Quotes About Self-deception

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are.

It is self-love and its offspring self-deception, which shut the gates of heaven, and lead men, as if in a delicious dream, to hell.

The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves.

Many an honest man practices upon himself an amount of deceit sufficient, if practised upon another, and in a little different way, to send him to the state prison.

The unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so.

To awaken a man who is deceived as to his own merit is to do him as bad a turn as that done to the Athenian madman who was happy in believing that all the ships touching at the port belonged to him.

Men are inconsolable concerning the treachery of their friends or the deceptions of their enemies; and yet they are often very highly satisfied to be both deceived and betrayed by their own selves.

There is no curing a sick man who believes himself to be in health.

There is scarcely any man, how much soever he may despise the character of a flatterer, but will condescend in the meanest manner to flatter himself.

She had fooled herself into believing she was living the life she'd always dreamed of living when all she had been doing was hiding from it.

Deception is mostly a game we play with ourselves.

It's amazing how we can make ourselves believe what we want to.

The fool who knows his foolishness is wise so far, at least; but a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.

Yet it is curious to see how a really truthful man will forget his misses, and his hits at close quarters, and, by dint of constant repetition, will finally persuade himself that he is in the habit of killing his game at three or four hundred yards.

A man who evades his own conscience is a dupe.

A man who lacks reason cheats himself repeatedly.

Self is the only oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the hypocrite move in all religious concerns.

For us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other and especially to ourselves. The lies are necessary because, without them, many deplorable acts would become impossibilities.

It may be that the deep necessity of art is the examination of self-deception.

After a while, you have no idea how old you are because you've lied so many times.

From the outside, my life seemed charmed, and I would say as much to anyone who asked. And yet deep down, part of me would also have known that I was lying.

I can't believe I told you all those things and we've ended up talking about how great I am.' 'But we're not. You've confused the two things again. You're not great. You're a shallow, feckless, self-indulgent... wanker.' 'Thanks.

It is probable that the most inhuman monsters, even the Himmlers and the Mengeles, convince themselves that they are engaged in noble and courageous acts.

Most people are not liars. They can't tolerate too much cognitive dissonance. I don't want to deny that there are outright liars, just brazen propagandists. You can find them in journalism and in the academic professions as well. But I don't think that's the norm. The norm is obedience, adoption of uncritical attitudes, taking the easy path of self-deception.