Bluff Quotes

1. "The hardest tumble a man can take is to fall over his own bluff."
Author: Ambrose Bierce

2. "Nobody gives way to anybody. Everyone just angles, points, dives directly toward his destination, pretending it is an all-or-nothing gamble. People glare at one another and fight for maneuvering space. All parties are equally determined to get the right-of-way--insist on it. They swerve away at the last possible moment, giving scant inches to spare. The victor goes forwards, no time for a victory grin, already engaging in another contest of will. Saigon traffic is Vietnamese life, a continuous charade of posturing, bluffing, fast moves, tenacity and surrenders."
Author: Andrew X. Pham

3. "And what if there are no damsels in distress?What if I knew that, and I called your bluff?Don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down,whether or not you ever show up?"
Author: Ani DiFranco

4. "Don't say that. Don't even joke about it! The idea of ten weeks with a single, locked-down girlfriend—even the fake kind—gives me all over body hives. Sue me for making a face about that. I don't think you've thought any of this through. It would involve all of our friends, parents—even if we don't use my real name—text messaging, emails—and a lot of time. Time is something I don't have to burn. Plus, it would kill the variety of…of…yeah…girl fun in my summer," I imply, wondering if she'll call my bluff. The only real summer varieties I score are the extra odd jobs I pick up at the rink. She turns bright red and I have to hide my smile. "Disgusting," she snorts and reverts back to rubbing her temples."
Author: Anne Eliot

5. "Yes," Nicholas replied, in a bored voice. "The name is Dutch. Dragonwyck, meaning place of the dragon. It derives from an Indian legend about a flying serpent whose eyes were fire and whose flaming breath withered the corn." "Heavens!" With a light laugh, Miranda asked her new employer if the red men had sent forth a champion to do battle with the dragon.The patroon's face was dark, unsmiling. "To appease him the wise men of the tribe sacrificed a pure maiden on the rocky bluff you see above you."Miranda's laughter died. Something in Nicholas Van Ryn's cruel, handsome features made her imagine herself in the Indian maiden's place."
Author: Anya Seton

6. "Were you bluffing about getting out?"Gabriel grabbed the door handle. When he was standing in the grit and rubble of the shoulder, feeling the rain trail down his collar, he hesitated before closing the door. "You know I don't even have a phone.""Would now be a bad time for a joke about smoke signals?""Fuck you."
Author: Brigid Kemmerer

7. "But today as then, the great propertied interests and their agents commit the most ferocious crimes in the name of the whole people, and bluff and brow-beat them by lying propaganda."
Author: C.L.R. James

8. "Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being."
Author: Carl Sagan

9. "Was it that these particular occult streets had been made, then hidden? Their names leaked as traps in an elaborate double-bluff, so that no one could go except those who knew that suchtraps were actually destinations? Or were there really no streets there when the traps were set? Perhaps these cul-de-scas were residues, yawned into illicit existence when the atlases were drawn up by liars."
Author: China Miéville

10. "Although I have to say, it's become a lot harder for me since I won the world series because everyone wants to beat me. For example, bluffing is really tough now, because there's always someone who calls me on the off-chance that they'll then be able to say they read a world champion's bluff."
Author: Chris Moneymaker

11. "The two men maintain firm eye contact. A poker game, both of them bluffing. Or pretending to."
Author: Chris Pavone

12. "Inevitably Tate phoned her at her office when she'd returned. "Leta said you and Colby left suddenly," he said softly. "What did you find out?""This isn't a secure line," she told him without expression in her voice. It hurt to hear him talking to her in that almost intimate tone after what Audrey had told her. "Stop talking like a secret agent," he teased."You start thinking like one again," she told him. "I'll meet you for coffee in the usual place.""What usual place?""Where you and Audrey go, of course."That hadn't been a teasing tone in her voice. "I only took her there once, Cecily, the day you ran into us…""Ten minutes." She hung up, got her jacket and went out, telling her secretary that she had a meeting and would be back in an hour. She dreaded seeing him again. But if she could just keep her head, perhaps she could bluff her way through. She felt betrayed."
Author: Diana Palmer

13. "This time, after a moment, he called her bluff. "Perhaps Philippa and I should be thrown together a little more. She might become attached to me if she knew me better." Kate, brightening visibly, ignored the gleam in his eye. "That would make her sorry for you?" "It might. The object of any sort of clinical study deserves compassion, don't you think?" "Snakes don't," said Katherine inconsequently. "I hate snakes." "And yet you feed them on honey cakes and forbid them to defend themselves." "Defencelessness is not a noted characteristic of serpents. Anyhow, I can't have them lying rattling about the house. It gets on the nerves." "It does if you handle it by rattling back."
Author: Dorothy Dunnett

14. "Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed."
Author: E.B. White

15. "They both continue to stare at each other, expressionless, motionless, in the weirdest standoff I've ever seen almost as if they're calling the other's bluff. It is the way you'd look at a perfect stranger, although if they were actually strangers someone would break down and exchange a pleasantry after such prolonged eye contact. I start to wonder if maybe I shouldn't reintroduce my own parents."
Author: Emily Giffin

16. "Vinyaya was being openly antagonistic, and that was an emotion that could be trusted, unless of course it was a bluff and the commander was a secret fan of his, unless it was a double bluff and she really did feel antagonistic."
Author: Eoin Colfer

17. "Let's save some time here. I grow weary of your clumsy bluffs. In the case of an abduction, the LEP will send a crack Retrieval team to get back what has been lost.. You have done so. Excuse me while I titter. Crack team? Honestly. A Cub-Scout patrol armed with water pistols could have defeated them."
Author: Eoin Colfer

18. "After all, bluff and real emotion exist so easily side by side."
Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

19. "Alice?"She spun toward the door, her skirts whirling softly. "Yes?" she forced out."Do you know what I am holding in my hand?""No.""Care to guess?""A pitchfork?" she asked in a stilted attempt at levity, hoping to invoke his earlier, playful mood."No, my dear," he answered drily. "A key to your room.""What?"she breathed, aghast."I should hate to have to use it.""You have a key to this room?""Mm-hmm."She took a step toward the door, panic rising up in her throat. "You're bluffing!""Do you wish me to prove it?"
Author: Gaelen Foley

20. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."(Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September, 2004)"
Author: George W. Bush

21. "The trees were tinted exquisitely to an uncertain glory as the great red sinking sun flashed its rays on their crystal mantle. The vale of Aylesbury was drowsing beneath a slowly deepening shroud of mist. Above it the hills, their crests rounded and shaded by silver and rose coppices, seemed to have set in them great smoky eyes of flame where the last rays burned in them.'It is like some dream world,' thought Mr. Cort. 'It is curious how, wherever the sun strikes, it seems to make an eye, and each one fixed on me; those hills, even those windows. But, judging from that mist, I shall have a slow journey home...("Blind Man's Bluff")"
Author: H.R. Wakefield

22. "The sky slides into blue, the bluffs into bloom; the rapid Mississippi expands; runs sparkling and gurgling, all over in eddies; one magnified wake of a seventy-four. The sun comes out, a golden huzzar, from his tent, flashing his helm on the world. All things, warmed in the landscape, leap. Speeds the daedal boat as a dream."
Author: Herman Melville

23. "Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I thought it was the perfect plan... a bluff... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you... It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."
Author: J.K. Rowling

24. "Marry me," I said without hesitation. I was surprised at how quickly and easily the words came. His mouth spread into a broad smile. "When?" I shrugged. "We can book a flight tomorrow. It's Spring Break. I don't have anything going on tomorrow, do you?" "I'm callin' your bluff," he said, reaching for his phone. "America Airlines," he said, watching my reaction closely as he was connected. "I need two tickets to Vegas, please. Tomorrow. Hmmmmm...," he looked at me, waiting for me to change my mind. "Two days, round trip. Whatever you have." I rested my chin on his chest, waiting for him to book the tickets. The longer I let him stay on the phone, the wider his smile became."
Author: Jamie McGuire

25. "Vegas?" I asked. His brow furrowed, unsure of where I was headed."Yeah?""Have you thought about going back?" His eyebrows shot up."I don't think that's a good idea for me.""What if we just went for a night?" He looked around the dark room, confused."A night?""Marry me," I said without hesitation. I was surprised at how quickly and easily the words came. His mouth spread into a broad smile."When?" I shrugged."We can book a flight tomorrow. It's spring break. I dont't have anything going on tomorrow, do you?""I'm callin' your bluff," he said, watching my reaction closely as he was connected. "I need two tickets to vegas, please. Tomorrow. Hmmmm...," he looked at me, waiting for me to change my mind. "Two days, round trip. Whatever you have."
Author: Jamie McGuire

26. "Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer."
Author: Jeannette Walls

27. "He closed the distance another tight inch. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her nipples were hard little points stabbing out of the scarlet material, begging to be freed. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her perfume swamped his senses. He grew hard, and her eyes widened as his full length throbbed against her leg in demand. "I'm calling your bluff, baby." Pure shock registered on her face as he removed one hand from the wall to casually unbutton his shirt, slide off his tie, then grasp her chin with a firm grip. "Prove it." He stamped his mouth over hers, not giving her a chance to think or back off or push him away. He invaded her mouth, plunging his tongue inside the slick, silky cave, then closed his lips around the wet flesh and sucked hard. She grabbed for his shoulders, and made a little moan deep in her throat. Then she exploded."
Author: Jennifer Probst

28. "Madame Vastra and the others made their return to Paternoster Row by a circumspect route. Strax in particular was keen to intercept any individual he suspected might be following and forcibly remove a variety of their limbs and appendages. But Jenny prevailed upon him that most of the people he singled out were merely walking past. Given the lateness of the hour there were, thankfully, not many.‘What about him?' Strax said, pointing to a figure shambling slowly along on the opposite pavement.‘That old lady is selling lucky heather, and she's heading in a different direction so she's unlikely to be following us.'‘She could be bluffing. And who is this Lucky Heather anyway?'‘It's heather – it's a plant not a person. It's supposed to be lucky.'‘Not if I catch her, it won't be.'‘Strax,' Vastra said simply. ‘No."
Author: Justin Richards

29. "Vicksburg lies on top of a bluff on the east side of a large tongue of land jutting out into the Mississippi."
Author: Knute Nelson

30. "You think I should use magick like mine to open a tomb?" Mari asked in a scoffing tone. Mistress of bluffing, working it here. "That'd be like calling you in to lift a feather."
Author: Kresley Cole

31. "Her father's old books were all she could command, and these she wore out with much reading. Inheriting his refined tastes, she found nothing to attract her in the society of the commonplace and often coarse people about her. She tried to like the buxom girls whose one ambition was to "get married," and whose only subjects of conversation were "smart bonnets" and "nice dresses." She tried to believe that the admiration and regard of the bluff young farmers was worth striving for; but when one well-to-do neighbor laid his acres at her feet, she found it impossible to accept for her life's companion a man whose soul was wrapped up in prize cattle and big turnips."
Author: Louisa May Alcott

32. "The woman trembled, eyes wide as she stared at the bluff. Her teeth pressed against her lower lip hard enough he wouldn't have been surprised to see blood. Devyn recognized the building hysteria. His chest tightened; he'd seen like expressions all too often and it opened a raw, bleeding hurt in his chest."
Author: Lynda K. Scott

33. "Lorraina, you had to have known that I was bluffing when I acted like I was over you. I have your initials tattooed on my arm. I have your face tattooed in my brain. I have your soul tattooed in my heart."
Author: Lynetta Halat

34. "I watched a moment longer, studying the terrain and the scuffed earth beyond the bluffs, and then, more softly, said, ‘Tears, signal to Lupus. Ask for cavalry.'We had cavalry...by heaven, did we have cavalry."
Author: M.C. Scott

35. "Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words."
Author: Mahatma Gandhi

36. "That was just how we spoke. Every conversation a game of poker, every line a bet or a raise, a bluff or a call."
Author: Mark Lawrence

37. "Taylen," Glate whispered, wrapping his arm around my waist. "Are you okay?"Was I okay? No. I was a complete and utter wreck, but there was no way in hell I was going to show him that. "I'm dandy.""You're a terrible liar." He propped himself up on his elbow, and leaned in closer, resting his chin on my shoulder. My body was well aware of how close he was, and it took everything in me to fight the urge to turn and face him. Teenage hormones were the absolute worst. "You know how I can tell?" he asked, running a single finger down my arm."How?" the word barely escaped my lips."Your voice trembles," he whispered. Glate moved his hand to my hips and pulled me back towards him. "Whenever you lie, you get this slight tremble in your voice. It's almost as if you're scared to admit the truth, so you try to conjure up a lie, but the fear engulfs your words on the way out, calling your bluff."
Author: Nicole Sobon

38. "Thought he had it all before they called his bluffFound out that his skin just wasn't thick enoughWanted to go back to how it was beforeThought he lost everythingThen he lost a whole lot more"
Author: Nine Inch Nails

39. "Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight."
Author: Orison Swett Marden

40. "Als ik er nu aan terugdenk, was dat het meest verbluffende van de laatste dagen die ik met mijn vader doorbracht: ik had altijd gedacht dat hij geen hart had. Ik kon het pas zien nu het onherstelbaar gebroken was."
Author: Paolo Giordano

41. "Next, PleaseAlways too eager for the future, wePick up bad habits of expectancy.Something is always approaching; every dayTill then we say,Watching from a bluff the tiny, clearSparkling armada of promises draw near.How slow they are! And how much time they waste,Refusing to make haste!Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalksOf disappointment, for, though nothing balksEach big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked,Each rope distinct,Flagged, and the figurehead with golden titsArching our way, it never anchors; it'sNo sooner present than it turns to past.Right to the lastWe think each one will heave to and unloadAll good into our lives, all we are owedFor waiting so devoutly and so long.But we are wrong:Only one ship is seeking us, a black-Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her backA huge and birdless silence. In her wakeNo waters breed or break."
Author: Philip Larkin

42. "Laughter broke from them. It spread into a roar of acclamation; for bluff is a weapon dear to every adventurer."
Author: Rafael Sabatini

43. "[Annabeth]I might have a plan. It'll be your turn to keep Serapis distracted.'Sadie frowned. ‘Did I mention I'm out of magic?'‘That's okay,' Annabeth said. ‘How are you at bluffing, lying and trash-talking?'Sadie raised an eyebrow. ‘I've been told those are my most attractive qualities.'‘Excellent,' Annabeth said. ‘Then it's time I taught you some Greek."
Author: Rick Riordan

44. "That was Verity's way. MOnths had passed since we had last spoken but he took no times for greetings. Chade said it was a lack in him, that he didn't make his men feel their importance to him. I think he believed that if anything significant had happened to me, someone would have told him. He had a bluff heartiness to him that I enjoyed, an attitude that things must be going well unless someone ahd told him otherwise."
Author: Robin Hobb

45. "The sand swallows burst out of their scupper holes in the bluffs and out over the transparent drown of the water, back again to the white, to the brown, to the black, from moving to stock-still sand waves and water-worked woods and roots that hugged and twisted in the sun."
Author: Saul Bellow

46. "Faced with Russian menace and Ottoman collapse, Britain and France threatened war. Nicholas stubbornly called their bluff because, he explained, he was "waging war for a solely Christian purpose, under the banner of the Holy Cross." On 28 March 1853, the French and British declared war on Russia. Even though most of the fighting was far away in the Crimea, this war placed Jerusalem at the centre of the world stage where she has remained ever since.f"
Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore

47. "Bluff ain't effective for people of type-A."
Author: Toba Beta

48. "When people pose the question, are you "coxom", Tom Conrad? I like to pose a question back at them: Is J.K. Rowling actually a witch? Is Thomas Harris the no. 1 serial killer in the the US, did Yann Martell really spend a lifetime eating pie?Of course, as far as I know J.K. Rowling is not a witch, but instead is a rather lovely and talented writer. As for that Thomas Harris (equally talented), I very much suspect he isn't actually a serial killer at all, or if he is, he's involved in the biggest case of double bluff… ever! As for Yann Martell, well, as everyone with half a brain knows his book is actually concerned with a mathematical constant, so ignore the dumb pie joke. Hm :/"
Author: Tom Conrad

49. "I called your bluff,' he said.'I see that,' she answered. 'I'll be down in five minutes.''Right on."
Author: Wendy Wunder

50. "One must choose between Obscurity with Efficiency, and Fame with its inevitable collateral of Bluff."
Author: William McFee

Bluff Quotes Pictures