Quotes About Self-deception

Self-deception is so far from impossible that it is one of the most ordinary phenomena with which we are acquainted. Nothing is more usual than for a man to impute his actions to honorable motives when it is nearly demonstrable that they flowed from some corrupt and contemptible force.

Why don't we face up to the fact that many of us in Silicon Valley are living lives that involve telling ourselves a lot of lies.

I could almost see common sense and denial fighting away at each other within her. In the end, denial won, as it so often does.

I thought if I told no one it might not be true.

Niemand kümmert sich mehr um die Wirklichkeit; alle setzen ihr Wesen in den Schein. Als Sklaven und Narren ihrer Eigenliebe leben sie dahin, nicht um zu leben, sondern um andere glauben zu machen, sie hätten gelebt.

Perhaps it's inevitable; perhaps one has to choose between being nothing at all, or impersonating what one is. That would be terrible,' he said to himself: 'it would mean that we were duped by nature.

I can kid people, including myself, into believing that something on the page will work. But when you film it, you just think, "Oh ...".

It is easy to fool yourself. It is possible to fool the people you work for. It is more difficult to fool the people you work with. But it is almost impossible to fool the people who work under you.

I live by fallacy. 'If I get enough nice Ikea furniture, I'll be a grown-up.' Then I catch myself. Or, 'If I get off by myself, away from the stress of modern life, I'll be OK.' Then I catch myself.

One day I'll do a Dorian Gray, and there will be a picture in the attic. I'll look like Helen Daniels from 'Neighbours' after her stroke.

Folks who think organised crime is a thing of the past are only kidding themselves.

We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.

People who lie to themselves about investing are the same as overweight people who blame their genes for their obesity.

Claiming that you are what you are not will obscure the strengths you do have while destroying your credibility.

The whole secret to our success is being able to con ourselves into believing that we're going to change the world because statistically we are unlikely to do it.

Liars believe their own lies.

The average person believes that they are better than the average person.

Lying is second nature to him... More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.

BARBARA: Lot of fish in the sea. Surely you can rule out the one single man in the world you're related to. IVY: I happen to love the man I'm related— BARBARA: Fuck love, what a crock of shit. People can convince themselves they love a painted rock.

I have never yet known a man admit that he was either rich or asleep.

Don't kid yourself munster

Love of Truth is one of the strongest motives for replacing what really happens by a streamlined account or, to express it in a less polite manner -- love of truth is one of the strongest motives for deceiving oneself and others.

Lying to other people is fine and usually funny, but lying to yourself is tacky.

but this loneliness exists and eats away at the best parts of us because we must use all our energy to appear happy, even though we will never be able to deceive ourselves.