best quotations about
False Appearances |
| 51 quotes | Visits: 5,865 |
Quotations
 | Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. — William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English poet & playwright ‐ Macbeth 15 likes |
 | Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. — Sun Tzu, c. 5th cent. BC, Chinese general & military strategist 11 likes |
 | I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise. — Montesquieu, 1689-1755, French thinker 11 likes |
 | The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar. — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian political philosopher 11 likes |
 | They muddy the water, to make it seem deep — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 10 likes |
 | Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath. — Michael Caine, 1933-, English actor 10 likes |
| Pretend inferiority and encourage the arrogance of your enemy. — Sun Tzu, c. 5th cent. BC, Chinese general & military strategist 9 likes |
 | Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character. — Oscar Levant, 1906-1972, American pianist 7 likes |
 | Happiness is the light on the water. The water is cold and dark and deep. — William Maxwell, 1908-2000, American writer 7 likes |
 | Macho doesn't prove mucho. — Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1917-2016, Hungarian-American actress 6 likes |
 | You know it takes a smart brunette to play a dumb blonde. — Marilyn Monroe, 1926-1962, American actress 6 likes |
| Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are. — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian political philosopher 5 likes |
 | Good people are only half as good, and bad people only half as bad, as other people regard them. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 5 likes |
 | To be successful make sure you are tanned, live in expensive buildings, even if you have to stay in the cellar, go out to expensive restaurants, even if you can only afford one drink and if you have to borrow, borrow a lot. — Aristotle Onassis, 1900-1975, Greek tycoon 4 likes |
 | The relationship between the make-up man and the film actor is that of accomplices in crime. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 4 likes |
 | Don't judge a book by its cover. — George Eliot, 1819-1880, English writer 3 likes |
| All that glisters is not gold. — William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English poet & playwright ‐ The Merchant of Venice 3 likes |
| Morocco... Looks better in films. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 3 likes |
 | There is a false modesty, which is vanity; a false glory, which is levity; a false grandeur, which is meanness; a false virtue, which is hypocrisy, and a false wisdom, which is prudery. — Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French writer 2 likes |
 | There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools. — Nicolas Chamfort, 1740-1794, French writer 2 likes |
 | Some folks can look so busy doing nothing that they seem indispensable. — Kin Hubbard, 1868-1930, American cartoonist 1 likes |
 | The modern world seems invincible. Like the extinct dinosaurs. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 1 likes |
 | Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule. — Charles Dickens, 1812-1870, British writer 1 likes |
 | What is the use of modesty? It is used to appear more beautiful when we are beautiful and to appear less ugly when we are. — Joseph Joubert, 1754-1824, French author of maxims 1 likes |
 | I don't say we all ought to misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could. — Orson Welles, 1915-1985, American actor & film director 1 likes |
 | Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers. — Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1880, French writer 1 likes |
 | People exaggerate both happiness and unhappiness; we are never so fortunate nor so unfortunate as people say we are. — Honoré de Balzac, 1799-1850, French writer 1 likes |
 | Do not allow yourself to be misled by the surfaces of things. — Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926, Czech-German poet 1 likes |
| It is not possible to read a person at first sight. The virtues are usually covered by the veil of modesty, while the flaws wear the mask of hypocrisy. — Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French writer 1 likes |
 | Thus “phenomenology” means αποφαινεσθαι τα φαινομενα — to let that which shows itself be seen from itself in the very way in which it shows itself from itself. — Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976, German philosopher 1 likes |
 | The theater is the domain of appearances. — Louis Jouvet, 1887-1951, French actor 1 likes |
 | The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me. — W.H. Auden, 1907-1973, British poet 1 likes |
 | What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher 1 likes |
 | In Washington...the appearance of power is therefore almost as important as the reality of it. In fact, the appearance is frequently its essential reality. — Henry Kissinger, 1923-2023, American politician 1 likes |
 | We accept reality so readily – perhaps because we sense that nothing is real. — Jorge Luis Borges, 1899-1986, Argentine writer 1 likes |
 | I will always love the false image I had of you. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-2025, British cartoonist & epigrammatist 1 likes |
 | He was smoking a cigar, and when a man is smoking a cigar, wearing a hat, he has an advantage; it is harder to find out how he feels. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 1 likes |
| In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small things they show themselves as they are. — Nicolas Chamfort, 1740-1794, French writer 1 likes |
 | Many homicidal lunatics are very quiet, unassuming people. Delightful fellows. — Agatha Christie, 1890-1976, British writer 1 likes |
 | Virtue is in the mind, not in the appearance. — Saadi Shirazi, 1210-1292, Persian poet 1 likes |
Latin Quotes
 | A beard does not make a philosopher. Barba non facit philosophum. 44 likes |
| Do no trust the appearance. Fronti nulla fides. 31 likes |
 | To be rather than to seem. Esse quam videri. — Cicero, 106-43 BC, Roman orator & statesman 30 likes |
| The poison is in the tail. In cauda venenum. (for something that looks harmless, but is actually bad or dangerous) 21 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | The chameleon only has the color of the chameleon when it is placed on another chameleon. — François Cavanna, 1923-2014, French humorist 2 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | Remember that all is opinion. Ότι παν υπόληψις. — Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, Roman Emperor ‐ Meditations II,15 13 likes |
 | The one who loves becomes blind regarding the beloved. Τυφλούται ο φιλών περί το φιλούμενον. — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 1 likes |
Proverbs
 | All hat and no cattle. 5 likes |
 | The habit doesn't make the monk. 4 likes |
 | Be afraid of the slow river. 4 likes |
