Logo - Feel The Words

Cunning Quotes

Clever, calculating, and not always to be trusted.

Cunning gets treated as both a survival skill and a warning sign here — one line claims the weak in courage lean on it instead, sharp enough to surface in almost Any tight spot, not just a literal path lined with serpents.

In every American there is an air of incorrigible innocence, which seems to conceal a diabolical cunning.

Quotes by A. E. Housman

The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

Quotes by William Blake

Those who tread among serpents, and along a tortuous path, must use the cunning of the serpent.

Quotes by Thomas Becket

It's known as the Livingstone Formulation. It's a cunning rhetorical device routinely deployed to shield avowedly left-wing establishment figures from any scrutiny that might expose their 'anti-Zionist' obsessions as redolent of a bigotry of that older and more unambiguously unsanitary...

Quotes by Terry Glavin

Addictive Quotes

I am a mediocre being, a bit cunning.

Quotes by Renee Vivien

Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.

Plato

Cancer is such a ruthless adversary because it behaves as if it has its own fiendishly cunning agenda.

Quotes by Paul Davies

Man has made many machines, complex and cunning, but which of them indeed rivals the workings of his heart?

Quotes by Pablo Casals

Cunning leads to knavery. It is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery. Only lying makes the difference; add that to cunning, and it is knavery.

Quotes by Ovid

Air Quotes

The art of using deceit and cunning grow continually weaker and less effective to the user.

Quotes by John Tillotson

I recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty - a sunken beauty.

Quotes by Jean Genet

I love cunning containers as much as anyone, but I've found that if I get rid of everything I don't need, I often don't need a container at all.

Quotes by Gretchen Rubin

The greatest cunning is to have none at all.

Carl Sandburg

I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.

Quotes by Anthony Hopkins

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the overall take on cunning in these quotes?
Mixed — cunning gets treated as both a fallback for the weak and a strategy that quietly weakens the more it's relied on.
Why would someone search for cunning quotes?
Often for writing about strategy or characters who rely on wit over strength, sharp enough to work in almost Any situation — these quotes treat cunning seriously rather than as a throwaway trait.
Is there a specific image these quotes use for cunning?
Yes — one compares cunning to moving carefully among serpents along a tortuous path, using the serpent itself as the model for calculated, careful movement.
Do the quotes suggest cunning always works?
No — one directly argues that deceit and cunning grow weaker and less effective the more a person uses them, undercutting the idea that cleverness is a reliable long-term strategy.
Is cunning framed as a strength or a weakness here?
Both, depending on the quote — one frames it as what the weak lean on when they lack courage, which makes it read more like compensation than genuine strength.

The collection isn't fully on cunning's side, either: one quote argues deceit and cleverness grow weaker the more a person relies on them. It respects cunning without ever quite romanticizing it.