--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels." description: "\"We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels.\" — Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg" --- # We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels. ![“We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels.” quote by Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg) > “We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels.” [Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often start naïve and may become immoral if unchecked. **In simple terms:** We begin innocent, can become corrupt. Key Takeaway Guard integrity from early on. Themes human nature corruption morality naiveté growth Mood cautious thoughtful Type Dupes:1 Ends:0 Scoundrels:1 End Scoundrels:0 Dupes End:0 Begin Dupes:0 When to use this quote - education - politics - family - media - career Key Concepts ethical decay social influence personal responsibility Questions to Reflect On - What protects against moral decline? - Can early experiences shape future integrity? A Different Perspective Not everyone follows this path; context matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Begin Dupes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begin-dupes-5526643/) [Dupes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dupes/) [Dupes End](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dupes-end-5526642/) [End Scoundrels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-scoundrels-5526641/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Scoundrels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scoundrels/) ## Related quotes > [A forward critic often dupes us With sham quotations peri hupsos, And if we have not read Longinus, Will magisterially outshine us. Then, lest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-forward-critic-often-dupes-us-with-sham-quotations-peri-hupsos-and/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demosthenes/a-man-is-his-own-easiest-dupe-for-what-he-wishes-to-be-true-he/) [Demosthenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demosthenes/) > [Extraordinarily excessive sensuality it may be .. but it all comes down to the same thing in the end, and one means is surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/extraordinarily-excessive-sensuality-it-may-be-but-it-all-comes-down/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [The credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention of knaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-credulity-of-dupes-is-as-inexhaustible-as-the-invention-of-knaves/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [In vain we shall penetrate more and more deeply the secrets of the structure of the human body, we shall not dupe nature; we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/in-vain-we-shall-penetrate-more-and-more-deeply-the-secrets-of-the/) [Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/) > [Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/excessive-partiality-for-one-foreign-nation-and-excessive-dislike-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [When the Gauls laid waste Rome, they found the senators clothed in their robes, and seated in stern tranquillity in their curule chairs; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/when-the-gauls-laid-waste-rome-they-found-the-senators-clothed-in/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [The weak-minded man is the slave of his vices and the dupe of his virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-antoine-petit-senn/the-weak-minded-man-is-the-slave-of-his-vices-and-the-dupe-of-his/) [Jean Antoine Petit-Senn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-antoine-petit-senn/) > [Let nothing dupe you! Such is the horrible maxim that acts as a solvent upon every noble feeling man experiences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/let-nothing-dupe-you-such-is-the-horrible-maxim-that-acts-as-a/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Ratings agencies are highly conflicted, unimaginative dupes. They are blissfully unaware of adverse selection and moral hazard. Investors should never trust them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-klarman/ratings-agencies-are-highly-conflicted-unimaginative-dupes-they-are/) [Seth Klarman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-klarman/) > [The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-calvin/the-human-heart-has-so-many-crannies-where-vanity-hides-so-many-holes/) [John Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-calvin/) > [The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-between-ourselves-and-another-person-exists-only-in-our/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/pessimists-fear-becoming-the-dupes-of-hope-optimists-enjoy-hope-s/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Women are ever the dupes or the victims of their extreme sensitiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/women-are-ever-the-dupes-or-the-victims-of-their-extreme-sensitiveness/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [PHRENOLOGY, n. The science of picking the pocket through the scalp. It consists in locating and exploiting the organ that one is a dupe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/phrenology-n-the-science-of-picking-the-pocket-through-the-scalp-it/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) ## More by Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres > [Seeking to know is too often learning to doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/seeking-to-know-is-too-often-learning-to-doubt/) [Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/) [Explore all 2 Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/) ## More Dupes quotes > [A forward critic often dupes us With sham quotations peri hupsos, And if we have not read Longinus, Will magisterially outshine us. Then, lest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/a-forward-critic-often-dupes-us-with-sham-quotations-peri-hupsos-and/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [Women are ever the dupes or the victims of their extreme sensitiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/women-are-ever-the-dupes-or-the-victims-of-their-extreme-sensitiveness/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Pessimists fear becoming the dupes of Hope. Optimists enjoy Hope's company, and consider being duped no great matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/pessimists-fear-becoming-the-dupes-of-hope-optimists-enjoy-hope-s/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-between-ourselves-and-another-person-exists-only-in-our/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood works, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-calvin/the-human-heart-has-so-many-crannies-where-vanity-hides-so-many-holes/) [John Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-calvin/) > [Ratings agencies are highly conflicted, unimaginative dupes. They are blissfully unaware of adverse selection and moral hazard. Investors should never trust them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-klarman/ratings-agencies-are-highly-conflicted-unimaginative-dupes-they-are/) [Seth Klarman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-klarman/) > [Let nothing dupe you! Such is the horrible maxim that acts as a solvent upon every noble feeling man experiences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/let-nothing-dupe-you-such-is-the-horrible-maxim-that-acts-as-a/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [The weak-minded man is the slave of his vices and the dupe of his virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-antoine-petit-senn/the-weak-minded-man-is-the-slave-of-his-vices-and-the-dupe-of-his/) [Jean Antoine Petit-Senn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-antoine-petit-senn/) > [When the Gauls laid waste Rome, they found the senators clothed in their robes, and seated in stern tranquillity in their curule chairs; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/when-the-gauls-laid-waste-rome-they-found-the-senators-clothed-in/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/excessive-partiality-for-one-foreign-nation-and-excessive-dislike-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [In vain we shall penetrate more and more deeply the secrets of the structure of the human body, we shall not dupe nature; we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/in-vain-we-shall-penetrate-more-and-more-deeply-the-secrets-of-the/) [Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/) > [The credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as the invention of knaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-credulity-of-dupes-is-as-inexhaustible-as-the-invention-of-knaves/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Extraordinarily excessive sensuality it may be .. but it all comes down to the same thing in the end, and one means is surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/extraordinarily-excessive-sensuality-it-may-be-but-it-all-comes-down/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demosthenes/a-man-is-his-own-easiest-dupe-for-what-he-wishes-to-be-true-he/) [Demosthenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demosthenes/) > [PHRENOLOGY, n. The science of picking the pocket through the scalp. It consists in locating and exploiting the organ that one is a dupe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/phrenology-n-the-science-of-picking-the-pocket-through-the-scalp-it/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) [Browse all 72 Dupes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dupes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dupes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6af/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-gar_dupes_we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels_3129077.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We begin as dupes and end as scoundrels.” — Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulieres", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We begin as dupes and end...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoinette-du-ligier-de-la-garde-deshoulieres/we-begin-as-dupes-and-end-as-scoundrels/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```