O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

And the veil
Spun from the cobweb fashion of the times,
TO hid the feeling heart?

And the veil
Spun from the cobweb fashion of the times,
TO hid the feeling heart?

Thus 'tis with all; their chief and constant care
Is to seem everything but what they are.

Thus 'tis with all; their chief and constant care
Is to seem everything but what they are.

A hypocrite is in himself both the archer and the mark, in all
actions shooting at his own praise read more

A hypocrite is in himself both the archer and the mark, in all
actions shooting at his own praise or profit.

When a man puts on a Character he is a stranger to, there's as
much difference between what he read more

When a man puts on a Character he is a stranger to, there's as
much difference between what he appears, and what he is really in
himself, as there is between a VIzor and a Face.

Oh, for a forty-parson power to chant
Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh, for a hymn
Loud as the read more

Oh, for a forty-parson power to chant
Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh, for a hymn
Loud as the virtues thou dost loudly vaunt,
Not practise!

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity

A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself read more

A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could.

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing