I'm really interested in self-deception. Really interested in how people live in bubble universes. How people can fail to see the seemingly… — Errol Morris Copy Share Image
“Self-deception is an indispensable element of war, and that despite the fact that wars are calculated and planned, there is a sense… — David Livingstone Smith Copy Share Image
A "just war" is hospitable to every self-deception on the part of those waging it, none more than the certainty of virtue,… — Alexander Cockburn Copy Share Image
Lack of understanding, along with outright anti-Christian prejudice, leads to journalistic amazement or horror at the supposed self-deception of those who do… — Marvin Olasky Copy Share Image
What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best… — George Eliot Copy Share Image
“Death is a great leveler, time brings all luxuries of life to an end. All feelings of superiority in man as only… — Shahzeb Afzal Copy Share Image
I worry about anthropomorphism as a form of self-deception. (The Christian religion is an anthropomorphic account of the universe.) — Anonymous Copy Share Image
“No prize , however great can justify an ounce of self deception or a small departure of the ugly facts. ( Notes from Underground)” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky Copy Share Image
“Raging crime, class warfare, invasive immigrants, light morals, public misbehavior. Always we convince ourselves that the parade of unwelcome and despised is… — Anna Quindlen Copy Share Image
If I had had to write only about imaginary people, I would have had to close up my typewriter. I wrote about… — William Maxwell Copy Share Image
Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
It is probably true that almost all atheists stand for the values of reason and freethought. I will attempt to put these… — Richard Carrier Copy Share Image
“In other words, it requires deliberate self-deception, including a constant effort to repress or block out unpleasant possibilities and 'negative' thoughts. The… — Barbara Ehrenreich Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the strangest thing about this illusion of control is not that it happens but that it seems to confer many of… — Daniel Gilbert Copy Share Image
“We all practice self-deception to a degree; no man can handle complete honesty without being cut at each turn. There's not enough… — Mark Lawrence Copy Share Image
“Willpower: "This virtue, like moste virtues, is ambiguity itself. People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny… — James Baldwin Copy Share Image
“Lie detectors (should it prove feasible to make ones that are reliable and easy to use) could reduce the scope for deception… — Nick Bostrom Copy Share Image
“If our subject persuades himself to believe contrary to the evidence in order to evade , somehow, the unpleasant truth to which… — Herbert Fingarette Copy Share Image
“why we repeatedly convince ourselves that we've overcome impulsiveness and can stop avoiding our worst temptations.1 This particular tendency toward self-deception is… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
I know how ingratitude burns, how falsehood tortures, for I have been deceived in friendship and in love; I have learned to… — Franz Grillparzer Copy Share Image
“As time moves on the line will blur. It will no longer seem to be the simplicity of good versus evil, but… — Criss Jami Copy Share Image
People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
To benefit by others' killing and to delude oneself into the belief that one is being very religions and nonviolent is sheer… — Mahatma Gandhi Copy Share Image
In all of history, we have found just one cure for error—a partial antidote against making and repeating grand, foolish mistakes, a… — David Brin Copy Share Image
If we can but tear the blindfold of self-deception from our eyes and loosen the gag of self-denial from our voices, we… — Theodore C. Sorensen Copy Share Image
Our myths are so many, our vision so dim, our self-deception so deep and our smugness so gross that scarcely any way… — Nelson Algren Copy Share Image
“Self-esteem isn’t a crime. Self-love isn’t something to be earned. Most importantly, loving your fat body as it is is not delusional… — Jes Baker Copy Share Image
Of all forms of deception self-deception is the most deadly, and of all deceived persons the self-deceived are the least likely to… — Aiden Wilson Tozer Copy Share Image
The Good News means we can stop lying to ourselves. The sweet sound of amazing grace saves us from the necessity of… — Brennan Manning Copy Share Image
“It lies in humanity's infinite capacity for self-deception where some perceived (and in this case long-desired) advantage is at stake” — Antonia Fraser Copy Share Image
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I… — Marcus Aurelius Copy Share Image
It is one of the dangerous self-deceptions of our society to pretend that mechanisms of control do not really exist, and to… — Robert Heilbroner Copy Share Image
What is the most fascinating kind of self-deception to me, and a kind that isn't necessarily unhealthy, is what Friedrich Nietzsche called… — Clancy Martin Copy Share Image
“If he must curse Weissmann, then he must also curse himself. Weissmann's cruelty was no less resourceful than Pökler's own engineering skill,… — Thomas Pynchon Copy Share Image
It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will;… — Friedrich Nietzsche Copy Share Image
That's the old AA maxim, "Always have a drink in your hand and you'll never want a drink." That's one of the… — Clancy Martin Copy Share Image
Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution.… — Paul Kurtz Copy Share Image
We are all members of the same flawed species. Putting our moral vision into practice means imposing our will on others. The… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“No man engaged in a work he does not like can preserve many saving illusions about himself. The distaste, the absence of… — Joseph Conrad Copy Share Image
First, what does truth require? It requires us to face the facts as they are, not to involve ourselves in self-deception; to… — John F. Kennedy Copy Share Image
