Quotes About Pretense

Artists and critics get together in order to take themselves in, the artists posing as the originators of astonishing breakthroughs, the critics posing as the penetrating judges of the true avant-garde.

so he refolded his smile and put it away.

And then there were those who pretended their emotions were bigger and grander than anyone else's. A little annoyance they acted out like a gigantic rage; where a smile or chuckle would do, they laughed hysterically. Either way, it was dishonest.

Keeping up the pose of indifference must have taken its own toll.

We've got girls like that in Boston, he said. Fake as her nails.

Sé lo que quieres parecer»

pues a esta curiosa criatura le gustaba mucho pretender que era dos personas a la vez.

That's what living in their world is-a big lie. An illusion where everyone looks the other way and pretends that nothing unpleasant exists at all, no goblins of the dark, no ghosts of the soul.

Beauty, grace, and charm my foot. It's a school for sadists with good tea-serving skills.

So I slap on that smile and pretend everything's okay even though it's not.

Petra turned to her. Everybody lies about who they are. Name one person here who isn't doing that and I will drop out right now! Shanti felt that snake of truth coil around her legs, threatening to squeeze. I didn't mean... No one ever does. Petra said, shoving the baton back at Shanti.

Yes, fine, I say, feeling dead inside. They don't know what they're in for at Spence, getting me, a ghost of a girl who'll nod and smile and take her tea who isn't really here.

Aww, Sheba. So you're working for Evie. Honestly, who isn't working for himself in this meshuga world? Some people just hide it better than others.

We all wear masks. And the more we have to hide, the more accomplished the veneer.

It isn't that I dislike artists, but I can't stand anyone who puts on those ponderous airs of a man of character.

Society is like a crowd in carnival costumes with everyone fearful that others will see through his disguise.

We are what we pretend to be.

The art of angling, the cruelest, the coldest and the stupidest of pretended sports.

Successfully (whatever that may mean) or unsuccessfully, we all overact the part of our favorite character in fiction.

And as I looked, it became very clear that this five-and-ten-cent ship was in some way connected with human pretensions. This suffocating interior of a dime-store ship was my own personal self; these gimcrack mobiles of tin and plastic were my personal contributions to the universe.

?ovjek može biti stalno nasmiješen i biti nitkov.

There is nothing worse than deluding yourself and trying to make yourself out to be somebody you're not--somebody you're not comfortable being.

What do the Texans say? All hat, no cattle.

Why? Why is there a crisis in literature? Because of lies and rottenness. Simplicity and sincerity have been replaced by obsfucation and pretense. Men, of course. They love to create mystery where none exists. It's the way they think.