Quotes About Self-deception

Nunca somos mais bem enganados, neste mundo, do que por nós mesmos.

If good and evil are continuous, any crime can be linked with any virtue. Imposture merges away into self-deception so that only relatively has there ever been impostor.

Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves.

No one of good character leaves behind a wasted life — whether they die in obscurity or renown.... Your character is what you are to yourself, not what you pretend to be to yourself or others. Although human beings often attempt self-delusion, we cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves. It will make itself known to us by means of our conscience despite our most strenuous effort to suppress it.

The mirror will only lie, when you look at it through a mask.

No man was ever so much deceived by another as by himself.

You may have known for many, many years that smoking isn't good for you, but you're still smoking. You have become a master of deluding yourself. Direct experience is the only thing that can crush your delusion. If you really want to quit and be free, this is the most important step you can take in that direction.

This tendency to defend a belief structure is true in all cases, even the rational. Never underestimate our ability to convince ourselves of what we wish to be true, especially if we have invested time and money in our beliefs.

I have learned that the Mahabharata is about the way we deceive ourselves, how we are false to others, how we oppress fellow human beings, and how deeply unjust we are in our day-to-day lives. But is this moral blindness an intractable human condition, or can we change it? Some of our misery is the result of the way the state also treats us, and can we redesign our institutions to have a more sympathetic government?

man lies to himself a lot.

quoting Tolstoy: "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." Many

One can convince oneself that the past is the past and forgotten about, but the very fact that we can tell ourselves that it is forgotten proves that it is not.

The most confused you will ever get, is when you try to convince yourself of something your mind knows is a lie.

The lies we tell other people are nothing to the lies we tell ourselves.

There are times when you tell yourself anything you have to, to pretend that you're still the one in control.

There are times when you'll tell yourself anything you have to, to pretend that you're still the one in control.

I'm convinced that most people don't know what they believe, rather, they only know what they wish to believe.

I'm convinced that most people don't know what the hell they believe, rather, they only know what they wish to believe.

You'll tell yourself anything you have to, to pretend that you're ok. Who are you when nobody's watching?

Fact is, I never knowed a Negro from that day to this but who couldn't lie to themselves about their own evil while pointing out the white man's wrong, and I weren't no exception.

I knew how good love could be -- I knew it was the best thing I'd ever done in my life -- and yet here I was alone. I was taking chances with my life. I kept telling everybody that I was all right, but I wasn't.

Delusional. Like Donald Trump with a comb.

I love how passionate Elder McKinley is about his faith, but he's a perfectionist in a bad way... to the point he denies his true feelings. It's a common story, unfortunately.

Perhaps life is actually more confusing and unknowable to an adult than a child, but grown-ups have learned to deceive themselves and act as if they understand what's going on; and some are elected to high office on the basis of their ability to create this impression.