This is why we are indignant at people who are disingenuous with us, because they consider themselves smarter than us.
Francois La Rochefoucauld
You can be more cunning than another, but you cannot be more cunning than everyone else.
Francois La Rochefoucauld
He who is famous for his cunning is not very cunning.
Felix Hvalibug
Don't set a mousetrap if you yourself are suitable as bait.
Wieslaw Brudzinski
The cunning man fights while the wise man yields.
Karel Capek
It is a shame for a person to be cunning like a fox; one should not be a saddle bag.
Aristophanes
When dealing with constantly cunning people, you must always not lose sight of their goals. With such people it is better to say little and say what they least expect.
F. Bacon
Everyone tries to be smart, and those who cannot be are almost always cunning.
S. Johnson
Undoubtedly, slyness, like intelligence, is expressed on the face. But some have learned to skillfully retouch their portraits to look smart.
V. Zubkov
Cunning is a very limited people and is very different from the mind, which it resembles in appearance.
I. Kant
Cunning is not intelligence, but only the intensified work of instincts caused by the absence of intelligence.
V. Klyuchevsky
You think that this person has fooled you; and if he pretends to be fooled, then who is more fooled: he or you?
J. Labruyère
Anyone who knows how to suggest that he is not very cunning is no longer simple.
J. Labruyère
Cunning is a quality that is neither too commendable nor too reprehensible, it is something between a vice and a virtue; There are almost no cases where it could not and should not be replaced by prudence.
J. Labruyère
The highest skill is to know the true price of everything.
F. La Rochefoucauld
Cunning and treachery indicate only deficiencies in dexterity.
F. La Rochefoucauld
Cunning is a sign of a narrow mind.
F. La Rochefoucauld
No one has ever managed to be so cunning as to hide this quality of theirs.
D. Locke
Lies have a constant companion - cunning.
D. Locke
Cunning is only the absence of reason: not being able to achieve its goals in direct ways, it tries to achieve them in tricky, roundabout ways; and her trouble is that cunning helps only once, and then it always only gets in the way.
D. Locke
Cunning people despise knowledge, simpletons are surprised at it, wise people use it.
T. Macaulay
Cunning is the talent of egoists and can only deceive fools who mistake glibness for intelligence, seriousness for prudence, shamelessness for talent, pride for dignity.
O. Mirabeau
Crafty people are usually simple, not complex in nature.
F. Nietzsche
Cunning is a gloomy temple of mediocrity.
F. Chesterfield
The trouble is that the most simple questions We try to solve things cunningly, and therefore make them extraordinarily complex.
A. Chekhov
Dexterity in comparison with cunning is the same as dexterity of hands in comparison with cheating.
N. Chamfort
If the fox just sticks its muzzle in, its body will follow.
W. Shakespeare
The dexterity of a rogue, however, does not atone for trickery, but fraud in large size always elevates the cheater. Emptying someone else's pocket is shameful, hiding a million is daring, but stealing a crown is an infinitely great thing. The greater the vice, the less shame there is.
F. Schiller
We often encounter manifestations of cunning. It happens that we are cunning, and sometimes we ourselves “get hooked” by another person. We understand this intuitively, but there is no clear definition of cunning.
In an attempt to find this very definition, I turned to dictionaries. Cunning is defined as ingenuity, deceit, dexterity, fraud. And it seems clear, but still each of these words has its own (different) meaning. But cunning has no meaning.
Let's try to create it ourselves. All dictionary terms are characteristics of a person, and cunning seems to contain them all. Therefore, we will consider it as a quality or a set of personality characteristics. To better understand this, let’s analyze examples of cunning.
What most often comes to mind first when you hear the word “cunning”? Lisa, she's cunning. It is the image of a fox, with the help fiction, has been ingrained in us since childhood. Let's take for example the fable of I.A. Krylov "The Crow and the Fox". The basic moral talks about the effect of flattery on a person.
But think about it, the very way the fox thinks shows her cunning. In order not to waste time and effort on catching the crow, the cheat decides to use flattery. Here it acts as a means of achieving a goal indirectly, that is, as an instrument of cunning. After all, the fox, knowing about the influence of flattery, might not have taken advantage of it and would have remained hungry. This means that it is timely and appropriate use knowledge makes her cunning.
Not only the fox is a manifestation of cunning. For example, such genres of cinema and literature as detective stories and scams. To make it difficult to catch, the hero-villain comes up with clever and resourceful plans. While the detective must still have great skill and the ability to predict the thoughts and actions of an opponent in order to catch him.
Let's look at examples from real life everyday life. “Women's tricks” are quite well known. Most often, this is what is called the “arsenal” of representatives of the weaker sex to attract the stronger. Heels and corsets, to create more slim figure, skillfully chosen makeup, and similar things show the use of cunning in materially. But what about charm and charm? For example, a couple passes by a jewelry store. A woman, seeing something she likes, will say, “Look how beautiful it is!” Just a phrase, but with selected accompaniment (tone, facial expressions, gestures), will make her a happy owner of the jewelry.
And let’s say they are already a family. Cunning is no less evident here, especially in raising children. Parents sometimes have to show considerable ingenuity just to feed their child. For example, a plate with a design in the middle. “Eat everything and save the bear” motivates the child to finish everything. Or instead of asking “Will you eat?”, ask “What plate will you eat from today?” In the first option, the child is given the choice to eat or not, and the second allows him to choose from which plate, depriving the child of the opportunity to refuse food.
In all these examples, cunning appears as a quality of a person, whether it is Odysseus or his parents. Everywhere it is used as indirect method achieve your or common goal. And now we can give a definition: cunning is a set of personality characteristics with the help of which it, indirectly or fraudulently, distorting reality, achieves its goal. I would like to point out that cunning in itself is a neutral quality. It is mainly the purpose that gives it its color. With its help, you can both smooth out conflict at work and aggravate it. Of course, the use of deception or manipulation does not have a very good effect on subsequent relationships, but if it is for the greater good, then maybe all means are good? This is a relative question, so the answer is different for each person.
What association comes to mind when you hear the word “cunning”? Fox, oddly enough. It is this red-haired cheat who is a storehouse of cunning in Russian fairy tales. But what is cunning? What does the cheating fox take? And why is she cunning because she's a redhead?
Let's talk about the trick in more detail.
What is it?
What is cunning: does this concept have a definition? Cunning is the ability to use various techniques and techniques that a person possesses in order to achieve his goals. The definition is pretty clear, isn't it? Although, let's translate it into a more accessible language.
Cunning is deception with the help of which one's goals are achieved. Such a definition will be more honest and correct.
Types of cunning
What is cunning and what types does it come in? We have dealt with the first part of the question. Now let's talk about the second one.
Cunning can be innate or acquired. Innate cunning is an intuitive behavior pattern. It allows you to achieve your goal in various indirect ways: resourcefulness, invention, dexterity and other techniques. Often innate cunning manifests itself in primitive lies. For example, a child deceives his parents, but they know that he is lying. And when they take the child out to clean water, the descendant throws a scandal, trying to get his way. Here the parents either retreat, thereby reinforcing the child’s unwanted behavior, or stop such behavior. Innate cunning is based on intuitive behavior and does not require knowledge.
As for acquired cunning, it is based on knowledge. A person gains worldly experience, acquires wisdom and learns to achieve his goals in indirect ways. All useful tricks, which a person acquires in the process of life, are built on knowledge.
The trick is multifaceted
The first subsection provided a definition of this concept. But is it really that simple? What does cunning include? Deception, deceit, resourcefulness, concealment of something, manipulation, hypocrisy. Some of the listed qualities can hardly be called positive.
But is a cunning person equal to a deceiver? Not always, because very often it happens that cunning is used not with the aim of distorting the true facts, but in a wise context. It’s one thing when a person sells a dog because he’s moving and keeps silent about the fact that it has already bitten all family members more than once. Cheated? Yes, but this trick is false. And it’s a completely different matter when a woman has to spin around and save a pretty penny because her husband doesn’t give him extra money for expenses. And my wife is on maternity leave, for example. And with the money saved she buys something for the child. Also cunning, but based on wisdom. A woman is cunning not for the purpose of lying, but in order to improve the life of her own child.
Or the husband sees that his wife is upset. He gives her a compliment that may not be true. The man is cunning, but it is a wise cunning.
Another example: a father manipulates a child, knowing how much he loves him. And manipulates in his own interests, without considering morale his offspring. Is this a positive trick? Of course not.
What does the dictionary say?
What is cunning? Dictionary reads:
This is invention, mastery of something. And indeed, in order to be able to approach your goals in indirect ways, sometimes a lot of cunning is required.
Trick, trick, deceit, cunning, cunning. What we talked about above.
What's wrong with the fox?
We have looked at what cunning is. This concept is multifaceted. And you can add something else to it. The “composition” of cunning includes flattery. This is what that same red fox took - the trickster from Russian fairy tales and fables.
Take, for example, the fable “The Crow and the Fox.” The fox really wanted cheese. But instead of asking the crow, she charmed the bird. Having asked honestly, it is unlikely that the redhead would have received the desired piece in full. If only I had received it at all. And if you were flattered by how well the crow sings, please eat. The crow was hooked and paid with its food.
How often do people become such crows when they fall for flattery? Only the payback is much more expensive than a piece of cheese.
How to tell your child about tricks?
How to define for children what cunning is? Let's try to formulate it. Cunning is a special human trait. This is the ability to use your capabilities and impossibilities without deceiving other people.
Without cheating? Really? Yes, cunning is not deception if it does not harm other people.
Household tricks
They say that every housewife has her own tricks. Some, for example, are very good at preparing marinades with their own hands; such housewives have their own tricks. Secondly, they bake amazing pies, and thirdly, they cook soups that will make you lick your fingers. Is there any deception in such tricks? No, they are built on worldly wisdom. And they do not harm others, rather the opposite. If you go to such a hostess's house, you won't leave hungry.
Each of us has our own household tricks. How, for example, do you clean a microwave? It's simple: pour water into a bowl and put it in the microwave for half an hour. This everyday trick will be useful to many housewives.
About cunning and emotions
We now know what cunning is. What it is like and what it is based on. The subtitle is quite strange, but the question arises: cunning man allow yourself emotions?
Have you released your emotions? But is this a wise thing to do? Hardly. wise man and the cunning one will not give vent to his emotions in public. But he will make it so that the same colleague-offender will release emotions. And he will do it very competently and subtly, without offending her.
Is this possible? Quite. Calmly listen to the offender, and then, without raising your tone, say that the boss has no complaints about the work yet. How long ago did a colleague become his deputy? Or did he shift his authority to her? Oh no? Then please do your job, and I can handle mine on my own.
Is your colleague outraged? Her right. Everything was said culturally, without getting personal. Why is this lady letting out emotions, who is to blame for her? You need to be more balanced.
Do you know what everyday tricks are and how interesting they can be? Let's talk a little about them:
Do you have to hammer a nail, but you're afraid of hitting your finger with a hammer? The nail can be held with a clothespin.
It is necessary to remove text written with a pen or printed. A piece of sharp glass will help. They can be used to cut letters without damaging the paper.
Need to mend a hole in your sock? Use a regular light bulb. Put a sock on it and tighten the hole. You can sew it up.
To measure the length of something, you don't have to look for a ruler. Matchbox capable of replacing it. Its length is 5 cm.
For those who suffer from acne, there is a simple recipe: a tablet of any antibiotic, suprastin and aspirin is crushed. Add half a teaspoon of water and stir the mixture. Apply to problem areas using a cotton swab, remove after 15-20 minutes and wash with cool water. After a couple of weeks of this course, the number of acne will noticeably decrease.
Let's summarize
The main purpose of the article is to tell the reader what cunning is. The main aspects are highlighted below:
Cunning is the ability to achieve one's goals with the help of tricks and manipulations that a person owns. This is to put it very briefly and simply.
It can be congenital or acquired.
Cunning is not always deceptive and flattering. It is often associated with wisdom.
If a trick does not harm others, it can hardly be called deception.
Emotional man does not have sufficient wisdom if he does not know how to hide his emotions. And that means cunning.
Conclusion
Everyone knows how to cheat. The only question is why he is doing this, what final goal and what funds will be required to implement it.
Let us suppose that the trick used by the bishop of Edessa, who walled up a niche above the city gates where the miraculous image Christ, saved this image from desecration. The cunning of Count Yu. A. Olsufiev and the priest, expressed in the secret substitution of the head of St. Sergius of Radonezh with the head of another deceased (found nearby), saved it from confiscation and desecration by representatives of the atheistic authorities.
Scripture Old Testament contains examples of the godly use of cunning by believers in the field of military art. Among the most striking and instructive facts is Gideon’s plan of attack on the camp of the Midianites ().
Orthodox ascetic literature provides many examples of the use of cunning by holy ascetics in the process of invisible warfare with evil spirits.
The first sign of a godly trick may be the godly goal that (with the help of this trick) is supposed to be achieved.
However, the named sign is not exhaustive.
Let's say someone, sympathizing with those in need ( orphanage, a dilapidated monastery), will want to provide them with serious material support, but to achieve this goal, to collect funds, he will resort to insidious cunning, begin to deceive, and deprive other poor people. Despite all the formal plausibility of the goal, such a trick should not a priori be considered good.
Therefore, in addition to a godly goal, a godly cunning also presupposes godly means to achieve the goal.
Does Orthodox theology admit that God is capable of deception?
Being the Infinite, Most Perfect Spirit, he possesses all possible perfections, including omniscience and wisdom. Since He is Omniscient and Wise, there is and cannot be anyone in the world who could outwit Him. Since in everyday life someone who is difficult or impossible to outwit is often called more cunning (or even the most cunning), then some people, with this in mind, attribute cunning to God. Meanwhile, in traditional usage, cunning is often identified with guile, hypocrisy, deceit, and deception. And this is completely alien to the Good, Righteous, Holy, Humane Creator: “God is not a man, so that he should lie” ().
However, sometimes the word “cunning” is used in other meanings. Let's say, an analogue of this term can be the Greek “τέχνη”, literally meaning: “craft”, “art” (), “art”, “skill”.
Again, sometimes the concept of cunning can be close in meaning to the concept of “wisdom” (cf., for example, the Church Slavonic and Synodal translations of a fragment of the Book of the Prophet Baruch, where the expression “cunning ways” () used in the first version in the second is designated as “paths wisdom" ().
Calling God an Artist or the Wise, of course, is not prohibited, but, of course, if these words are given a meaning that corresponds to His essential properties.
“Cunning” is an expression, according to common wisdom, that means something fictitious, invented, adapted, composed of many parts or directed to many purposes; and whoever speaks ambiguously is called a cunning person. True Christians and simple-minded people do not fit under this label of deceit. Cunning and cunning are the doings of the mind, in which conceit reigns - a close relative of arrogance; After all, the root of pride has many close relatives, and all of them, like smoke, soar under the vault of heaven! Do they really want to smoke the sun? No, they won’t smoke; they will dissipate and disappear on their own. There is cunning and evil wisdom; and in order to avoid evil wisdom and evil cunning, there is another wisdom and cunning - saving; and this is not accomplished by human intentions, but by faith and love is drawn from the Lord into kind hearts. Thus, some holy fathers express themselves: “From wisdom is wisdom, and from cunning is cunning - monastic life.” IN simple hearts God rests! Here all wisdom and cunning are absorbed. I am sure that in your heart you agree with the saint: he, in his harmonious song, glorifying the Most Pure Virgin, the Mother of God, Who is honored to be the friend of the Intolerable and the village of the Inconceivable, in in a deep sense put it this way: “ All to the cunning man - the Word has given flesh to each other“, I did not hesitate to call the sweetest Word, which absorbs all bitter tricks, a cunning one. Do you see the holy expression reverently applied to the all-wise Creator, trampling upon the crafty cunning, the enemy with evil, insidious wisdom, the net-weaver - the devil... We should meditate on the word of God with fear and danger, and not with zeal of the heart...
…The cunning of the enemy is defeated by the wisdom of the Word, incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and made human. Thou hast created all things with wisdom() - this is how the Holy Scripture expresses the power of God’s action.
Cunning as a personality quality is the ability to hide one’s secret intention through manipulation with real information about the actual state of facts and circumstances.
The hungry lion wanted to eat the jackal, but the jackal, writhing in pain under the lion’s heavy paw, squealed to him that jackals stink, everyone knows that! And therefore, before eating a jackal, you must take it by the scruff of the neck with your teeth and rinse it in the river flowing nearby. Lev did just that. He rinsed the jackal in the river. Then he decided to ask if it was enough, and unclenched his teeth. The jackal that fell into the water was carried away by the fast river, and the lion remained hungry.
In Ozhegov’s dictionary, the definition of “cunning” is interpreted in several senses. This is crafty, resourceful, and inventive, therefore, cunning embraces all shades moral assessments- from condemning (“one who follows deceitful paths”) to approving (“skillful in something”).
Cunning is a particular property of consciousness, determined by the need to create ample opportunities for a person to adapt in outside world. It usually interacts with the mind. Animals with a brain have what is called animal cunning. Innate cunning is inherent in predators - tigers, foxes, snakes. But herbivores also hear how the grass grows; they need cunning to survive. In the forest you need to be a fox.
A woman is several times superior to a man in the strength of feelings and emotions, a resourceful mind is her most strong point. In the same proportion, a man surpasses a woman in mental strength. But the mind practically does not interact with cunning; its counterpart is the mind. The mind comes into play when it is necessary to think through a clever, multi-move combination or a complex strategy of behavior. On household level he is silent, giving way to the mind. A woman relies on the sensual activity of the mind, therefore she is much more cunning than a man, this is her undoubted vital advantage, the skillful use of which allows her to wisely, not directly, contact a man, realize her desires and achieve family happiness. A frontal attack is not a method for a cunning woman; straightforwardness, inflexibility, straight-backedness are the antipodes of cunning. A woman’s trick is to give up her desire in favor of a man’s desire so that her desire comes true.
Cunning, being an attribute of the mind, has support either in the form of intellect or everyday experience. Women mainly focus on the sensual component of the mind, that is, the area where they have no equal. Men mainly rely on intelligence, feelings and emotions - this is not their strong point. Therefore, discussions about the fact that if a person is smart, then he is also cunning, need to be considered in precisely this aspect. There is no reason to believe that cunning as a derivative of the intellect is superior to cunning as a derivative of the sensory activity of the mind. In practice, we see confirmation of this every day when a woman skillfully uses the weapon of cunning to achieve her goals. Cunning is a demonstration of the sophistication of the mind in protecting its interests. If a woman is narrow-minded, stupid and insensitive, then her cunning will be appropriate. At the same time, “there are still women in Russian villages” who, having not read anything other than “Ryaba the Hen,” can give a hundred points head start on cunning to any favorite of the club of experts. If success could be achieved through cunning alone, women would be the best chess players. In general, cunning demonstrates the limitations of the individual’s mind.
Hundreds of times cunning has helped to win not only in disputes, but also in real war. M.I. Kutuzov said: “I don’t undertake to win, I’ll try to outwit.” Let us remember the well-known myth of the Trojan horse. During the war with Troy, the Danaans, after a long and unsuccessful siege, decided to make a “knight’s move,” namely, donate it. They made huge building in the form of a horse and presented it as a gift to the goddess Athena, leaving it at the walls of Troy. On the side of the horse it was written that this was a gift for the goddess from the departing Danaans. Despite the warnings of the priest Laocoont and the prophetess Cassandra, the Trojans pulled the horse into the city. They were hiding inside it best warriors and when night came they killed the guards, let in the returning allies, and were thus victorious. The idea itself is attributed to the most cunning leader of the Danaans, Odysseus. This is where the expression “ Trojan horse", meaning a secret, insidious, cunning plan. Cunning combined with deceit decided the outcome of the war.
Cunning as such cannot be clearly defined as a virtue or a vice; in itself it does not carry a positive or negative charge. Only the final goal resolves this issue. Cunning is an effective tool that gives a person the opportunity the shortest route achieve the goal. For example, with a scalpel you can save human life during an operation, you can cut the victim’s throat, you can use a knife to carve wood, making a wonderful drawing, or you can stab a person to death in a drunken fight. In other words, cunning as a tool of the mind cannot be counted as either an advantage or a disadvantage; it can be used if you strictly observe the commandment - do no harm, but use what you have for the benefit of yourself and others.
You can’t take a cunning, practical, resourceful mind with your bare hands; it will bite off seven dogs at a crossroads. Where intelligence and experience may stall, cunning, like a cat, will stand on all four paws. You just can’t attribute to her something to which she has nothing to do. When a person “walks over corpses” and trips someone up – this is not cunning at all, but meanness and baseness.
The positive or negative color of cunning directly depends on the qualities of fellow travelers. When cunning is combined with deceit, treachery and hypocrisy, then all that remains is to shout: “Save yourself, who can!”, and when it is in union with kindness, piety and generosity, it acquires an aura of wisdom, rationality and prudence.
Even Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, used cunning as a tool to combat his opponents. Let us remember the well-known provocation of the Pharisees with an unfaithful wife, when the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery and raised the question of the extent of her punishment. They well understood the cunning of the trap laid for Jesus. In chess, this position is called “zugzwang”, which means that any move by a player leads to a deterioration in his position. If he, according to sacred covenants Moses, would have advised to stone her, then he would have allowed a blatant contradiction with his teaching about forgiveness; if he asked to let her go, he would thereby condone sinfulness. Jesus acted wisely. He avoided answering directly, but did it so skillfully that no one could blame him. As John writes, Christ sat without looking at the Pharisees, as if thinking about his own things, and drew something with his finger on the ground. When they asked him to make a decision for the second time, Jesus looked up from what he was doing for a second and, as if by the way, said his famous phrase: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” thereby shifting responsibility onto the Pharisees themselves and even forcing them to remember their guilty conscience.
Petr Kovalev 2013
