--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Soul Toupee is that thing about…" description: "\"“The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have cunningly concealed from the world, but whic..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg" --- # The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most… ![“The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have cunningly concealed from the world, but which is, in fact, pitifully obvious to everybody who knows us.” quote by Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg) > ““The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have cunningly concealed from the world, but which is, in fact, pitifully obvious to everybody who knows us.”” [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our deepest embarrassment is obvious to others, despite attempts to hide it. **In simple terms:** Embarrassing traits are obvious to others. Key Takeaway Accept and address personal flaws. Themes self-awareness vulnerability social perception Mood introspective humorous Type psychological motivational When to use this quote - therapy sessions - team building - personal development Key Concepts psychology self‑acceptance interpersonal dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What hidden traits do you think others notice? - How can you turn embarrassment into growth? A Different Perspective Some may conceal flaws successfully. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Self deception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-deception/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) ## Related quotes > [Other people's devotions embarrassed me, perhaps because, like other people's kisses, they rarely looked genuine when viewed too closely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/other-people-s-devotions-embarrassed-me-perhaps-because-like-other/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [I am a bit sickie happy. I am prone to black clouds too, but... I am embarrassed about them. It's like: 'My diamond shoes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-colman/i-am-a-bit-sickie-happy-i-am-prone-to-black-clouds-too-but-i-am/) [Olivia Colman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-colman/) > [I would wear entirely one color: tutus, furry pants. It was totally outrageous. My family was deeply embarrassed to be seen with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hailey-gates/i-would-wear-entirely-one-color-tutus-furry-pants-it-was-totally/) [Hailey Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hailey-gates/) > [Any bit of good stand-up I've done has usually been when I've been deeply embarrassed to say the thing out loud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-amstell/any-bit-of-good-stand-up-i-ve-done-has-usually-been-when-i-ve-been/) [Simon Amstell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-amstell/) > [I've done some things I'm embarrassed about, and I like to tell people about them so that maybe they feel less embarrassed or alone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-schumer/i-ve-done-some-things-i-m-embarrassed-about-and-i-like-to-tell-people/) [Amy Schumer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-schumer/) > [If my husband cheated on me and embarrassed me like that, I will embarrass him more than he could ever imagine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-benson/if-my-husband-cheated-on-me-and-embarrassed-me-like-that-i-will/) [Anna Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-benson/) > [The best way to give assistance to those who are deeply embarrassed and to calm them down is to praise them decisively.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-best-way-to-give-assistance-to-those-who-are-deeply-embarrassed/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reese-witherspoon/i-clearly-had-one-drink-too-many-and-i-am-deeply-embarrassed-about/) [Reese Witherspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reese-witherspoon/) > [I won't wear a toupee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-coogan/i-won-t-wear-a-toupee/) [Jackie Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-coogan/) > [I'm still bald, I just wear a toupee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-alexander/i-m-still-bald-i-just-wear-a-toupee/) [Jason Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-alexander/) > [If you wear a toupee, why not let your friends try it on for a while? Come on, we're not going to hurt it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-handey/if-you-wear-a-toupee-why-not-let-your-friends-try-it-on-for-a-while/) [Jack Handey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-handey/) > [Unless I was to play an accepted character from a novel, I won't put on a toupee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-coogan/unless-i-was-to-play-an-accepted-character-from-a-novel-i-won-t-put/) [Jackie Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-coogan/) > [That sh-t look like a toupee. I get what you get in 10 years, in two days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-brown/that-sh-t-look-like-a-toupee-i-get-what-you-get-in-10-years-in-two/) [Chris Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-brown/) > [“First people lose their hair, then their vices, then their motivation. Then a toupee brings it all flowing back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bauvard/first-people-lose-their-hair-then-their-vices-then-their-motivation/) [Bauvard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bauvard/) > [I'm surprized Hitler didn't round up the toupee people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-david/i-m-surprized-hitler-didn-t-round-up-the-toupee-people/) [Larry David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-david/) ## More by Tim Kreider > [“Because the essence of creativity is fucking around; art is that which is done for the hell of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/because-the-essence-of-creativity-is-fucking-around-art-is-that-which/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“We want to be hurt, astonished, reminded we’re alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/we-want-to-be-hurt-astonished-reminded-we-re-alive/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Perhaps the reason we so often experience happiness only in hindsight, and that chasing it is such a fool’s errand, is that happiness isn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/perhaps-the-reason-we-so-often-experience-happiness-only-in-hindsight/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“The same thing that makes friendship so valuable is what makes it so tenuous: it is purely voluntary. You enter into it freely, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/the-same-thing-that-makes-friendship-so-valuable-is-what-makes-it-so/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“one of those nightmares where it’s the final exam for a course”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/one-of-those-nightmares-where-it-s-the-final-exam-for-a-course/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“It’s always a sad revelation when a good friend acquires a girlfriend or a husband and disappears. You realize that, for them, your friendship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/it-s-always-a-sad-revelation-when-a-good-friend-acquires-a-girlfriend/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“When somebody tells us something that would be disturbing or inconvenient for us to believe, we reflexively scrutinize that”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/when-somebody-tells-us-something-that-would-be-disturbing-or/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Biblical, Talmudic, or Koranic literalists remind me of children wrinkling their noses at Belon oysters and asking for more Chef Boy-E-Dee. They want the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/biblical-talmudic-or-koranic-literalists-remind-me-of-children/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“It’s easy to demonstrate how progressive and open-minded and loyal you are when it costs you nothing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/it-s-easy-to-demonstrate-how-progressive-and-open-minded-and-loyal/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Most of us liberals are so worried that we might secretly be racists that we’re convinced this means we cannot really be racists.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/most-of-us-liberals-are-so-worried-that-we-might-secretly-be-racists/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Our frantic days are really just a hedge against emptiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/our-frantic-days-are-really-just-a-hedge-against-emptiness/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“What someone’s lies reveal about them (aspirations to being an accomplished writer, fantasies of an exotic history and a cosmopolitan family) are always sadder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/what-someone-s-lies-reveal-about-them-aspirations-to-being-an/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“I've demonstrated an impressive resilience in the face of valuable life lessons, and the main thing I seem to have learned from this one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/i-ve-demonstrated-an-impressive-resilience-in-the-face-of-valuable/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Introducing these people to our friends and family is, in a way, more heedlessly exhibitionistic than posting nude photos or sex tapes of ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/introducing-these-people-to-our-friends-and-family-is-in-a-way-more/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) > [“Squandering time is a luxury of profligate youth, when the years are to us as dollars are to billionaires. Doing the same thing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/squandering-time-is-a-luxury-of-profligate-youth-when-the-years-are/) [Tim Kreider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) [Explore all 66 Tim Kreider quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/) ## More Self deception quotes > [If we can but tear the blindfold of self-deception from our eyes and loosen the gag of self-denial from our voices, we can restore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-c-sorensen/if-we-can-but-tear-the-blindfold-of-self-deception-from-our-eyes-and/) [Theodore C. Sorensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-c-sorensen/) > [“We all practice self-deception to a degree; no man can handle complete honesty without being cut at each turn. There's not enough room in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lawrence/we-all-practice-self-deception-to-a-degree-no-man-can-handle-complete/) [Mark Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lawrence/) > [The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-statesmen-will-invent-cheap-lies-putting-the-blame-upon-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Love of another is merely empty flattery and self-deception for one who cannot accept himself without pretense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-e-modesitt-jr/love-of-another-is-merely-empty-flattery-and-self-deception-for-one/) [L.E. Modesitt Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-e-modesitt-jr/) > [The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-visionary-lies-to-himself-the-liar-only-to-others/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Martel seems to point to the fact that most people are engaged in forms of self-deception or revisionist history, reworking the narrative of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-a-fitch/martel-seems-to-point-to-the-fact-that-most-people-are-engaged-in/) Melissa A. Fitch > [“Stop lying to yourself. When we deny our own truth, we deny our own potential.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-maraboli/stop-lying-to-yourself-when-we-deny-our-own-truth-we-deny-our-own/) [Steve Maraboli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-maraboli/) > [“I have never seen battles quite as terrifyingly beautiful as the ones I fight when my mind splinters and races, to swallow me into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-lyons/i-have-never-seen-battles-quite-as-terrifyingly-beautiful-as-the-ones/) [Nicole Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-lyons/) > [What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/what-destroys-us-most-effectively-is-not-a-malign-fate-but-our-own/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [I worry about anthropomorphism as a form of self-deception. (The Christian religion is an anthropomorphic account of the universe.)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-worry-about-anthropomorphism-as-a-form-of-self-deception-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/suppose-we-were-able-to-share-meanings-freely-without-a-compulsive/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [I think that there is an ongoing conspiracy in the philosophical community, an organized form of self-deception, as in a cult, to simply all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/i-think-that-there-is-an-ongoing-conspiracy-in-the-philosophical/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be, until they have learned to seek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/people-always-have-been-the-foolish-victims-of-deception-and-self/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) > [“The person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality - for this touchstone can be only oneself. Such a person interpose between himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/the-person-who-distrusts-himself-has-no-touchstone-for-reality-for/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [The English language has 112 words for deception, according to one count, each with a different shade of meaning: collusion, fakery, malingering, self-deception, confabulation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-marantz-henig/the-english-language-has-112-words-for-deception-according-to-one/) [Robin Marantz Henig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-marantz-henig/) [Browse all 246 Self deception quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-deception/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have cunningly concealed from the world, but which is, in fact, pitifully obvious to everybody who knows us.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tim Kreider" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ourselves-we-are-most-deeply/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Self deception" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ourselves-we-are-most-deeply/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/317/tim-kreider-10379_self-deception_the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ours_888360.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have…” — Tim Kreider", "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": "Tim Kreider", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-kreider/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The Soul Toupee is that thing...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ourselves-we-are-most-deeply/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-kreider/the-soul-toupee-is-that-thing-about-ourselves-we-are-most-deeply/#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 } } ] } ```