Quotes about self-deception

How could you disguise your own thoughts so even you didn't know what you were thinking?

You are so intent that you believe only what you believe that you believe, that you remain utterly blind to what you really believe without believing that you believe it.

"It's not a matter of right and wrong," Mr. Whittier would say. Really, there is no wrong. Not in our minds. Our own reality. You can never set off to do the wrong thing. You can never say the wrong thing. In your own mind, you are always right. Every action you take--what you do or say or how you choose to appear--is automatically right the moment you act.

The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up.

Hustlers of the world, there is one Mark you cannot beat: The Mark Inside.

Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost … perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that precious little fragment as well. A portion of him turns against him and acts like another person, defeating him from inside. A man inside a man. Which is no man at all.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.

Thinking you know why you behave as you do gives you all sorts of excuses for extraordinary behavior.

How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.

If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing.

Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.

To Live signifies to believe and hope — to lie and to lie to oneself.