Quotes About Hypocrisy

Behavior that Christians would never support in any other context suddenly becomes perfectly acceptable, even praiseworthy, simply because the state has declared that a war is under way. (That's what Voltaire meant when he said, "It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.")

Conservatism, on the other hand, is the doctrine of the oppressed majority. Conservatism does not defend some established order of things: It accuses; it rants; it points out hypocrisies and gleefully pounces on contradictions.

the people at the top know what they have to do to stay there, and in a pinch they can easily overlook the sweaty piety of the new Republican masses, the social conservatives who raise their voices in praise of Jesus but cast their votes for Caesar.

A hypocrite is in himself both the archer and the mark, in all actions shooting at his own praise or profit.

Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites.

And so the denunciations of critics who say the pessimist should kill himself or be decried as a hypocrite make every kind of sense in a world of card-carrying or crypto optimists. Once this is understood, the pessimist can spare himself from suffering more than he need at the hands of "normal people," a confederation of upstanding creatures who in concert keep the conspiracy going.

The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

What will Mrs. Grundy say? What will Mrs. Grundy think?

There were plenty of white folks like that, happy to define themselves as not-quite-as-bad-as-some, conveniently surrounding themselves with awful people in contrast to whom they looked good.

Panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstone of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might have lain forever undiscovered.

Panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered.

why do men continue to practice in themselves, the absurdities they despise in others? Thomas Paine, The rights of man: being an answer to Mr Burke's attack on the French Revolution (2nd edn, Philadelphia, 1791), p. 41.

We feel something like respect for consistency even in error. We lament the virtue that is debauched into a vice, but the vice that affects a virtue becomes the more detestable: and amongst the various assumptions of character, which hypocrisy has taught, and men have practised, there is none that raises a higher relish of disgust, than to see disappointed inveteracy twisting itself, by the most visible falsehoods, into an appearance of piety which it has no pretensions to.

It's amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.

When we profess God's name, but do not live answerably to it, we take it in vain.

Christians are condemned who profess to own God for their God and yet do not live as if he were their God.

The hypocrite is fair to look on. He has a devout eye, but a hollow heart. But he who is sincere, his inside is his best side!

The hypocrite suspects others of sin but has charitable thoughts of himself! The sincere Christian has charitable thoughts of others and suspects himself of sin.

Making the world safe for hypocrisy.

But when we humans vote for candidates to take away the other guy's benefits—'but keep your fucking hands off my Medicare'—we need to lie to ourselves. It makes us special.

America in its entirety is segregationist and is racist. It's more camouflaged in the north, but it's the same thing.

It is not fair; we live in such a hypocritical society where only film stars are supposed to dress up. It is almost like the shabbier you look, the more focused you are in your game.

Of course, it's hard to get interested in the whole idea of government. Nothing ever changes, especially people saying 'nothing ever changes,' despite the fact their kid now has a free nursery place and their aunt was forced to work despite having dementia.

It's incredibly hypocritical of Eddie to object to filming around my children, especially given how public he lives his life.