Whenever one makes one's self feared one runs the risk of being deceived.
 George Sand, Mauprat (1837). copy citation

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Author George Sand
Source Mauprat
Topic risk fear
Date 1837
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by John Oliver Hobbes
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mauprat_(Heinemann)

Context

“There were times, however, when they spoke the truth." "Bernard, would you like me to tell you why they thought women false?" "Yes, tell me." "Because they were brutes and tyrants to creatures weaker than themselves. Whenever one makes one's self feared one runs the risk of being deceived. In your childhood, when John used to beat you, did you never try to escape his brutal punishment by disguising your little faults?" "I did; that was my only resource." "You can understand, then, that deception is, if not the right, at least the resource of the oppressed."” source