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Self Delusion Quotes

Browse 88 quotes about Self Delusion.

Self Delusion Quotes

“To me, the human move to take responsibility for the living Earth is laughable - the rhetoric of the powerless. The planet takes care of us, not we of it. Our self-inflated moral imperative to guide a wayward Earth, or heal our sick planet, is evidence of our immense capacity for self delusion. Rather, we need to protect ourselves from ourselves.”

NeedsHumansSelfCareEarthMovingResponsibilityMoralPlanetsProtectEvidenceCapacitySickTake CareGuidesHealDelusionImmenseRhetoricPowerlessTaking ResponsibilityImperativesSelf DelusionLaughable
Author:Lynn Margulis
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“Each memory was brought to life before me and within me. I could not avoid them. Neither could I rationalize, explain away. I could only re-experience with total cognizance, unprotected by pretense. Self delusion was impossible, truth exposed in this blinding light. Nothing as I thought it had been. Nothing as I hoped it had been. Only as it had been.”

SelfLightMemoriesImpossibleDelusionExposedPretenseRationalizeSelf DelusionBlinding Light
Book:What Dreams May Come: A Novel
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“What is history? Any thoughts, Webster?' 'History is the lies of the victors,' I replied, a little too quickly. 'Yes, I was rather afraid you'd say that. Well, as long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated. ... 'Finn?' '"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation." (quoting Patrick Lagrange)”

WellsLittlesLongSelfRememberLyingMemoriesCertaintyDelusionImperfectionDefeatedInadequacyQuotingDocumentationSelf Delusion
Author:Julian Barnes
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“Your cowardly self-delusions about “love” when you know as well as I do that there’s never been anything between us but contempt and distrust and a terrible sickly dependence on each other’s weakness- that’s why. That’s why I couldn’t stop laughing about the Inability to Love, and that’s why I can’t stand to let you touch me, and that’s why I’ll never again believe in anything you think, let alone anything you say”

ThinkingKnowsBelieveWellsI CanSelfLaughingTerribleWeaknessDelusionContemptDependenceDistrustInabilityCowardlyTouch MeSelf DelusionInability To Love
Author:Richard Yates
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“Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings.”

ThinkingMeanSelfFactsRealityLanguageBrainPathTerribleBuiltInfiniteDelusionObjectivityDistortionMansionsSelf Delusion
Book:The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion
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“There's always an element of self delusion among people who believe they ought to be President. There's an underestimation of your opponent and an overestimation of your own abilities. This is compatible with being rich and powerful, the idea that we were blessed by God because we deserve to be blessed.”

PeopleBelieveIdeasSelfPoliticsPresidentAbilityPowerfulRichOughtElementsDeserveBlessedOpponentsDelusionCompatibleBeing BlessedBeing RichSelf Delusion
Author:Jimmy Carter
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“I have a theory about marriage, Monsieur Boustouler. And it’s that nearly always you will know within two weeks if it’s going to work. It’s astonishing how many people remain shackled for years, decades even, in a protracted and mutual state of self-delusion and false hope when in fact they had their answer in those first two weeks.”

PeopleIfsKnowsYearsFirstsTwoSelfStatesFactsAnswersWeekTheoryDecadesDelusionMutualWorking ItGoing To WorkAstonishingTwo WeeksSelf DelusionFalse Hope
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“The great paradox of determinism and free will, which has held the attention of the wisest of philosophers and psychologists for generations, can be phrased in more biological terms as follows: If our genes are inherited, and our environment is a train of physical events set in motion before we were born, how can there be a truly independent agent within the brain? The agent itself is created by the interaction of the genes and the environment. It would appear that our freedom is only a self delusion.”

IfsSelfTermBornAttentionBrainEnvironmentGenerationsEventsEvolutionIndependentTrainPhilosopherAgentsDelusionParadoxFree WillGenesInteractionOur EnvironmentPsychologistWisestDeterminismSelf Delusion
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“If the awareness of our limitations begins to limit or to dim our value consciousness as well—as happens, for instance, in old age with regard to the values of youth—then we have already started the movement of devaluation which will end with the defamation of the world and all its values. Only a timely act of resignation can deliver us from this tendency toward self-delusion.”

IfsWorldWellsEndsSelfHappensAgeValuesConsciousnessAwarenessMovementYouthLimitsRegardOld AgeTendenciesInstanceLimitationDelusionResignationTimelySelf DelusionDefamation
Book:On Feeling, Knowing, and Valuing: Selected Writings
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“There is no self-delusion more fatal than that which makes the conscience dreamy with the anodyne of lofty sentiments, while the life is groveling and sensual”

SelfLife IsConscienceSensualDelusionSentimentsLoftyDreamyReverieSelf DelusionGroveling
Book:Among my Books: Contents: Dryden. Witchcraft. Shakespeare once more. New England two centuries ago. Lessing. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists
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“When you are filled with soul energy you become magnetic." 11 Teachings to help on the journey to Soul Realization: (1) Practive humility; (2) Give up pride and self-delusion; (3) Practice loving kindness; (4) Give up anger, hatred and vindictiveness; (5) Practice generosity; (6) Avoid greed and stealing in its different aspects; (7) Practice honesty; (8) Avoid maliciousness and exploiting lies; (9)Practice moderation; (10) Avoid excessiveness; (11) Do not allow yourself to be enslaved by your lower nature”

GivingDifferentSoulSelfHelpingLyingEnergyPracticeKindnessJourneyTeachingHonestyHumilityPrideGiving UpAspectHatredFilledGreedStealingRealizationGenerosityDelusionModerationMagneticLoving KindnessSelf DelusionVindictivenessExcessiveness
Author:Choa Kok Sui
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“An honorable human relationship- that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word "love"- is a process, delicate, violent, often terrifying to both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they can tell each other. It is important to do this because it breaks down human self-delusion and isolation. It is important to do this because in doing so we do justice to our own complexity. It is important to do this because we can count on so few people to go that hard way with us.”

PeopleWayLoveHumansPersonsTwoImportantSelfHardUseProcessJusticeLove IsBreakInvolvedViolentComplexityIsolationDelusionDelicateHonorableBreaking DownHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsHard WayRefiningSelf DelusionWords Love
Book:On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978
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“People compose the schedules they do out of the priorities they have; and someone who says otherwise is deceiving himself about what he really values. The same thing applies to money that applies to time. I make a practice of watching what people do, never what they say. Whatever is important, to anyone sane, he will make a place for it; people live out their values. Values are different in this respect from "ideals," which are typically vain and effete and thus exist mostly for the sake of promoting self-delusions.”

PeopleImportantDifferentSelfPhilosophyTimeValuesPracticeIdealsSakePrioritiesVainDelusionSaneDeceivingSchedulesPromotingSelf Delusion
Author:Kenny Smith
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