--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is only one real sin and that is to…" description: "\"There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.\" — Doris Lessing" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png" --- # There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself… ![“There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.” quote by Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png) > “There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.” [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The only true wrongdoing is convincing yourself that an inferior option is actually superior, denying reality. **In simple terms:** Self‑deception about quality is the real sin. Key Takeaway Honest appraisal prevents moral error. Themes self‑deception integrity valuation truth Mood critical thoughtful Type ethical reflective When to use this quote - making investment decisions - choosing a career path - evaluating relationships Key Concepts cognitive bias ethical self‑assessment Practical Applications - apply objective criteria - seek external feedback Questions to Reflect On - What mechanisms help you recognize self‑deception? - When is it acceptable to settle for a lesser option? A Different Perspective Sometimes accepting a second‑best option is pragmatic when the best is unattainable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Oneself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oneself/) [Oneself Second](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oneself-second-404553/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Real Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-sin-404552/) [Second](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/second/) [Second best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/second-best/) [Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin/) [Sin Persuade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin-persuade-404554/) ## Related quotes > [The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-real-sin-against-life-is-to-abuse-and-destroy-beauty-even-one-s-2/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [...the essential intention is the real sin. A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-essential-intention-is-the-real-sin-a-man-who-cannot-choose/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [“Follow Christ for His own sake, if you follow Him at all. Be thorough, be real, be honest, be sound, be whole-hearted. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-ryle-2/follow-christ-for-his-own-sake-if-you-follow-him-at-all-be-thorough/) [J.C. Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-ryle-2/) > [I believe the real sin is when we hurt one another with violence, rape and molestation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amyd/i-believe-the-real-sin-is-when-we-hurt-one-another-with-violence-rape/) [AmyD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amyd/) > [Being real must be a sin, because I keep getting punished for keeping it real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-real-must-be-a-sin-because-i-keep-getting-punished-for-keeping/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“there is only one real sin: being different. i'll be damned.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darnell-lamont-walker/there-is-only-one-real-sin-being-different-i-ll-be-damned/) [Darnell Lamont Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darnell-lamont-walker/) > [A sedentary life is the real sin against the Holy Spirit. Only those thoughts that come by walking have any value.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/a-sedentary-life-is-the-real-sin-against-the-holy-spirit-only-those/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's own even more, one's own, for that has been put in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-real-sin-against-life-is-to-abuse-and-destroy-beauty-even-one-s/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [The real sin of idolatry is always committed on behalf of something similar to the State.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/the-real-sin-of-idolatry-is-always-committed-on-behalf-of-something/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“The sedentary life...is the real sin against the holy spirit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-sedentary-life-is-the-real-sin-against-the-holy-spirit/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [When I do something, I don't want to be second best. That's the right way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-cabrera/when-i-do-something-i-don-t-want-to-be-second-best-that-s-the-right/) [Miguel Cabrera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-cabrera/) > [Be Yourself. You can only be the second-best somebody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darren-richardson/be-yourself-you-can-only-be-the-second-best-somebody-else/) [Darren Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darren-richardson/) > [Never settle for second best. Always look after number one, you can't expect to be someone else's priority if you aren't your own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-moores/never-settle-for-second-best-always-look-after-number-one-you-can-t/) [Sarah Moores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-moores/) > [They're the second best team in the world, and there's no higher praise than that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-keegan/they-re-the-second-best-team-in-the-world-and-there-s-no-higher/) [Kevin Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-keegan/) > [“You can't live life being second best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-trimble-performed-by-two-door-cinema-club/you-can-t-live-life-being-second-best/) [Alex Trimble performed by Two Door Cinema Club](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-trimble-performed-by-two-door-cinema-club/) ## More by Doris Lessing > [Some books are not read in the right way because they have skipped a stage of opinion, assume a crystallization of information in society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/some-books-are-not-read-in-the-right-way-because-they-have-skipped-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“In the morning, when she wishes me to wake, she crouches on my chest, and pats my face with her paw. Or, if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/in-the-morning-when-she-wishes-me-to-wake-she-crouches-on-my-chest/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [You know, whenever women make imaginary female kingdoms in literature, they are always very permissive, to use the jargon word, and easy and generous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/you-know-whenever-women-make-imaginary-female-kingdoms-in-literature/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“She was using the water as she had used the fruit earlier—to calm herself, to assure herself of the possibility of normality. Yet all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/she-was-using-the-water-as-she-had-used-the-fruit-earlier-to-calm/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I remember World War II when there were very few books, very little paper available. For me to walk into a shop or look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-remember-world-war-ii-when-there-were-very-few-books-very-little/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/they-can-t-give-a-nobel-to-someone-who-s-dead-so-i-think-they-were/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“While she strode rapidly through the ward to the door at the other end, she was able to see that every bed or cot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/while-she-strode-rapidly-through-the-ward-to-the-door-at-the-other/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-do-not-think-that-marriage-is-one-of-my-talents-i-ve-been-much/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [I haven't got the energy to write now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-haven-t-got-the-energy-to-write-now/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [What really fascinates me is this need that is so strong now that if you read a work of the imagination you instantly have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/what-really-fascinates-me-is-this-need-that-is-so-strong-now-that-if/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“The charge that the United Nations are using bacteriological warfare in Korea cannot be dismissed merely because it would be insane.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/the-charge-that-the-united-nations-are-using-bacteriological-warfare/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [What I did have, which others perhaps didn't, was a capacity for sticking at it, which really is the point, not the talent at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/what-i-did-have-which-others-perhaps-didn-t-was-a-capacity-for/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [The human community is evolving... . We can survive anything you care to mention. We are supremely equipped to survive, to adapt and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/the-human-community-is-evolving-we-can-survive-anything-you-care-to/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [So love is rest? The cosy corner? The little nook? Sometimes it ought to be. Sometimes it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/so-love-is-rest-the-cosy-corner-the-little-nook-sometimes-it-ought-to/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [Living in a small town anywhere means preserving one's self behind a mask.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/living-in-a-small-town-anywhere-means-preserving-one-s-self-behind-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) [Explore all 508 Doris Lessing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) ## More Oneself quotes > [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) > [One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by sadness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-must-not-let-oneself-be-overwhelmed-by-sadness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/i-believe-that-one-defines-oneself-by-reinvention/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-roosevelt/my-experience-has-been-that-work-is-almost-the-best-way-to-pull/) [Eleanor Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-roosevelt/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [ The self is defined psychologically as the psychic totality of the individual. Anything that a \[person\] postulates as being a greater totality than \[oneself\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/the-self-is-defined-psychologically-as-the-psychic-totality-of-the/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [One should identify oneself with the universe itself. Everything that is less than the universe is subjected to suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/one-should-identify-oneself-with-the-universe-itself-everything-that/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [But if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/but-if-you-will-recall-the-history-of-our-civil-troubles-you-will-see/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [One's own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one's Maker and no one else's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-s-own-religion-is-after-all-a-matter-between-oneself-and-one-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takuan-soho/consider-the-core-of-the-mind-to-be-a-wagon-with-will-power-to-be/) [Takuan Soho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takuan-soho/) > [Poems come from ordinary experiences and objects, I think. Out of memory - a dress I lent my daughter on her way back to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/poems-come-from-ordinary-experiences-and-objects-i-think-out-of/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [To write is to make oneself the echo of what cannot cease speaking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/to-write-is-to-make-oneself-the-echo-of-what-cannot-cease-speaking/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or unpopularity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/how-one-hates-to-think-of-oneself-as-alone-how-one-avoids-it-it-seems/) [Anne Morrow Lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [Thinking of the future, establishing aims for oneself, having preferences-all this presupposes a belief in freedom, even if one occasionally ascertains that one doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/thinking-of-the-future-establishing-aims-for-oneself-having/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) [Browse all 2,178 Oneself quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oneself/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Doris Lessing" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-to-persuade-oneself-that-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Oneself" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-to-persuade-oneself-that-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/doris-lessing-501_oneself_there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-t_23492.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is only one real sin and that is to persuade oneself that the second best is anything but second best.” — Doris Lessing", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Doris Lessing", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is only one real sin...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-to-persuade-oneself-that-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/there-is-only-one-real-sin-and-that-is-to-persuade-oneself-that-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```