--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Take heed that if you deceive, lie…" description: "\"“Take heed that if you deceive, lie, intrigue, cheat, you thereby demean yourself. belittle yourself, confess your own weakness beforehand, play the pa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fac/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_deceive_take-heed-that-if-you-deceive-lie-intrig_2272769.jpg" --- # Take heed that if you deceive, lie, intrigue, cheat, you… ![“Take heed that if you deceive, lie, intrigue, cheat, you thereby demean yourself. belittle yourself, confess your own weakness beforehand, play the part of the slave of the harem who feels himself the inferior of his master. Do this if it so pleases you, but know that humanity will regard you as…” quote by Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fac/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_deceive_take-heed-that-if-you-deceive-lie-intrig_2272769.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fac/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_deceive_take-heed-that-if-you-deceive-lie-intrig_2272769.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fac/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_deceive_take-heed-that-if-you-deceive-lie-intrig_2272769.jpg) > ““Take heed that if you deceive, lie, intrigue, cheat, you thereby demean yourself. belittle yourself, confess your own weakness beforehand, play the part of the slave of the harem who feels himself the inferior of his master. Do this if it so pleases you, but know that humanity will regard you as petty, contemptible and feeble, and treat you as such. Having no evidence of your strength, it will act towards you as one worthy of pity — and pity only.”” [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Deceit erodes self‑respect and invites contempt; honesty preserves dignity and earns respect. **In simple terms:** Lying lowers your worth and others' view of you. Key Takeaway Be honest to maintain self‑respect. Themes honesty self‑respect social perception Mood reflective serious Type moral philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - leadership - conflict resolution Key Concepts integrity psychology ethics Questions to Reflect On - How does dishonesty affect your self‑image? - What benefits arise from admitting weakness? A Different Perspective Honesty may expose vulnerability and risk exploitation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belittle Confess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belittle-confess-5274164/) [Confess Weakness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confess-weakness-515018/) [Deceive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deceive/) [Deceive Lie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deceive-lie-562774/) [Ethics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethics/) [Morality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morality/) [Weakness Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weakness-play-3173775/) ## Related quotes > [It is an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such means the interest of the church might be promoted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eusebius/it-is-an-act-of-virtue-to-deceive-and-lie-when-by-such-means-the/) [Eusebius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eusebius/) > [to. I will trick you and deceive you, lie, cheat and steal to find you, tempt you out of your hiding place, and chase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-lu/to-i-will-trick-you-and-deceive-you-lie-cheat-and-steal-to-find-you/) [Marie Lu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-lu/) > [“The truth can deceive as well as a lie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-rutkoski/the-truth-can-deceive-as-well-as-a-lie/) [Marie Rutkoski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-rutkoski/) > [“Deceiving people was natural... It had been my job for so long that lying to protect myself, or those I loved, was as easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-mcadams/deceiving-people-was-natural-it-had-been-my-job-for-so-long-that/) [Molly McAdams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-mcadams/) > [There's a strength and weakness to every play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-lafleur/there-s-a-strength-and-weakness-to-every-play/) [Matt LaFleur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-lafleur/) > [The child of God ought to confess his weakness that he does not know how to pray, and petition the Holy Spirit to teach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/watchman-nee/the-child-of-god-ought-to-confess-his-weakness-that-he-does-not-know/) [Watchman Nee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/watchman-nee/) > [There are lots of those who speak but few who do. However, no one should distort the word of God by his own negligence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maximus-the-confessor/there-are-lots-of-those-who-speak-but-few-who-do-however-no-one/) [Maximus the Confessor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maximus-the-confessor/) > [Well we all fall short of his glory, & we all have our faults, Pussy is my weakness I confess. What is your weakness?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-rambharack/well-we-all-fall-short-of-his-glory-we-all-have-our-faults-pussy-is/) [Glen Rambharack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-rambharack/) > [There are three types of lies One, a lie to protect yourself. Two, a lie to deceive someone else. Three, a lie to protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-are-three-types-of-lies-one-a-lie-to-protect-yourself-two-a-lie/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She knows she's deceiving herself about that, but she prefers to deceive herself. She desperately needs to believe such pure joy is still possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/she-knows-she-s-deceiving-herself-about-that-but-she-prefers-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“To recklessly excuse a failure is to believe that I’ve effectively erased it from the story of my life, when I’ve actually imprinted it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/to-recklessly-excuse-a-failure-is-to-believe-that-i-ve-effectively/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [“Looks sure can be deceiving: not every ‘ugly’ person is a ‘bad’ person (or is guilty of whatever it is that they are accused…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/looks-sure-can-be-deceiving-not-every-ugly-person-is-a-bad-person-or/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [A woman one loves rarely suffices for all our needs, so we deceive her with another whom we do not love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-woman-one-loves-rarely-suffices-for-all-our-needs-so-we-deceive-her/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When people say they do not care what others thing of them, for the most part they deceive themselves”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/when-people-say-they-do-not-care-what-others-thing-of-them-for-the/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More by Pyotr Kropotkin > [“Wage-work is serf-work; it cannot, it must not, produce all that it could produce. And it is high time to disbelieve the legend which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/wage-work-is-serf-work-it-cannot-it-must-not-produce-all-that-it/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“They say, 'No private property', and immediately after strive to maintain private property in its daily manifestations. 'You shall be a commune as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/they-say-no-private-property-and-immediately-after-strive-to-maintain/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Because, to do manual work now, means in reality to shut yourself up for ten or twelve hours a day in an unhealthy workshop,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/because-to-do-manual-work-now-means-in-reality-to-shut-yourself-up/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“In our civilized societies we are rich. Why then are the many poor? Why this painful drudgery for the masses? Why, even to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/in-our-civilized-societies-we-are-rich-why-then-are-the-many-poor-why/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“No, plenty for all is not a dream – though it was a dream indeed in those days when man, for all his pains,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/no-plenty-for-all-is-not-a-dream-though-it-was-a-dream-indeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Whole columns are devoted to parliamentary debates and to political intrigues; while the vast everyday life of a nation appears only in the columns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/whole-columns-are-devoted-to-parliamentary-debates-and-to-political/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“All that was once looked on as a function of the government is today called in question. Things are arranged more easily and more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/all-that-was-once-looked-on-as-a-function-of-the-government-is-today/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Very often the idler is but a man to whom it is repugnant to spend all his life making the eighteenth part of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/very-often-the-idler-is-but-a-man-to-whom-it-is-repugnant-to-spend/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“What interest, in fact, can this depressing work have for the worker, when he knows that the fate awaiting him from the cradle to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/what-interest-in-fact-can-this-depressing-work-have-for-the-worker/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“The history of human thought recalls the swinging of a pendulum which takes centuries to swing. After a long period of slumber comes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/the-history-of-human-thought-recalls-the-swinging-of-a-pendulum-which/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Should an authoritarian Socialist society ever succeed in establishing itself, it could not last; general discontent would soon force it to break up, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/should-an-authoritarian-socialist-society-ever-succeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Well-being for all is not a dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/well-being-for-all-is-not-a-dream/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Collectivists begin by proclaiming a revolutionary principle - the abolition of private property - and then they deny it, no sooner than proclaimed, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/collectivists-begin-by-proclaiming-a-revolutionary-principle-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Poverty, we have said elsewhere, was the primary cause of wealth. It was poverty that created the first capitalist; because, before accumulating "surplus value,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/poverty-we-have-said-elsewhere-was-the-primary-cause-of-wealth-it-was/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“That we are utopians is well known. So utopian are we that we go the length of believing that the revolution can and ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/that-we-are-utopians-is-well-known-so-utopian-are-we-that-we-go-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) [Explore all 41 Pyotr Kropotkin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## More Deceive quotes > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“She knows she's deceiving herself about that, but she prefers to deceive herself. She desperately needs to believe such pure joy is still possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/she-knows-she-s-deceiving-herself-about-that-but-she-prefers-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“To recklessly excuse a failure is to believe that I’ve effectively erased it from the story of my life, when I’ve actually imprinted it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/to-recklessly-excuse-a-failure-is-to-believe-that-i-ve-effectively/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [A woman one loves rarely suffices for all our needs, so we deceive her with another whom we do not love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-woman-one-loves-rarely-suffices-for-all-our-needs-so-we-deceive-her/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Looks sure can be deceiving: not every ‘ugly’ person is a ‘bad’ person (or is guilty of whatever it is that they are accused…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/looks-sure-can-be-deceiving-not-every-ugly-person-is-a-bad-person-or/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“When people say they do not care what others thing of them, for the most part they deceive themselves”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/when-people-say-they-do-not-care-what-others-thing-of-them-for-the/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [Nothing is so easy as to deceive oneself; for what we wish, we readily believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demosthenes/nothing-is-so-easy-as-to-deceive-oneself-for-what-we-wish-we-readily/) [Demosthenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demosthenes/) > [No, it's not that they're bad. It's that they're obliged to pretend they're good. They've been brought up to deceive and be cunning, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/no-it-s-not-that-they-re-bad-it-s-that-they-re-obliged-to-pretend/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“In my opinion, a lie is a physical act, verbal statement, or omission, deliberately designed to deceive another of the truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-craig/in-my-opinion-a-lie-is-a-physical-act-verbal-statement-or-omission/) [David Craig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-craig/) > [“When you slice the truth too thin, you deceive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-wilks/when-you-slice-the-truth-too-thin-you-deceive/) [Eileen Wilks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-wilks/) > [Those who try to achieve success without hard work ultimately deceive themselves-or worse-deceive others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-cook/those-who-try-to-achieve-success-without-hard-work-ultimately-deceive/) [Tim Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-cook/) > [Even when they are trying to deceive the voters, the Democrats are incompetent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-hilton/even-when-they-are-trying-to-deceive-the-voters-the-democrats-are/) [Steve Hilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-hilton/) > [Trust the story ... the storyteller may dissemble and deceive, the story can't: the story can only ever be itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-robertson/trust-the-story-the-storyteller-may-dissemble-and-deceive-the-story/) [James Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-robertson/) > [Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/oh-what-a-tangled-web-we-weave-when-first-we-practice-to-deceive/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We often shed tears that deceive ourselves after deceiving others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/we-often-shed-tears-that-deceive-ourselves-after-deceiving-others/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) [Browse all 340 Deceive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deceive/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Take heed that if you deceive, lie, intrigue, cheat, you thereby demean yourself. belittle yourself, confess your own weakness beforehand, play the part of the slave of the harem who feels himself the inferior of his master. 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