Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world
But those who slide along the grassy sod,
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Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world
But those who slide along the grassy sod,
And sting the luckless foot that presses them?
There are who in the path of social life
Do bask their spotted skins in Fortune's sun,
And sting the soul.

It is vain to find fault with those arts of deceiving, wherein
men find pleasure to be deceived.

It is vain to find fault with those arts of deceiving, wherein
men find pleasure to be deceived.

We never deceive for a good purpose: knavery adds malice to
falsehood.
[Fr., On ne trompe point en read more

We never deceive for a good purpose: knavery adds malice to
falsehood.
[Fr., On ne trompe point en bien; la fourberie ajoute la malice
au mensonge.]

Falsehood is never so successful as when she baits her hook with truth, and no opinions so fastly misled us read more

Falsehood is never so successful as when she baits her hook with truth, and no opinions so fastly misled us as those that are not wholly wrong, as no timepieces so effectively deceive the wearer as those that are sometimes right.

Hateful to me as are the gates of hell,
Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart,
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Hateful to me as are the gates of hell,
Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart,
Utters another.

Pretexts are not wanting when one wishes to use them.
[It., Non mancano pretesti quando si vuole.]

Pretexts are not wanting when one wishes to use them.
[It., Non mancano pretesti quando si vuole.]

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they read more

The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them and they make us despair in losing them.

If the world will be gulled, let it be gulled.

If the world will be gulled, let it be gulled.