Every day, we encounter people who wear different faces in different situations. One moment they seem genuine, and the next, their actions scream otherwise. Understanding hypocrisy can help us navigate these confusing interactions.
Quotes about hypocrisy offer a mirror to human nature, showing how often words and actions diverge. Through the wisdom of thinkers and writers, we gain insight into this timeless human flaw. Dive into these quotes to reflect on sincerity and self-awareness.
Hypocrite Quotes About Life
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!”
“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.”
“We have to beware of people who do the right things for the wrong reasons.”
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
“Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.”
“We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves to be like other people.”
“People are very inclined to set moral standards for others.”
“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”
“One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.”
“All reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.”
“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.”
“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.”
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
“Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.”
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
“When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.”
“A hypocrite is always known by his actions.”
“Practice what you preach, or change your speech.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
“The less their ability, the more their conceit.”
“Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults.”
“One of the greatest forms of mental illness is to serve as a moralist for a society that lives in immorality.”
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
“The man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others.”
“Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem.”
Insightful Hypocrite Quotes
“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
“Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.”
“One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.”
“A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.”
“People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.”
“Keeping up the appearance of having all your marbles is hard work, but important.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”
“The hypocrite who always plays one and the same part ceases at last to be a hypocrite.”
“A man may be a hypocrite and yet have no bad design; he may be one without deceiving, or even without intending to deceive.”
“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”
“We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.”
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
“Clean your finger before you point at my spots.”
“Hypocrite: the man who murdered both his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.”
“We are not hypocrites in our sleep.”
“It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”
“The difference between a saint and a hypocrite is that one lies for his religion, the other by it.”
“Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.”
“An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”
“You can’t shame or shock me. The pain of life did that to me.”
“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
“The slickest way in the world to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time—and then shut up.”
“Better to be an open sinner than a false saint.”
“The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.”
“Be careful of whom you give leadership to. In time of crisis, the hypocrite appears.”
“Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to be able to listen to yourself and be okay with no one else understanding.”
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
“The hypocrite takes pleasure in the search for truth, but only if it leads to the conclusions he has predetermined.”
“It is not double-dealing, it is double-living: what they see in the mirror, they believe is real.”
“No one can wear a mask for very long.”
“A hypocrite is a person who – but who isn’t?”
Famous Hypocrite Quotes
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite.”
“Hypocrisy is the scarlet letter in the politics of our time.”
“Hypocrites get offended by the truth.”
“People can’t be underestimated, and they can’t be overestimated either. We’re all capable of hypocrisy, charm, kindness, and cruelty.”
“Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.”
“It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite.”
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.”
“Clean your finger before you point at my spots.”
“He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.”
“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
“A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.”
“Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo.”
“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
“The hypocrite who always plays one and the same part ceases at last to be a hypocrite.”
“No task is more difficult than systematic hypocrisy.”
“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
“An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition.”
“Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.”
“Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite.”
“We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.”
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
“A man who moralizes is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralizes is invariably plain.”
“Live truth instead of professing it.”
“I never mind talking to a man who heads the wrong way, but I never want to take a step with him.”
“We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity.”
“Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.”
“If you believe in something, then you should not have any qualms about needing to be hypocritical for it.”
“The attitude of kindness is the first mark of a hypocrite.”
“Like the bee, the hypocrite is always busy, but it is with a view to his own honey.”
“Hypocrite: The man who murdered both his parents… pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.”
Hypocrite Quotes in Politics
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
“If you want to expose a hypocrite, let him speak long enough.”
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
“A promise made is a debt unpaid.”
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite.”
“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”
“Scratch a lover, and find a foe.”
“Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody.”
“He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
“The hypocrisy of some political leaders has no bounds and serves only their own interests.”
“It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.”
“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are as clever as he.”
“In politics, sincerity is everything. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
“A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself.”
“Beware the fury of a patient man.”
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
“Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
“Many of us believe that wrongs aren’t wrong if it’s done by nice people like ourselves.”
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”
“A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side.”
“To say that a man is a hypocrite, deceiver, or a liar is simply to say that he is a politician.”
“A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man.”
“The hypocrite who always plays one and the same part ceases at last to be a hypocrite.”
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
“A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.”
“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”
“The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.”
“He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
Hypocrite Quotes on Friendship
“A friend to all is a friend to none.”
“False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us when we cross into the shade.”
“True friends stab you in the front.”
“The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.”
“It’s hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it.”
“I got my own back.”
“Betrayal is never easy to handle and there is no right way to accept it.”
“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.”
“Friendship is delicate as a glass, once broken it can be fixed but there will always be cracks.”
“Better an honest enemy than a false friend.”
“The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend.”
“When you see the genuine, you don’t deal with the fakes anymore.”
“Friendship based solely upon gratitude is like a photograph; with time it fades.”
“Sometimes the person you’d take a bullet for ends up being the one behind the gun.”
“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”
“People wear masks of lies so that they look attractive, so be careful.”
“Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you.”
“Some friends are like pennies, two-faced and worthless.”
“A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.”
“It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.”
“If I doubt your sincerity, I cannot trust your friendship.”
“Not all that glitters is gold. Not all who smile are friends.”
“Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption.”
“A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.”
“Some people aren’t loyal to you… they are loyal to their need of you. Once their needs change, so does their loyalty.”
“False friends leave you in times of trouble, promising they will be back when times are better.”
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite.”
“To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.”
“A friend who stands with you in pressure is more valuable than a thousand who stand with you in pleasure.”
“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
“Pay attention to whom your friends are when things get tough, they are the ones worth keeping.”
Humorous Hypocrite Quotes
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones… or wear clothes.”
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
“It’s funny how you think I care about what you’re saying when I really don’t.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.”
“My life is full of impossible contradictions.”
“Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called ‘walking.'”
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
“I never make predictions. I never have and I never will.”
“I used to be indecisive, now I’m not so sure.”
“Be careful how you judge others, for you are being judged just the same.”
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
“I dislike people who are late, so I often leave early to avoid them.”
“He who laughs last didn’t get the joke.”
“Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”
“I always lie. Trust me.”
“The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his way.”
“I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right.”
“He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation perfectly delightful.”
“Life is too short to be serious all the time. So if you can’t laugh at yourself, call me and I’ll laugh at you.”
“I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.”
“The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.”
“I don’t have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.”
“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”
“I love humanity but I hate people.”
“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.”
“If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.”
“To err is human; to blame it on someone else is even more human.”
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”
“Humor is the most engaging cowardice.”
Hypocrite Quotes from Literature
“It is not worth while to deceive oneself, hoping a lie will become true.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!” – Tennessee Williams, Cats on a Hot Tin Roof
“Double standards are exasperating when applied on others, yet we seldom recognize them in ourselves.” – Original
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” – Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“What they do in the shadows is betray the brilliance of light.” – Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.” – François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims
“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Inland Voyage
“I am an infidel to all hypocrisies.” – Lord Byron
“Tear off the mask, your face is glorious.” – Rumi
“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” – André Malraux, La Condition Humaine
“The hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself.” – Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
“They use their tongues to deceive.” – Jeremiah 9:8
“I wear the chain I forged in life.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
“Hypocrisy is the essence of snobbery, but all snobbery is about the problem of belonging.” – Alexander Theroux, Darconville’s Cat
“Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays
“Beware of those who sprinkle sugar on their lies.” – Original
“It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.” – Alfred Adler
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.” – Buddha
“‘Et tu, Brute?’ – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“Her smile was a web spun with deceit.” – Original
“O what a goodly outside falsehood hath!” – William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” – John 8:7
“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
“The louder he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A hypocrite knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” – Original
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” – Matthew 22:14
“The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.” – Isaiah 32:5
“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” – George Eliot, Adam Bede
“Their actions shall rise up to judge them.” – Original
“Hypocrisy itself does great honor, or rather justice, to religion.” – Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
“Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18
“Life is short, but hypocrisy is long.” – Henry Adams
Lessons from Hypocrite Quotes
“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
“Hypocrites are those who apply to others the standards that they refuse to accept for themselves.”
“To be a hero, you must first be true to yourself. A hypocrite cannot be a hero.”
“I am not a hypocrite. It’s just that I am capable of holding two contradictory opinions at the same time.”
“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise costs nothing.”
“A hypocrite is a person who—but who isn’t?”
“The best way to live a life without regret is to ensure that every statement you make reflects your true beliefs and intentions. A hypocrite lives a life of endless contradictions.”
“Beware of the hypocrite who admonishes you to be patient when he has just lost his job.”
“A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could.”
“Sin can be forgiven, but hypocrisy is a disease of the soul.”
“He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.”
“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”
“A man who turns his back on his own principles is a hypocrite, and a man who dares not espouse his own principles is a coward.”
“Nothing is more full of hypocrisy than the man who serves God for the sake of false reputation.”
“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”
“What makes it so difficult to resist, when in the presence of hypocrisy, is its power to irritate our own weaknesses.”
“Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it.”
“Hypocrisy is simply a lie that transcends social contemplation.”
“It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief that mental lying has produced in society.”
“It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.”
“Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite.”
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
“The hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself.”
“Often a noble face hides filthy ways.”
“Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practiced at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.”
“A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.”
“There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy: hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.”
“When a commitment is acknowledged by the hypocrite, only a fool would rely on it.”
“Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo.”
“The hypocrite pays tribute to God in words, but in deeds, he denies Him.”
Wrapping-up
Understanding hypocrisy through quotes gives us insight into human nature. These quotes remind us to think critically about our actions and words. They challenge us to strive for authenticity and honesty in our daily lives.
By reflecting on these wise sayings, we can better recognize hypocrisy in ourselves and others. Let’s use this newfound awareness to foster genuine relationships and build a more honest world.
