169 Quotes About Self-deception

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.

The instinct of self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at the bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them nonexistent, and a warning such as mine against cheap optimism was bound to prove particularly unwelcome at a moment when a sumptuously laid supper was awaiting for us in the next room.

I often find that people confuse inner peace with some sense of insensibility whenever something goes wrong. In such cases inner peace is a permit for destruction: The unyielding optimist will pretend that the forest is not burning either because he is too lazy or too afraid to go and put the fire out.

We are such inward secret creatures, that inwardness the most amazing thing about us, even more amazing than our reason. But we cannot just walk into the cavern and look around. Most of what we think we know about our minds is pseudo-knowledge. We are all such shocking poseurs, so good at inflating the importance of what we think we value.

Stop lying to yourself. When we deny our own truth, we deny our own potential.

There is no greater deception than self-deception and no greater misery than self-pity. Self-pity is self-destructive. Overcome the false self by discovering your true self.” —Sepideh Irvani, PsyD

Language is something you inherit, it's never just you doing the talking, which helps when you're pretending.

Beware of those who seek the Truth, because they believe there is only one and will settle for the first they find.

Man is the most irrational of beings, because his imagination is always deceiving him about reality.