Self Deception Quotes - Page 6

• Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution. He devises paradise fictions to provide succor and support... In acts of supreme self-deception, at various times and in various places he has been willing to profess belief in the most incredible myths because of what they have promised him.

  Paul Kurtz

  Religious, Self, Support

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• 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.

  Steven Pinker

  Lying, Believe, Thinking

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• Ultimately the body will rebel. Even if it can be temporarily pacified with the help of drugs, cigarettes or medicine, it usually has the last word because it is quicker to see through self-deception than the mind. We may ignore or deride the messages of the body, but its rebellion demands to be heeded because its language is the authentic expression of our true selves and of the strength of our vitality.

  Alice Miller

  Philosophy, Self, Expression

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• 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.

  Steven Pinker

  Mean, Self, Practice

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• If the defeated and depressed group of disciples overnight could change into a victorious movement of faith, based only on autosuggestion or self-deception-without a fundamental faith experience-then this would be a much greater miracle than the resurrection itself.

  Pinchas Lapide

  Self, Miracle, Deception

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• Self-deception is a defining part of our human nature. By recognizing its various forms in ourselves and reflecting upon them, we may be able to disarm them and even, in some cases, to employ and enjoy them. This self-knowledge opens up a whole new world before us, rich in beauty and subtlety, and frees us not only to take the best out of it, but also to give it back the best of ourselves, and, in so doing, to fulfil our potential as human beings. I don't really think it's a choice.

  Neel Burton

  Thinking, Self, Reflecting Upon

  FaceBook post by Neel Burton from Mar 05, 2013

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• 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.

  Sam Harris

  Book, Our World, Self

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• If I had had to write only about imaginary people, I would have had to close up my typewriter. I wrote about my life in less and less disguise as I grew older, and finally with no disguise - except the disguise we create for ourselves, which is self-deception.

  William Maxwell

  Writing, Typewriters, Self

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• I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.

  S. E. Hinton

  Truth, Lying, Believe

  S. E. Hinton (2012). “That Was Then, This Is Now”, p.104, Penguin

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• In all of history, we have found just one cure for error—a partial antidote against making and repeating grand, foolish mistakes, a remedy against self-deception. That antidote is criticism.

  David Brin

  Mistake, Errors, Self

  David Brin (1999). “The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us To Choose Between Privacy And Freedom?”, p.10, Basic Books

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• The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Respect, Lying, Men

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2013). “The Greatest Works of Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment + The Brother's Karamazov + The Idiot + Notes from Underground + The Gambler + Demons (The Possessed / The Devils)”, p.582, e-artnow

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• The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is being attacked, and every man will be glad of these conscience-soothing falsities

  Mark Twain

  War, Lying, Men

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• The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.

  John Ruskin

  Lying, Essence, Political

  John Ruskin (1910*). “The Complete Works of John Ruskin”

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• A deception that elevates us is dearer than a host of low truths.

  Alexander Pushkin

  Deception, Host, Lows

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• A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

  Saul Bellow

  Inspirational, Freedom, Fear

  Saul Bellow (2016). “To Jerusalem and Back”, p.100, Odyssey Editions

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