Quotes about Distrust

I sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men. They would have to be passed through a powerful press first, to squeeze their old notions out of them, so that they would not soon get upon their legs again; and then there would be some one in the company with a maggot in his head, hatched from an egg deposited there nobody knows when, for not even fire kills these things, and you would have lost your labor.

The reason the mass of men fear God, and at bottom dislike Him, is because they rather distrust His heart, and fancy Him all brain like a watch.

Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.

When you grow suspicious of a person and begin a system of espionage upon him, your punishment will be that you will find your suspicions true.

The crosses from the outside are bearable; the double-crosses inside are insoluble

The latter stage is apt to end in cynicism as we wonder what the one who praises really wants.

For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, 'Do you hate me?

In God we trust, all others pay cash.

Can you tell me why people go to such lengths to hide their real selves? Or why I always behave differently when I'm in the company of others? Why do people have such little trust in one another? I know there must be a reason, but sometimes I think it's horrible that you can't confide in anyone, not even those closest to you.

Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business.

When you sit face to face with someone who is pleasant, respectful, and polite, you have hard time reminding yourself that nothing he says is true/sincere.

Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.