#pretence

We may not commit a lesser Sin under pretence to avoid a greater, but we may, nay we ought to endure the greatest Pain and Grief rather than commit the least Sin. ↗

— Mary Astell

#commit #endure #greater #greatest #grief

The Relation we bear to the Wisdom of the Father, the Son of His Love, gives us indeed a dignity which otherwise we have no pretence to. It makes us something, something considerable even in God's Eyes. ↗

— Mary Astell

#considerable #dignity #even #eyes #father

Jealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretence of keeping it alive. ↗

— Havelock Ellis

#alive #dragon #keeping #love #pretence

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long. ↗

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

#counterfeit #even #fall #false #flowers

Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character. ↗

— James Russell Lowell

#character #foundation #impossible #pretence #saps

The Chinese art world does not exist. In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination. ↗

— Ai Weiwei

#art #art world #calls #chinese #create

The war on Iraq was a disaster, clearly carried out under false pretences. ↗

— Joe Wilson

#clearly #disaster #false #iraq #out

I love the idea of spies in love. How would it work between two people who were so programmed to lie and be suspicious, who have a whole life based on pretence? ↗

— Tony Gilroy

#between #how #i #i love #idea

Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences. ↗

— John Buchan

#comfortable #compact #conspiracy #folk #keep

In all highly civilised communities Pretence is prominent, and sooner or later invades the regions of Literature. ↗

— James Payn

#communities #highly #invades #later #literature