Quotes About Self-deception

En nuestra sociedad, aquellos que saben mejor lo que está ocurriendo son a la vez los que están más lejos de ver al mundo como realmente es. En general, a mayor comprensión, mayor autoengaño: los más inteligentes son en esto los menos cuerdos.

Comprendió que si uno quiere guardar un secreto debe ocultárselo también a sí mismo.

But I am not here and never have been.

The rest of us become narrow and mean when we live falsely. I'm sick to death of living falsely. I've been doing it for years.

Deceit finds its way into every religion, including Christianity. In fact, deceit was at work from the very beginning. Two sorts of deceit are found in our verses: some leaders deceive the people of God (7:15–20), while some deceive themselves (7:21–23).

Everyone, including skeptics, will generate delusions that match their views. That is how a normal and healthy brain works. Skeptics are not exempt from self-delusion.

And the dangerous thing about excuses is that if we recite them enough times, we actually come to believe they are true.

when we badly want a thing, we go to hunting for good and righteous reasons for it; we give it that fine name to comfort our consciences, whereas we privately know we are only hunting for plausible ones.

Satan was accustomed to say that our race lived a life of continuous and uninterrupted self-deception. It duped itself from cradle to grave with shams and delusions which it mistook for realities, and this made its entire life a sham. Of the score of fine qualities which it imagined it had and was vain of, it really possessed hardly one. It regarded itself as gold, and was only brass.

The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

Like many other simple-hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

What keeps the drinker drinking is the certainty that she can stop whenever she wants. It never would have occurred to me that stopping the pathetic little bit of drinking I did would have mattered.

That left denial. If he pretended that he didn't have it, he could ignore the ways it was affecting his life. Denial sounded good.

What planet are you living on? Who are you trying to convince - me or yourself.

unthinkingly exposed themselves to so much deception that they do not even realize they are being deceived.

and there was only one revolutionary virtue which he had not learned, the virtue of self-deception

Sometimes, people avoid recognizing how they feel because they believe the feelings are a part of them, and admitting to harboring anger or jealousy feels like admitting to a physical flaw. So certain feelings are denied. Which is something like believing your house is clean as long as you don't peek under the beds.

But she had wanted it to work so she ignored these things. This is what happens when you go against the grain of truth: you get splinters later on.

Don't fool yourself, my dear. You're much worse than a bitch. You're a saint. Which shows why saints are dangerous and undesirable.

Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one's emotions.

We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake. It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their truth.

We lie best when we lie to ourselves.

We fool ourselves so much we could do it for a living.