--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We live in a permanent state of bad…" description: "\"We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and following our biologi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png" --- # We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual… ![“We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and following our biological imperative to continue as a species.” quote by Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png) > “We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and following our biological imperative to continue as a species.” [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human interaction is a fragile, self‑preserving act that masks true selves to maintain sanity and species survival. **In simple terms:** We hide behind roles to stay sane and survive. Key Takeaway Recognize and question the masks we wear. Themes existentialism psychology society Mood cynical thoughtful Type critical analytical When to use this quote - therapy - team building - political discourse - family dynamics Key Concepts Self‑presentation biological drive social contract Questions to Reflect On - What masks do you wear daily? - When does self‑preservation become harmful? A Different Perspective Masks can also protect vulnerable identities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Imperatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperatives/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Representation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/representation/) ## Related quotes > [I don't think I would change anything. I think we've done a fairly good job of remaining sane and making the right decisions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washed-out/i-don-t-think-i-would-change-anything-i-think-we-ve-done-a-fairly/) [Washed Out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washed-out/) > [A permanent state of transition is man's most noble condition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-ramon-jimenez/a-permanent-state-of-transition-is-man-s-most-noble-condition/) [Juan Ramon Jimenez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-ramon-jimenez/) > [We must recognize the chief characteristic of the modern era - a permanent state of what I call violent peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-d-watkins/we-must-recognize-the-chief-characteristic-of-the-modern-era-a/) James D. Watkins > [“I'm saying that, you know, we never get to go to the beach and just, you know, let loose. Fall in love and be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/i-m-saying-that-you-know-we-never-get-to-go-to-the-beach-and-just-you/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) > [We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/we-are-by-nature-observers-and-thereby-learners-that-is-our-permanent/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If someone doesn't fight to keep you, never fight with yourself to stay. It's better to walk away with a temporary wound than to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-someone-doesn-t-fight-to-keep-you-never-fight-with-yourself-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It's easy to delete the truth when you live behind your own permanent censor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-kacvinsky/it-s-easy-to-delete-the-truth-when-you-live-behind-your-own-permanent/) [Katie Kacvinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-kacvinsky/) > [If our biological imperative is to pass our genes to the next generation, our moral imperative has to be to try, before we become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-doerr/if-our-biological-imperative-is-to-pass-our-genes-to-the-next/) [Anthony Doerr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-doerr/) > [Motherhood is more than a biological imperative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norah-vincent/motherhood-is-more-than-a-biological-imperative/) [Norah Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norah-vincent/) > [“Self-preservation is a biological imperative even in the lowest of life forms, but annoyance is a trait exclusive to the most deviant.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whiskey-britches/self-preservation-is-a-biological-imperative-even-in-the-lowest-of/) [Whiskey Britches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whiskey-britches/) > [“We’re social animals with a biological imperative to reproduce. That’s it. That’s all. Love is a neurochemical response with a shelf life long enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-coquette/we-re-social-animals-with-a-biological-imperative-to-reproduce-that-s/) [The Coquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-coquette/) > [In many cases, it's a choice. There are many, many human beings through history - millions and millions and millions - who have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-kristol/in-many-cases-it-s-a-choice-there-are-many-many-human-beings-through/) [Bill Kristol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-kristol/) > [“Nobody can really be convinced of something he or she doesn't need to believe in through some biological imperative.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/nobody-can-really-be-convinced-of-something-he-or-she-doesn-t-need-to/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafón](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [Human beings are not meant to live alone. There is a fundamental biological imperative that propels you and every organism on this planet to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-h-lipton/human-beings-are-not-meant-to-live-alone-there-is-a-fundamental/) [Bruce H. Lipton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-h-lipton/) > [I can guarantee that back in the day, if a woman was left alone and she needed to eat, she would have to hunt.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-wolfe-herd/i-can-guarantee-that-back-in-the-day-if-a-woman-was-left-alone-and/) [Whitney Wolfe Herd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-wolfe-herd/) ## More by Thomas Ligotti > [“Subsequently there ensues an epoch of complex, proliferating intrigues and conspiracies among the ranks of double agents, whose agendas become so densely intertwined that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/subsequently-there-ensues-an-epoch-of-complex-proliferating-intrigues/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The point that in the absence of birth nobody exists who can be deprived of happiness is terribly conspicuous. For optimists, this fact plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-point-that-in-the-absence-of-birth-nobody-exists-who-can-be/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The worst fear of the race yes, the world suddenly transformed into a senseless nightmare, horrible dissolution of things. Nothing compares, even oblivion is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-worst-fear-of-the-race-yes-the-world-suddenly-transformed-into-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“In supernatural horror stories, however, magical thinking is a completely different matter. Those characters contending with what seems to be the work of magic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/in-supernatural-horror-stories-however-magical-thinking-is-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“When you are alone in the wilderness, opinions or beliefs of any kind are dropped as the absurd accoutrements they are. But after being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/when-you-are-alone-in-the-wilderness-opinions-or-beliefs-of-any-kind/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“There seems to be an inborn drive in all human beings not to live in a steady emotional state, which would suggest that such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/there-seems-to-be-an-inborn-drive-in-all-human-beings-not-to-live-in/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [Nature proceeds by blunders; that is its way. It is also ours. So if we have blundered by regarding consciousness as a blunder, why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/nature-proceeds-by-blunders-that-is-its-way-it-is-also-ours-so-if-we/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The darkness of the grotesque is an immortal enigma: in all legends of the dead, in all the tales of creatures of the night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-darkness-of-the-grotesque-is-an-immortal-enigma-in-all-legends-of/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“If truth is what you seek, then the examined life will only take you on a long ride to the limits of solitude and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/if-truth-is-what-you-seek-then-the-examined-life-will-only-take-you/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The dismembered limbs of dolls and puppets are strewn about everywhere. Posters, signs, billboards, and leaflets of various sorts are scattered around like playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-dismembered-limbs-of-dolls-and-puppets-are-strewn-about/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“As I drifted along with my bodiless invisibility, I felt myself more and more becoming an empty, floating shape, seeing without being seen and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/as-i-drifted-along-with-my-bodiless-invisibility-i-felt-myself-more/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The lessons in measurement of cloacal forces. Time as a flow of sewage. The excrement of space, scatology of creation. The voiding of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-lessons-in-measurement-of-cloacal-forces-time-as-a-flow-of-sewage/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [And the worst possible thing we could know — worse than knowing of our descent from a mass of microorganisms — is that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/and-the-worst-possible-thing-we-could-know-worse-than-knowing-of-our/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“Only catatonics and coma patients can persevere in a dignified withdrawal from life’s rattle and hum. Without a “yes” in our hearts, nothing would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/only-catatonics-and-coma-patients-can-persevere-in-a-dignified/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [To be sane, he held, was either to be sedated by melancholy or activated by hysteria, two responses which were 'always and equally warranted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/to-be-sane-he-held-was-either-to-be-sedated-by-melancholy-or/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) [Explore all 187 Thomas Ligotti quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) ## More Another quotes > [I guess I've never really wanted to be anything else. I've never even thought about having another job.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/owen-farrell/i-guess-i-ve-never-really-wanted-to-be-anything-else-i-ve-never-even/) [Owen Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/owen-farrell/) > [I take the responsibility of playing another ethnicity very, very seriously, and I promise myself and those people that I will represent them with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cliff-curtis/i-take-the-responsibility-of-playing-another-ethnicity-very-very/) [Cliff Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cliff-curtis/) > [I write the way you might arrange flowers. Not every try works, but each one launches another. Every constraint, even dullness, frees up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-powers/i-write-the-way-you-might-arrange-flowers-not-every-try-works-but/) [Richard Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-powers/) > [I have to mention that Taapsee and Ayushmann are my favorite actors - or stars, whatever you call them. I love them. Our thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anubhav-sinha/i-have-to-mention-that-taapsee-and-ayushmann-are-my-favorite-actors/) [Anubhav Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anubhav-sinha/) > [When a person partners with God in delivering a miracle to another person, they have done what they were supposed to do; God can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-wilkinson/when-a-person-partners-with-god-in-delivering-a-miracle-to-another/) [Bruce Wilkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-wilkinson/) > [I went through a string of A&R men who all thought I should be doing something different. One thought I should be a dance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-moyet/i-went-through-a-string-of-a-r-men-who-all-thought-i-should-be-doing/) [Alison Moyet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-moyet/) > [New York is so serious about the creation of work. Everything is happening so fast, it feels like there's another studio, another session on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diplo/new-york-is-so-serious-about-the-creation-of-work-everything-is/) [Diplo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diplo/) > [The fact of the matter is that the Internet has brought together millions of people who trust one another for reasons that are unknown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-huh/the-fact-of-the-matter-is-that-the-internet-has-brought-together/) [Ben Huh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-huh/) > [Everything about Washington is inconsistent, because they say one thing and do another, which is what my opponent, Claire McCaskill, is very, very good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-steelman/everything-about-washington-is-inconsistent-because-they-say-one/) [Sarah Steelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-steelman/) > [In Tunisia, the so-called Yasmin revolution has led to the installation of a relatively moderate Islamic government. Whether or not that means democracy will,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-van-creveld/in-tunisia-the-so-called-yasmin-revolution-has-led-to-the/) [Martin Van Creveld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-van-creveld/) > [I refuse to be one of those artists who, 10 years from now, they're bitter about the rise and the fall of their career.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-bryan/i-refuse-to-be-one-of-those-artists-who-10-years-from-now-they-re/) [Luke Bryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-bryan/) > [One death to a man is a serious thing: a dozen neutralize one another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-francis-burton/one-death-to-a-man-is-a-serious-thing-a-dozen-neutralize-one-another/) [Richard Francis Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-francis-burton/) > [I don't know one note from another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-williams/i-don-t-know-one-note-from-another/) [Hank Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-williams/) > [I like to watch the Fox News Network. I like 'Nightline.' I like to watch 'The Sopranos,' of course. That is one of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-estrada/i-like-to-watch-the-fox-news-network-i-like-nightline-i-like-to-watch/) [Erik Estrada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-estrada/) > [When you write a book, people legitimise it by actually reading the book and so it's almost okay to write another one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-macken/when-you-write-a-book-people-legitimise-it-by-actually-reading-the/) [Eoin Macken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-macken/) Browse all 2,784 Another quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and following our biological imperative to continue as a species.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Ligotti" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-faith-a-mutual-representation-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Another" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-faith-a-mutual-representation-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bb/thomas-ligotti-2073_another_we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-fait_217876.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake…” — Thomas Ligotti", "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": "Thomas Ligotti", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We live in a permanent state...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-faith-a-mutual-representation-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-faith-a-mutual-representation-of/#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 } } ] } ```