Meaning & Analysis
A person who is incapable of hiding their true feelings, intentions, or opinions lacks the essential skills required to survive or to govern effectively.
Insights
The Art of Social Navigation
The proverb serves as a pragmatic guide to social interaction, suggesting that politeness, tact, and the occasional 'white lie' are necessary forms of dissembling to maintain social harmony and personal relationships.
Strategy for Power and Survival
In a political or competitive context, dissembling is a crucial strategy for survival and dominance. It is the art of misleading adversaries, projecting strength, and concealing weaknesses to maintain an advantage.
Life as Performance
It implies that public life is a form of theater. Success is not based on one's true self but on the ability to perform a role convincingly, adapting one's outward appearance to suit the demands of the situation.
Critique of Naive Authenticity
The proverb warns against the dangers of naive transparency. To be completely open and honest is to make oneself vulnerable to exploitation by others in a world that is assumed to be opportunistic and unforgiving.
Machiavellian Realism
This proverb is explicitly identified in the quotations as a 'Machivillian Maxim', reflecting the cynical political philosophy of the Renaissance. It suggests that success, particularly in governance, depends on strategic deception rather than transparency, a principle associated with historical figures like Louis XI of France.
Dual Application: Social and Political
The proverb operates on two levels: the social and the political. 'To live' implies navigating everyday social interactions where tact and white lies are necessary for harmony. 'To rule' elevates this to a principle of statecraft, where a leader's ability to conceal intentions is vital for maintaining power and security.
Psychological Cynicism
The proverb reveals a cynical worldview, assuming that human interactions are inherently competitive and untrustworthy. It posits authenticity as a vulnerability and suggests that social and political life is a performance where the most convincing actor succeeds.
Classical and Educated Roots
The frequent citation of the Latin phrase 'Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare/vivere' in the historical quotes indicates its status not as a folk saying, but as a formal, educated maxim of political and worldly wisdom during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The proverb uses a strong parallel structure ('He that cannot X, knows not how to Y') to create a memorable and authoritative statement that presents a clear, albeit cynical, cause-and-effect relationship.
Aphorism
It functions as a maxim or aphorism, presenting a piece of advice as an absolute truth. Its expression is concise and definitive, giving it the weight of a universal law of human conduct.
Hyperbole
The statement that one 'knows not how to live' is a deliberate overstatement. This hyperbole effectively underscores the perceived importance of dissimulation, framing it as a fundamental, non-negotiable life skill.
Transcription
Quotations
He that knoweth not howe to raigne.
(A settled sentence amongst you, that he which knoweth not how to dissemble knoweth).
He that cannot dissemble in loue, is not worthy to liue.
Hee which knoweth not howe to glose and flatter, knoweth not howe to behave himselfe in companie.
Settled sentence amongst them: he that cannot dissemble, cannot liue.
Why, do you thinke in court any vse to dissemble? —Doe you knowe in court any that meane to liue?
He that cannot lie, cog, dissemble, and flatter now a daies, Is not worthie to liue in the world.
Of the great Emperour who had it vsually in his mouth to say, Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare.
But vs the world doth this experience giue, That he that cannot flatter, cannot liue.
(cannot rule).
That is effectually done which is commonly spoken, he that cannot dissemble cannot live.
King Lewes would have his sonne Charles learne no Latine, forsooth, but onely this sentence, Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare, He that knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to raigne.
Qui dissimulare nescit, nescit vivere.
Who knows not how to flatter, knows not how to converse in the World.
Who cannot dissemble, knows not the way to live.
A Machivillian Maxim grown to a Proverb.
He who steals not knows not how to live in this world.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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