Quotes About Self-deception

no one is as they seem, and most of life, apart from honest betrayal, is lies and deceit. And the day we discover we are no different is the day we no longer want to live.

The fundamental factor of self-deception is this constant desire to be something in this world and in the world hereafter.

Thus when we fondly flatter our desires, Our best conceits do prove the greatest liars.

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.

Man, the creature who knows he must die, who has dreams larger than his destiny, who is forever working a confidence trick on himself, needs an ally. Mine has been tobacco.

I tell myself lies and soon I believe them.

If you fear and you don't admit it, that's when you're lying to yourself.

A lot of my characters are people who are, in essence, lying to themselves. They present one thing, when in reality they're another thing. Maybe they're not as tough or as cool as they want to be.

A lot of the characters I play seem to be lying to themselves in some way. They maybe present themselves as confident or good at something, but in reality, it's clear that they don't know what they're talking about.

I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frighteningly is to tell myself I'm not doing it!

I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!

If the world is where we hide from ourselves, what do we do when the world is no longer accessible? We invent a false name, invent a destiny, purchase a firearm through the mail.

But idealists of course are unpredictable. They tend to be the ones who turn bitter overnight, deceived by lies they've told themselves.

We all know people who have great ideas about how to make millions of dollars, but are too lazy to get off the couch. We all know people who live in the future, and fail to take action today. There are millions of people who want to change the world, but cannot change the conditions of their own lives. And we all know people who lie, cheat, and steal, and yet lie again to themselves, believing they are people of integrity.

The root systems of these lies we tell ourselves tend to grow together. It's all connected with the belief human love is conditional. But human love isn't conditional. No love is conditional. If love is conditional, it's just some sort of manipulation masquerading as love.

even the worst men wanted to be perceived as better than they were. How else could hypocrisy have risen to such delirious levels?

We are so customed to disguise ourselves to others that, in the end, we become disguised to ourselves.

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves. — FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

men try to cheat themselves into the belief that sin is not quite so sinful as God says it is, and that they are not so bad as they really are.

Entendí que debemos mentirnos a nosotros mismos de vez en cuando, decirnos a nosotros mismos que somos capaces y fuertes, que la vida es buena y que el trabajo trae recompensas, y que después debemos intentar que nuestras mentiras se hagan realidad. Ésa es nuestra misión, nuestra salvación.

I was always a liar. But one thing I failed to realize about being a liar is that you know when you are deceiving someone else, but when you deceive yourself you believe you are telling the truth.

Freedom like charity, begins at home. No man is worthy to fight in the cause of freedom unless he has conquered his internal masters. He must learn control and discipline over the disastrous passions that would lead him to folly and ruin. He must conquer inordinate vanity and anger, self-deception, fear, and inhibition.

I am lying to myself. I am always lying to myself and I really must stop it. I am alone. My friends don't know how to talk to me or write to me any more

The worst derangement of the spirit is to believe things because we want them to be so, not because we have seen them for what they are.