"Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise." - Francis Bacon, Essays

"Cunning...is but the low mimic of wisdom." - Bolingbroke

"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination." - Benjamin Franklin

"Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses." - William Hazlitt

"Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity." - François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

"Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her." - Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832)