self-deception

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
ff32f14	Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.	love truth self-deception respect	Fyodor Dostoevsky
e1cc00b	I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.	lying truth self-deception	S.E. Hinton
325a29f	It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.	lies goodness wisdom delusion self-deception	Leo Tolstoy
6b564fa	Reality denied comes back to haunt.	history self-deception psychology	Philip K. Dick
7c7daa4	A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.	illusion intelligence self-deception ignorance	Saul Bellow
06157b2	People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort.	marriage nature force-of-nature matrimony self-deception pleasure	Thomas Hardy
59f5f92	The preachers and lecturers deal with men of straw, as they are men of straw themselves. Why, a free-spoken man, of sound lungs, cannot draw a long breath without causing your rotten institutions to come toppling down by the vacuum he makes. Your church is a baby-house made of blocks, and so of the state. ...The church, the state, the school, the magazine, think they are liberal and free! It is the freedom of a prison-yard.	free magazine men-of-straw straw-men rotten preachers liberal self-deception prison state school	Henry David Thoreau
0587e90	Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.	liars self-deception	Rudyard Kipling
d8100aa	If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.	lying self-deception	W. Somerset Maugham
ba7fdae	There's that horrible-beautiful moment, that bitter-sweet impasse where you know that somebody is bullshitting you but they're doing it with such panache and conviction...no, it's because they say exactly what you want to hear, at that point in time.	bittersweet self-deception lie	Irvine Welsh
e02f464	It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.	self-deception	Marcel Proust
2b2e343	There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last respect a rather common one.	self-deception	Charles Dickens
4693a6b	The fine thing about pacts with the devil is that when you sign them you are well aware of their conditions. Otherwise, why would you be recompensed with hell?	fate responsibility destiny self-deception devil	Umberto Eco
8348ee9	How can a man's candour be seen in all its lustre unless he has a few failings to talk of? But he had an agreeable confidence that his faults were all of a generous kind--impetuous, arm-blooded, leonine; never crawling, crafty, reptilian.	depravity self-deception	George Eliot
0d5f83a	Thus, you see, he arrived at the same end, via supposed duty, that he was previously pledged to via interest. I fancy a good number of us, when any line of action will promote our own interest, can make ourselves believe that reasons exist which compel us to it as a duty.	ends interest sardonic duty reasoning purpose self-deception	Elizabeth Gaskell
798e95d	Deception' is the word I most associate with anorexia and the treachery which comes from falsehood. The illness appears inviting. It would seem to offer something to those unwary or unlucky enough to suffer from it - friendship, a get-out, or a haven - when, in fact, it is a trap.	illness escape false-friend haveb anorexia-nervosa falsehood treachery deception trap self-deception anorexia eating-disorder mental-illness	Carol Lee
3cb5f8e	"On the raptors kept for falconry: "They talk every night, deep into the darkness. They say about how they were taken, about what they can remember about their homes, about their lineage and the great deeds of their ancestors, about their training and what they've learned and will learn. It is military conversation, really, like what you might have in the mess of a crack cavalry regiment: tactics, small arms, maintenance, betting, famous hunts, wine, women, and song. Another subject they have is food. It is a depressing thought," he continued, "but of course they are mainly trained by hunger. They are a hungry lot, poor chaps, thinking of the best restaurants where they used to go, and how they had champagne and caviar and gypsy music. Of course, they all come from noble blood." "What a shame that they should be kept prisoners and hungry." "Well, they do not really understand that they are prisoners any more than the cavalry officers do. They look on themselves as being 'dedicated to their profession,' like an order of knighthood or something of that sort. You see, the member of the Muse [where Raptors are kept for falconry] is restricted to the Raptors, and that does help a lot. They know that none of the lower classes can get in. Their screened perches do not carry Blackbirds or such trash as that. And then, as for the hungry part, they're far from starving or that kind of hunger: they're in training, you know! And like everybody in strict training, they think about food."	social-commentary self-deception	T.H. White
c321e55	The instinct of self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at the bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them nonexistent, and a warning such as mine against cheap optimism was bound to prove particularly unwelcome at a moment when a sumptuously laid supper was awaiting for us in the next room.	warning humanity optimism awaiting aware banish cheap-optimism dangers danger nonexistent supper unwelcome awareness human-beings cowardice self-deception instinct food	Stefan Zweig
58f1157	Vidish', ia togda vse se- bia sprashival: zachem ia tak glup, chto esli drugie glu- py i koli ia znaiu uzh naverno, chto oni glupy, to sam ne khochu byt' umnee? Potom ia uznal, Sonia, chto esli zhdat', poka vse stanut umnymi, to slishkom uzh dol- go budet... Potom ia eshche uznal, chto nikogda etogo i ne budet, chto ne peremeniatsia liudi, i ne peredelat' ikh nikomu, i truda ne stoit tratit'! Da, eto tak! Eto ikh zakon... Zakon, Sonia! Eto tak!.. I ia teper' znaiu, Sonia, chto kto krepok i silen umom i dukhom, tot nad nimi i vlastelin! Kto mnogo posmeet, tot u nikh i prav. Kto na bol'shee mozhet pliunut', tot u nikh i zakonodatel', a kto bol'she vsekh mozhet posmet', tot i vsekh pravee! Tak dosele velos' i tak vsegda budet! Tol'ko slepoi ne razgliadit!	truth wisdom loathe society self-deception	Fyodor Dostoyevsky
d16d95c	It was strange to Old Robert that he, who knew so much more than his neighbors, who had pondered so endlessly, should be not even a good farmer. Sometimes he imagined he understood too many things ever to do anything well.	pondering useful practicality self-deception	John Steinbeck
8542bd3	The person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality - for this touchstone can be only oneself. Such a person interpose between himself and reality nothing less than a labyrinth of attitudes. And these attitudes, furthermore, though the person is usually unaware of it (is unaware of so much), are historical and public attitudes.	introjects received-values society culture self-deception	James Baldwin
22523a2	It is necessary to write, that much is clear, and to write in a way quite unlike any way which I have employed before.	writing truth self-deception writers	Iris Murdoch
399d502	The duplicity of others must always be shocking when one is unconscious of one's own.	self-awareness duplicity self-deception	Eric Ambler
899cdba	We are all worth something,' she said. 'Zottas are not worth more than the rest of us. Self-Deception makes us into monsters. Selfishness is an excuse to busy your empathy. People are basically good. Live as though it was the first days of a better [nation].	self-deception selfishness	Cory Doctorow

ff32f14

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.

love truth self-deception respect

Fyodor Dostoevsky

e1cc00b

I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.

lying truth self-deception

S.E. Hinton

325a29f

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.

lies goodness wisdom delusion self-deception

Leo Tolstoy

6b564fa

Reality denied comes back to haunt.

history self-deception psychology

Philip K. Dick

7c7daa4

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

illusion intelligence self-deception ignorance

Saul Bellow

06157b2

People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort.

marriage nature force-of-nature matrimony self-deception pleasure

Thomas Hardy

59f5f92

The preachers and lecturers deal with men of straw, as they are men of straw themselves. Why, a free-spoken man, of sound lungs, cannot draw a long breath without causing your rotten institutions to come toppling down by the vacuum he makes. Your church is a baby-house made of blocks, and so of the state. ...The church, the state, the school, the magazine, think they are liberal and free! It is the freedom of a prison-yard.

free magazine men-of-straw straw-men rotten preachers liberal self-deception prison state school

Henry David Thoreau

0587e90

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.

liars self-deception

Rudyard Kipling

d8100aa

If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.

lying self-deception

W. Somerset Maugham

ba7fdae

There's that horrible-beautiful moment, that bitter-sweet impasse where you know that somebody is bullshitting you but they're doing it with such panache and conviction...no, it's because they say exactly what you want to hear, at that point in time.

bittersweet self-deception lie

Irvine Welsh

e02f464

It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.

self-deception

Marcel Proust

2b2e343

There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last respect a rather common one.

self-deception

Charles Dickens

4693a6b

The fine thing about pacts with the devil is that when you sign them you are well aware of their conditions. Otherwise, why would you be recompensed with hell?

fate responsibility destiny self-deception devil

Umberto Eco

8348ee9

How can a man's candour be seen in all its lustre unless he has a few failings to talk of? But he had an agreeable confidence that his faults were all of a generous kind--impetuous, arm-blooded, leonine; never crawling, crafty, reptilian.

depravity self-deception

George Eliot

0d5f83a

Thus, you see, he arrived at the same end, via supposed duty, that he was previously pledged to via interest. I fancy a good number of us, when any line of action will promote our own interest, can make ourselves believe that reasons exist which compel us to it as a duty.

ends interest sardonic duty reasoning purpose self-deception

Elizabeth Gaskell

798e95d

Deception' is the word I most associate with anorexia and the treachery which comes from falsehood. The illness appears inviting. It would seem to offer something to those unwary or unlucky enough to suffer from it - friendship, a get-out, or a haven - when, in fact, it is a trap.

illness escape false-friend haveb anorexia-nervosa falsehood treachery deception trap self-deception anorexia eating-disorder mental-illness

Carol Lee

3cb5f8e

"On the raptors kept for falconry: "They talk every night, deep into the darkness. They say about how they were taken, about what they can remember about their homes, about their lineage and the great deeds of their ancestors, about their training and what they've learned and will learn. It is military conversation, really, like what you might have in the mess of a crack cavalry regiment: tactics, small arms, maintenance, betting, famous hunts, wine, women, and song. Another subject they have is food. It is a depressing thought," he continued, "but of course they are mainly trained by hunger. They are a hungry lot, poor chaps, thinking of the best restaurants where they used to go, and how they had champagne and caviar and gypsy music. Of course, they all come from noble blood." "What a shame that they should be kept prisoners and hungry." "Well, they do not really understand that they are prisoners any more than the cavalry officers do. They look on themselves as being 'dedicated to their profession,' like an order of knighthood or something of that sort. You see, the member of the Muse [where Raptors are kept for falconry] is restricted to the Raptors, and that does help a lot. They know that none of the lower classes can get in. Their screened perches do not carry Blackbirds or such trash as that. And then, as for the hungry part, they're far from starving or that kind of hunger: they're in training, you know! And like everybody in strict training, they think about food."

social-commentary self-deception

T.H. White

c321e55

The instinct of self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at the bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them nonexistent, and a warning such as mine against cheap optimism was bound to prove particularly unwelcome at a moment when a sumptuously laid supper was awaiting for us in the next room.

warning humanity optimism awaiting aware banish cheap-optimism dangers danger nonexistent supper unwelcome awareness human-beings cowardice self-deception instinct food

Stefan Zweig

58f1157

Vidish', ia togda vse se- bia sprashival: zachem ia tak glup, chto esli drugie glu- py i koli ia znaiu uzh naverno, chto oni glupy, to sam ne khochu byt' umnee? Potom ia uznal, Sonia, chto esli zhdat', poka vse stanut umnymi, to slishkom uzh dol- go budet... Potom ia eshche uznal, chto nikogda etogo i ne budet, chto ne peremeniatsia liudi, i ne peredelat' ikh nikomu, i truda ne stoit tratit'! Da, eto tak! Eto ikh zakon... Zakon, Sonia! Eto tak!.. I ia teper' znaiu, Sonia, chto kto krepok i silen umom i dukhom, tot nad nimi i vlastelin! Kto mnogo posmeet, tot u nikh i prav. Kto na bol'shee mozhet pliunut', tot u nikh i zakonodatel', a kto bol'she vsekh mozhet posmet', tot i vsekh pravee! Tak dosele velos' i tak vsegda budet! Tol'ko slepoi ne razgliadit!

truth wisdom loathe society self-deception

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

d16d95c

It was strange to Old Robert that he, who knew so much more than his neighbors, who had pondered so endlessly, should be not even a good farmer. Sometimes he imagined he understood too many things ever to do anything well.

pondering useful practicality self-deception

John Steinbeck

8542bd3

The person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality - for this touchstone can be only oneself. Such a person interpose between himself and reality nothing less than a labyrinth of attitudes. And these attitudes, furthermore, though the person is usually unaware of it (is unaware of so much), are historical and public attitudes.

introjects received-values society culture self-deception

James     Baldwin

22523a2

It is necessary to write, that much is clear, and to write in a way quite unlike any way which I have employed before.

writing truth self-deception writers

Iris Murdoch

399d502

The duplicity of others must always be shocking when one is unconscious of one's own.

self-awareness duplicity self-deception

Eric Ambler

899cdba

We are all worth something,' she said. 'Zottas are not worth more than the rest of us. Self-Deception makes us into monsters. Selfishness is an excuse to busy your empathy. People are basically good. Live as though it was the first days of a better [nation].

self-deception selfishness

Cory Doctorow