knavery

From their study of English history, they learned what might be called the law of knavery: there aren’t any good ways to get rid of a bad king.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 21, 2019

“I only know that it is mixed, that you cannot separate good from bad, that wisdom, courage and benevolence exist alongside knavery, greed and stupidity; heroism and fortitude alongside vainglory, cruelty and corruption.”

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2018

He looks upon the Trojan War, and all the warriors who risk their lives in it, with a vision that strips all noble motives away and sees only lechery, roguery, and knavery.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 9, 2016

We like to think of our transgressions as caused less by our own knavery than by the wrong genes or maltreatment in childhood.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2011

I wish for some way to warn Cristiana of the new king’s knavery.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Told in the fictitious third person of Jim's confidant and publicity man, it records the entire gamut of his knaveries, but gives him where possible the benefit of the doubt.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had a variety of curious stories about racing knaveries, and could clear up several mysterious circumstances, which all the penetration of the "Ring" had never succeeded in solving.

From One Of Them by Charles James Lever

Hearing the praise of his exploits, he studies craft, and seeks parental admiration by adroit knaveries.

From Twelve Causes of Dishonesty by Henry Ward Beecher

But most of all he abhorred the knaveries that craftsmen sometimes commit, of which, having been in France, and having heard something of them, he was only too well able to speak.

From Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol 08 (of 10) Bastiano to Taddeo Zucchero by Giorgio Vasari

His mind was far, far away from the spot, deep in cares and wiles and schemes; for his was an intriguing head, and had its own store of knaveries.

From Tony Butler by Charles James Lever