingenuity goes hand-in-hand with their cruelty. No creature is as devious or violent.”

Men Mean Hands Force Fear Atheism Creatures Proof Rage Violent Cruelty Hand In Hand Ingenuity Spears Devious

Author:Charlton Heston

“The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.”

Art War Military Gains Direct Difficulty Misfortunes Art Of War Strategist Tactical Devious War Strategy Military Strategy

Book:Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Illustrated)

Source: Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Illustrated)

“There is in the American Government...a want of unity.... The Sailors, the helmsman, the engineer, do not seem to have one purpose or obey one will so that instead of making steady way the vessel may pursue a devious or zigzag course, and sometimes merely turn round and round in the water.”

Way Want May Sometimes Seems Government Purpose Turns Courses Water Democracy Unity Rounds Pursue Steady Engineers Vessel Sailor American Government Devious

Author:James Bryce

“The next time you are contemplating a decision in which you are debating whether or not to go for the gusto, ask yourself this important question: "How long am I going to be dead?" With that perspective, you can now make a free, fearless choice to do just about any goddamned sneaky thing your devious little mind can think up. Go ahead. Have your fun. You're welcome. Go on. See you in hell.”

“Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.”

Ifs May Long Lasts Law Time House Cities Half Streets Fields Wind Grew Grew Up Long Time Green Track Strikes Lawyer Lanes Serpent Capricious Devious

Book:The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays

Source: The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays

“Are you a devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good, then you can be my most trusted advisor.”

Trusted Madmen Unreliable Advisors Devious Interesting Times

Author:Terry Pratchett

“After fifteen years of facing them (pitchers) you don't really get over them. They're devious. They're the only players in the game allowed to cheat. They throw illegal pitches and they sneak foreign substances on the ball. They can inflict pain whenever they wish. And, they're the only ones on the diamond who have high ground. That's symbolic. You know what they tell you in a war - 'take the high ground first.'”

Knows Years Firsts War Pain Games Wish Player Balls Substance Illegal Diamond Fifteen Cheat Get Over Symbolic Pitcher Sneak Fifteen Years Devious High Ground

Author:Richie Ashburn

“I was the best manager in Britain because I was never devious or cheated anyone. I’d break my wife’s legs if I played against her, but I’d never cheat her.”

Ifs Break Wife Legs My Wife Managers Britain Cheat Cheated Devious Never Cheat Best Manager

Author:Bill Shankly

“Churchill was the canny political animal, very devious, bursting with energy and determination, learning as hard as he could.”

Hard Political Energy Animal Determination Bursting Devious Political Animals

Author:Lord Mountbatten

“The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.”

Thinking Use Ability Learning Influence Habit Tools Profound Programming Computer Programming Programming Languages Computer Language Devious

Book:Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective

Source: Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective

“In India nearly everybody spoke metaphorically except the English who spoke bluntly and could make their most transparent lies look honest as a consequence; whereas any truth contained in these metaphorical rigmaroles was so deviously presented that it looked devious itself.”

Looks Lying Honest Consequence India Spokes Transparent Metaphorical Devious

Book:The Raj Quartet, Volume 2: The Day of the Scorpion

Source: The Raj Quartet, Volume 2: The Day of the Scorpion

“A HUMAN ELEMENT is an elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart. Highly recommended.”

Firsts Humans Heart Novel Elements Elegant Haunting Unrelenting Devious

Author:Jonathan Maberry

“Dastardly devious, cleverly conceived, and just a whole lot of fun to read, DEATH PERCEPTION is Lee Allen Howard on fire and at his finest. Rife with winsome weirdness, it's like the mutant stepchild of Carl Hiaasen and Stephen King, mixing a truly unique paranormal coming-of-age story with a quirky cast of offbeat noir characters into a novel that's simply unforgettable... and hilariously original. A supernatural crime story, blazing with creative intrigue... don't miss it.”

“You've read newspaper stories about elderly widows who die and leave their entire estates to their pet cats, right? Well, your cat reads those stories too, and has spent most of its skulking, devious little life dreaming about inheriting all your money.”

Wells Littles Stories Dream Humor Funny Dies Cat Newspapers Pet Estates Elderly Widows Devious Pets Cats

Book:Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have Around the Home

Source: Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have Around the Home

“What a story is, is devious. It pretends transparency, forthrightness. It engages with ordinary people, ordinary matters, recognizable stuff. But this is all a masquerade. What good stories deal with is the horror and incomprehensibility of time, the dark encroachment of old catastrophes...”

People Matter Stories Stuff Dark Deals Horror Ordinary Catastrophe Ordinary People Transparency Good Story Masquerade Encroachment Devious

Author:Joy Williams

“Up until now, I believed the nuclear threat to the U.S. from Iran was limited to the ability of terrorists to penetrate the borders or port security to deliver a device to a major city. ...While that threat should continue to be a grave concern for every American, these tests by Iran demonstrate just how devious the fanatical mullahs in Tehran are. We are facing a clever and unscrupulous adversary in Iran that could bring America to its knees.”

Should America Ability Cities Security Majors Concern Tests Threat Nuclear Terrorist Graves Clever Knees Borders Iran Devices Penetrate Adversaries Port Tehran Devious Mullahs

Author:Joseph Farah

“If there is any one thing most needed in this time of tumult and frustration, when men and women and youth and young adults are desperately seeking for answers to the problems which afflict mankind, it is an "iron rod" as a safe guide along the straight path on the way to eternal life, amidst the strange and devious roadways that would eventually lead to destruction and to the ruin of all that is "virtuous, lovely, or of good report."”

“One of the reasons for conspiracy theories is an assumption that people in high places always know what they are doing. When they do something that makes no sense, devious reasons are imagined by conspiracy theorists, when in fact it may be due to plain old ignorance and incompetence.”

People Knows May Reason Facts Government Ignorance Theory Dues Assumption Conspiracy Incompetence Conspiracy Theory Theorists High Places Devious

Book:Controversial Essays

Source: Controversial Essays

“When our governments want to sell us a course of action, they do it by making sure it's the only thing on the agenda, the only thing everyone's talking about. And they pre-load the ensuing discussion with highly selected images, devious and prejudicial language, dubious linkages, weak or false 'intelligence' and selected 'leaks'.”

Want Government Action Courses Language Talking Weak Sells Discussion Agendas Load Selected Leaks Dubious Devious Linkages

Author:Brian Eno

“When we think how narrow and devious this path of nature is, how dimly we can trace it, for all our lamps of science, and how from the darkness which girds it round great and terrible possibilities loom ever shadowly upwards, it is a bold and a confident man who will put a limit to the strange by-oaths into which the human spirit may wander.”

Source: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Ultimate Collection: 21 Novels, 188 Short Stories, 88 Poems & 7 Plays, Including Works on Spirituality, Historical Writings & Personal Memoirs (Illustrated): The Sherlock Holmes Series, The Professor Challenger Books, The Brigadier Gerard Stories, The White Company, The Great Shadow, Mystery of Cloomber, Beyond The City, A History of the Great War…

“Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength. They are deeply intuitive, intensely concerned with their young, their mate and their pack. Yet both have been hounded, harassed and falsely imputed to be devouring and devious, overly aggressive, of less value than those who are their detractors.”

Has Beens Young Values Concerned Endurance Aggressive Mates Possessed Packs Intuitive Devouring Inquiring Devious

Author:Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“The mind is reluctant to embrace deep change, and will play devious games to maintain the status quo.”

Mind Play Games Embrace Status Quo Reluctant Devious

Book:Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language

Source: Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language

“Unable to create a meaningful life for itself, the personality takes its own revenge: from the lower depths comes a regressive form of spontaneity: raw animality forms a counterpoise to the meaningless stimuli and the vicarious life to which the ordinary man is conditioned. Getting spiritual nourishment from this chaos of events, sensations, and devious interpretations is the equivalent of trying to pick through a garbage pile for food.”