Quotessence
Home / Topics / Self Deception Quotes

Self Deception Quotes

Browse 342 quotes about Self Deception.

Related topics

IfsPeopleLyingMenBelieveDeceivingThinkingCapacityDeceivedHas BeensKnows

Self Deception Quotes

“You bet I write disaster fiction. We have compiled a disastrous record on this planet, a record of stupidity and absurdity and self-abuse and self-aggrandizement and self-deception and pompousness and self-righteousness and cruelty and indifference beyond what any other species has demonstrated the capacity for, which is the capacity for all the above.”

WritingSelfFictionRecordsPlanetsCapacityAbuseSpeciesStupidityDisasterCrueltyDeceptionIndifferenceRighteousnessAbsurditySelf DeceptionSelf Righteousness
Author:John Irving
Create image

“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 together pretend that we knew what "first-person perspective" (or "quale" or "consciousness") means, so that we can keep our traditional debates running on forever.”

ThinkingFirstsMeanPersonsSelfRunningTogetherFormCommunityConsciousnessForeverPerspectivePhilosophicalDebateTraditionalDeceptionOrganizedConspiracyCultOngoingSelf DeceptionFirst Person
Author:Thomas Metzinger
Create image

“When virtuous mental attitudes, like mindfulness, respect, and compassion, are invoked to justify nonvirtuous acts like hunting, fishing, and eating animal products, the mental attitudes are insincere. They are self-deceptions that we create to justify habits that in our hearts we know are wrong, but to which we have become attached.”

KnowsHeartSelfAnimalAttitudeCompassionProductsHabitMindfulnessEatingBuddhistDeceptionFishingJustifyHuntingVirtuousSelf DeceptionMental AttitudeEating AnimalsInsincere
Author:Norm Phelps
Create image

“Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture.”

RealSelfAbleCultureViewsKnowledgeLearningShareRevolutionManagementDeceptionUrgesConformHypeSelf DeceptionDistortion
Book:Changing consciousness: exploring the hidden source of the social, political, and environmental crises facing our world
Create image

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

MenLoveLifeSelfTruthLyingLosesConsciousnessRespectCeaseSelf RespectHuman ExperienceSelf DeceptionRespecting OthersDisrespectBe True To YourselfLove And RespectNo RespectRespect YourselfNew Years ResolutionDon't LieRespect WomenLove RespectRespect PeopleBrothers KaramazovTrust And RespectI Don't LieLiving A LieSelf Respect In LoveLying To YourselfSelf Respect And LoveWomen Self RespectLost Respect
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
Create image

“Every one of the world's "great" religions utterly trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos. Books like the Bible and the Koran get almost every significant fact about us and our world wrong. Every scientific domain -- from cosmology to psychology to economics -- has superseded and surpassed the wisdom of Scripture. Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music.”

PeopleWorldBookSelfFactsValuesPsychologyEvidenceEconomicsHonestlyScriptureSignificantDeceptionCosmosOur WorldDomainSelf DeceptionCosmologyInsufficientImmensityPresuming
Author:Sam Harris
Create image

“Trivers, pursuing his theory of the emotions to its logical conclusion, notes that in a world of walking lie detectors the best strategy is to believe your own lies. You can’t leak your hidden intentions if you don’t think they are your intentions. According to his theory of self-deception, the conscious mind sometimes hides the truth from itself the better to hide it from others. But the truth is useful, so it should be registered somewhere in the mind, walled off from the parts that interact with other people.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldShouldMindBelieveSelfSometimesLyingEmotionTheoryWalkingTruth IsConsciousStrategyIntentionNotesConclusionDeceptionLogicalSelf DeceptionLeaksConscious Mind
Author:Steven Pinker
Create image

“The Good News means we can stop lying to ourselves. The sweet sound of amazing grace saves us from the necessity of self-deception. It keeps us from denying that though Christ was victorious, the battle with lust, greed, and pride still rages within us.”

MeanStillsSelfLyingSoundChristGraceSweetPrideBattleNewsGreedRageLustDeceptionGood NewsSelf DeceptionAmazing GraceStop Lying
Book:The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
Create image

“Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that very well-lit back alley where one keeps assignation with oneself: no winning smiles will do here, no prettily drawn lists of good intentions. One shuffles flashily but in vain through one's marked cards- the kindness done for the wrong reason, the apparent triumph which involved no real effort, the seemingly heroic act into which one had been shamed.”

WellsRealSelfReasonDoneWinningDifficultEffortKindnessInvolvedRemainsIntentionOneselfListsTricksCardsDeceptionTriumphVainHeroicLitSelf DeceptionGood IntentionsAlleysWrong ReasonsPlatitudesShuffleHeroic ActsBack Alleys
Book:Slouching towards Bethlehem
Create image

“We are all members of the same flawed species. Putting our moral vision into practice means imposing our will on others. The human lust for power and esteem, coupled with its vulnerability to self-deception and self-righteousness, makes that an invitation to a calamity, all the worse when the power is directed at a goal as quixotic as eradicating human self-interest.”

HumansMeanSelfGoalInterestMoralVisionPracticeMembersSpeciesLustEsteemDeceptionVulnerabilityRighteousnessFlawedInvitationsCalamitySelf InterestSelf DeceptionImposingSelf RighteousnessLust For PowerQuixotic
Author:Steven Pinker
Create image

“We feel lonely now and then and long for friends and think we should be quite different and happier if we found a friend of whom we might say: “He is the one.” But you, too, will begin to learn that there is much self-deception behind this longing; if we yielded too much to it, it would lead us from the road.”

IfsThinkingFeelsShouldLongDifferentSelfMightFoundBehindsToo MuchLonelyLongingDeceptionNow And ThenSelf DeceptionFeeling Lonely
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated)
Create image

“If you do have to look at polls, you should do it no more than once every few days, to get a general sense of the state of the race. I've seen the work on information overload, which makes people depressed, stressed and freezes their brains. I know that checking the polls constantly is a recipe for self-deception and anxiety.”

PeopleIfsKnowsShouldLooksSelfStatesPoliticsRaceBrainInformationAnxietyDeceptionRecipesPollsStressedSelf DeceptionFreezeOverloadInformation Overload
Author:David Brooks
Create image

“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 falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

MenWarSelfTruthPoliticalLyingNationsPeaceProcessEnjoySleepStudyConscienceBlameRefuseEvery ManGladTyrannyDeceptionConvinceTyrantsThank GodAntiwarSelf DeceptionStatesmenSoothingGrotesqueFalsityRefutationWar Propaganda
Book:The Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated Edition): Novels, Short Stories, Memoir, Travel Books, Letters, Biography, Articles & Speeches: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, Yankee in King Arthur's Court…
Create image