No Man is so much a Fool as not to have Wit enough sometimes to be a Knave; nor any so cunning a Knave, as not to have the Weakness sometimes to play the Fool.
The Mixture of Fool and Knave, maketh up the parti-coloured Creatures that make all the Bustle in the World.
There is not so pleasant a Quarry, as a Knave taken in a Net of his own making.
A Knave leaneth sometimes so hard upon his Impudence, that it breaketh and lets him fall.
Knavery is in such perpetual Motion, that it hath not always Leisure to look to its own Steps; ’tis like sliding upon Scates, no Motion so smooth or swift, but none gives so terrible a Fall.
A Knave loveth Self so heartily, that he is apt to overstrain it: by never thinking he can get enough, he gets so much less. His thought is like Wine that fretteth with too much fermenting.
The Knaves in every Government are a kind of Corporation; and though they fall out with one another, like all Beasts of Prey, yet upon occasion they unite to support the common Cause.
It cannot be said to be such a Corporation as the Bank of England, but they are a numerous and formidable Body, scarce to be resisted; but the Point is, they can never rely upon one another.
Knaves go chain’d to one another like Slaves in the Gallies, and cannot easily untie themselves from their Company. Their Promises and Honour indeed do not hinder them, but other intangling Circumstances keep ’em from breaking loose.
If Knaves had not foolish Memories, they would never trust one another so often as they do.