--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When a sensible woman has a reasonable…" description: "\"“When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png" --- # When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to… ![“When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal.” quote by Wilkie collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png) > ““When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal.”” [Wilkie collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A flippant answer often hides hidden motives, suggesting deceit when a reasonable question is avoided **In simple terms:** Avoiding direct answers can signal secrecy Key Takeaway Watch for evasive replies Themes deception communication trust social dynamics Mood cautious analytical thoughtful Type literary observational philosophical When to use this quote - interviews - legal testimony - personal relationships - political debates Key Concepts rhetoric psychology social interaction Questions to Reflect On - Why do people give flippant answers? - What are healthier ways to address uncomfortable questions? A Different Perspective Not all evasions are deceitful; sometimes they protect privacy ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Truth Seeking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-seeking/) ## Related quotes > [“Pooh!" she exclaimed. "Fancy asking a woman to be reasonable!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-phillips-oppenheim/pooh-she-exclaimed-fancy-asking-a-woman-to-be-reasonable/) E. Phillips Oppenheim > [A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/a-sensible-woman-can-never-be-happy-with-a-fool/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [“Nothing is ever so wrong in this world that a sensible woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-giraudoux/nothing-is-ever-so-wrong-in-this-world-that-a-sensible-woman-can-t/) [Jean Giraudoux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-giraudoux/) > [There is nothing so wrong in this world that a sensible woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-giraudoux/there-is-nothing-so-wrong-in-this-world-that-a-sensible-woman-can-t/) [Jean Giraudoux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-giraudoux/) > [A sensible woman should be guided by her head when taking a husband, and by her heart when taking a lover.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ninon-de-l-enclos/a-sensible-woman-should-be-guided-by-her-head-when-taking-a-husband/) [Ninon de L'Enclos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ninon-de-l-enclos/) > [“In the middle of the night she woke up dreaming of huge white heads like turnips, that came trailing after her, at the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells-2/in-the-middle-of-the-night-she-woke-up-dreaming-of-huge-white-heads/) [H.G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells-2/) > [The more sensible a woman is, supposing her not to be masculine, the more attractive she is in her proportionate power to entertain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-hunt/the-more-sensible-a-woman-is-supposing-her-not-to-be-masculine-the/) [Leigh Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-hunt/) > [It would be as wise to set up an accomplished lawyer to saw wood as a business as to condemn an educated and sensible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-moore-grimke/it-would-be-as-wise-to-set-up-an-accomplished-lawyer-to-saw-wood-as-a/) [Sarah Moore Grimke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-moore-grimke/) > [“A clever girl may pass through the phase of foolish miss on the way to sensible woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/a-clever-girl-may-pass-through-the-phase-of-foolish-miss-on-the-way/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [It is a wonderful advantage to a man, in every pursuite or avocation, to secure an adviser in a sensible woman. In woman there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/it-is-a-wonderful-advantage-to-a-man-in-every-pursuite-or-avocation/) [Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/) > [For me, poetry is an evasion of the real job of writing prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/for-me-poetry-is-an-evasion-of-the-real-job-of-writing-prose/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of health; everything absolute belongs to pathology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/objection-evasion-joyous-distrust-and-love-of-irony-are-signs-of/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [There's also no doubt that tax evasion rises along with taxes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-steel/there-s-also-no-doubt-that-tax-evasion-rises-along-with-taxes/) [Michelle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-steel/) > [The United States can certainly defeat North Vietnam, but the United States cannot defeat a guerrilla war which is being raged from a sanctuary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-united-states-can-certainly-defeat-north-vietnam-but-the-united/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [We will also target tax evasion and off-shore tax havens... Everyone must pay their share.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-osborne/we-will-also-target-tax-evasion-and-off-shore-tax-havens-everyone/) [George Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-osborne/) ## More by Wilkie collins > [“There is nothing serious in mortality! Solomon in all his glory was Solomon with the elements of the contemptible lurking in every fold of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/there-is-nothing-serious-in-mortality-solomon-in-all-his-glory-was/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“Let Lady Glyde's maid come in, Louis. Stop! Do her shoes creak?" I was obliged to ask the question. Creaking shoes invariably upset me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/let-lady-glyde-s-maid-come-in-louis-stop-do-her-shoes-creak-i-was/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [Let the music speak to us of tonight, in a happier language than our own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/let-the-music-speak-to-us-of-tonight-in-a-happier-language-than-our/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/the-woman-who-first-gives-life-light-and-form-to-our-shadowy/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“The human heart is unsearchable. Who is to fathom it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/the-human-heart-is-unsearchable-who-is-to-fathom-it/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“I smell your cigar. Delicious! Give me one directly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/i-smell-your-cigar-delicious-give-me-one-directly/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“I dread the beginning of her new life more than words can tell, but I see some hope for her if she travels -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/i-dread-the-beginning-of-her-new-life-more-than-words-can-tell-but-i/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“It is quite possible that I may be altogether wrong in this idea. My own impression, however, is, that I am right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/it-is-quite-possible-that-i-may-be-altogether-wrong-in-this-idea-my/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [I sadly want a reform in the construction of children. Nature's only idea seems to be to make them machines for the production of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/i-sadly-want-a-reform-in-the-construction-of-children-nature-s-only/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [Habits of literary composition are perfectly familiar to me. One of the rarest of all the intellectual accomplishments that a man can possess is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/habits-of-literary-composition-are-perfectly-familiar-to-me-one-of/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“He has that quiet deference, that look of pleased, attentive interest, in listening to a woman, which, say what we may, we can none…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/he-has-that-quiet-deference-that-look-of-pleased-attentive-interest/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“The dress of Virtue, in our parts, was cotton print. I had silk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/the-dress-of-virtue-in-our-parts-was-cotton-print-i-had-silk/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“It is not for you to say - you Englishmen, who have conquered your freedom so long ago, that you have conveniently forgotten what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/it-is-not-for-you-to-say-you-englishmen-who-have-conquered-your/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“Tell him next, that crimes cause their own detection. There's another bit of copy-book morality for you, Fosco. Crimes cause their own detection. What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/tell-him-next-that-crimes-cause-their-own-detection-there-s-another/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) > [“Shall I confess it, Mr. Hartright? I sadly want a reform in the construction of children. Nature's only idea seems to be to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/shall-i-confess-it-mr-hartright-i-sadly-want-a-reform-in-the/) [Wilkie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) [Explore all 183 Wilkie collins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/) ## More Evasion quotes > [We will also target tax evasion and off-shore tax havens... Everyone must pay their share.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-osborne/we-will-also-target-tax-evasion-and-off-shore-tax-havens-everyone/) [George Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-osborne/) > [The United States can certainly defeat North Vietnam, but the United States cannot defeat a guerrilla war which is being raged from a sanctuary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-united-states-can-certainly-defeat-north-vietnam-but-the-united/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [There's also no doubt that tax evasion rises along with taxes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-steel/there-s-also-no-doubt-that-tax-evasion-rises-along-with-taxes/) [Michelle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-steel/) > [Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of health; everything absolute belongs to pathology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/objection-evasion-joyous-distrust-and-love-of-irony-are-signs-of/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [For me, poetry is an evasion of the real job of writing prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/for-me-poetry-is-an-evasion-of-the-real-job-of-writing-prose/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“A politician often uses an example or analogy as an attempt to make us forget the question he or she is supposedly answering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/a-politician-often-uses-an-example-or-analogy-as-an-attempt-to-make/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“Tony Cox, still a painter and not yet married to Yoko Ono, pioneered in the use of mescaline for draft-evasion. 400 milligrams taken before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-stafford/tony-cox-still-a-painter-and-not-yet-married-to-yoko-ono-pioneered-in/) Peter Stafford > [Indiscriminate tolerance and indiscriminate condemnation are not two opposites: they are two variants of the same evasion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/indiscriminate-tolerance-and-indiscriminate-condemnation-are-not-two/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [The evasion of responsibility is the major cause of most peoples frustrations and defeats.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-evasion-of-responsibility-is-the-major-cause-of-most-peoples/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/when-a-child-asks-you-something-answer-him-for-goodness-sake/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [All the lies and evasions by which man has nourished himself civilization, in a word is the fruits of the creative artist. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/all-the-lies-and-evasions-by-which-man-has-nourished-himself/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [Even the most cynical can hardly be surprised by the antics of Nixon and his accomplices as they are gradually revealed. It matters little,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/even-the-most-cynical-can-hardly-be-surprised-by-the-antics-of-nixon/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [People will say that it's some kind of evasion, but I would never want to have a kid for me. I'd want to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-northam/people-will-say-that-it-s-some-kind-of-evasion-but-i-would-never-want/) [Jeremy Northam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-northam/) > [“I am the body, and I am the rocks in the pockets, and I am the water. There is no evading myself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belle-townsend/i-am-the-body-and-i-am-the-rocks-in-the-pockets-and-i-am-the-water/) Belle Townsend > [This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeit of our own behavior,--we make guilty of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/this-is-the-excellent-foppery-of-the-world-that-when-we-are-sick-in/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) Browse all 109 Evasion quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wilkie collins" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-question-put-to-her-and-evades/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Evasion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-question-put-to-her-and-evades/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdd/wilkie-collins-2078_evasion_when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-q_1272794.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When a sensible woman has a reasonable question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure…” — Wilkie collins", "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": "Wilkie collins", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilkie-collins/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“When a sensible woman has a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-question-put-to-her-and-evades/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilkie-collins/when-a-sensible-woman-has-a-reasonable-question-put-to-her-and-evades/#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 } } ] } ```