--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery." description: "\"Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.\" — Joseph Addison" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png" --- # Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery. ![“Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.” quote by Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png) > “Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.” [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Deceptive behavior is inherently suspicious and self‑defeating. **In simple terms:** Knavery breeds suspicion. Key Takeaway Avoid deceit; be transparent. Themes trust deception skepticism integrity social perception Mood cautionary didactic Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - business negotiations - political discourse - personal relationships - online interactions - legal testimony Key Concepts ethics human nature reputation management Questions to Reflect On - When is suspicion justified? - How can you rebuild trust after deceit? A Different Perspective Sometimes suspicion can be misapplied to honest mistakes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Knavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knavery/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Suspicious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suspicious/) ## Related quotes > [Our own distrust gives a fair pretence for the knavery of other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/our-own-distrust-gives-a-fair-pretence-for-the-knavery-of-other-people/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [A thorough-paced knave will rarely quarrel with one whom he can cheat: his revenge is plunder; therefore he is usually the most forgiving of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/a-thorough-paced-knave-will-rarely-quarrel-with-one-whom-he-can-cheat/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [A knave thinks himself a fool, all the time he is not making a fool of some other person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/a-knave-thinks-himself-a-fool-all-the-time-he-is-not-making-a-fool-of/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [We never deceive for a good purpose: knavery adds malice to falsehood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/we-never-deceive-for-a-good-purpose-knavery-adds-malice-to-falsehood/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [Zeno first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defence against a knave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/zeno-first-started-that-doctrine-that-knavery-is-the-best-defence/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [Knavery seems to be so much a the striking feature of its inhabitants that it may not in the end be an evil that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-iii/knavery-seems-to-be-so-much-a-the-striking-feature-of-its-inhabitants/) [George III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-iii/) > [It is a curious paradox that precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity, to those mysterious powers assumed by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/it-is-a-curious-paradox-that-precisely-in-proportion-to-our-own/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [He who esteems the Virginia reel A bait to draw saints from their spiritual weal, And regards the quadrille as a far greater knavery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/he-who-esteems-the-virginia-reel-a-bait-to-draw-saints-from-their/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery, because it is harder to fight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/in-public-affairs-stupidity-is-more-dangerous-than-knavery-because-it/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Honesty is not only the deepest policy, but the highest wisdom; since, however difficult it may be for integrity to get on, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/honesty-is-not-only-the-deepest-policy-but-the-highest-wisdom-since/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Knavery is supple, and can bend, but honesty is firm and upright and yields not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/knavery-is-supple-and-can-bend-but-honesty-is-firm-and-upright-and/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Instead of recognizing the State as ‘the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men,’ the run of mankind, with rare exceptions, regards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/instead-of-recognizing-the-state-as-the-common-enemy-of-all-well-2/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) > [Fashion--a word which knaves and fools may use, Their knavery and folly to excuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-churchill/fashion-a-word-which-knaves-and-fools-may-use-their-knavery-and-folly/) [Charles Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-churchill/) > [We never deceive people to benefit them, for knavery is a compound of wickedness and falsehood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/we-never-deceive-people-to-benefit-them-for-knavery-is-a-compound-of/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [There are cases in which a man would be ashamed not to have been imposed upon. There is a confidence necessary to human intercourse,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/there-are-cases-in-which-a-man-would-be-ashamed-not-to-have-been/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## More by Joseph Addison > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Every wife ought to answer for her man. 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Think AS the market.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-fishman/don-t-think-of-the-market-think-as-the-market/) Michael Fishman [Browse all 39,858 Funny quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Addison" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Funny" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f73/joseph-addison-377_funny_knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery-29_290263.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.” — Joseph Addison", "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": "Joseph Addison", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Knavery is ever suspicious of knavery.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/knavery-is-ever-suspicious-of-knavery/#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 } } ] } ```