Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ A Fashionable Imposture, or Hypocrisie, shall be call’d Good Manners, and so we make a shift in some sort to Legitimate the Abuse. In Jupiter's appointing these Frauds, we read the Power of Humane Frailty that Disposes us to Entertain them: For we are False enough by Nature without any need of Prescription. ”
Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ It is in some sort Natural to be a Knave. We were Made so, in the very Composition of our Flesh and Blood; Only Fraud is call'd Wit in One Case, Good Husbandry in Another, &c. while 'tis the Whole Bus'ness of the World for One Man to Couzen Another. ”
Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ LYING and Couzening is a General Practice in the World, tho' it appears in some Men, and in some Trades, more then in other. Æsop is still Introducing some or other of the Gods, to Countenance the Corruptions of Flesh and Blood: And since Custom and Interest will have it to; that all Tradesnen must use Fraud, more or less, even in their own Defence, the Practice being in some sort so Necessary, 'tis not amiss to bring in Jupiter vo justifie it. But why is this False and Double Dealing apply'd to Tradesmen only, when it is Common to Mankind? ”
