Jeff Goldblum Quotes

I have a very highly developed sense of denial.

I believe that even the worst people on the planet believe that they are somehow justified in their neurosis.

I think denial's fascinating. It's a jokey word, but it really happens, and sometimes in enormous ways.

[P]erhaps you notice how the denial is so often the preface to the justification.

Rationalizing is the self-exculpation which occurs when we feel ourselves, or our group, accused of misapprehension or error.

We humans, you see, have an infinite capacity for self-rationalization.

Sometimes people need to lie to themselves most of all.

An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.

There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.

Self-justification is a treacherous servant.

Rationalization may be defined as self-deception by reasoning.

Changing ideas is a strain not to be lightly incurred, particularly when these ideas are intimately related to one’s self-esteem ... men have elaborated an explanation for their situation in life.... Their rationales are endowed with moral qualities

I'm very good at denial.

Human beings will justify anything.

The human mind has infinite capacity to rationalize, and evil characters just push that boundary a bit. Whatever they're doing, they think it makes sense to do it, and they think they have a good reason to do it. In short, they feel justified.

He would have lied to himself as facilely as an alcoholic lies to himself to justify the 10 a.m. tumbler of vodka : it may be early here, but in Baghdad it's almost evening.

In case you haven't noticed, people get hard-hearted against the people they hurt. Because they can't stand it. Literally. To think we did that to someone. I did that. So we think of all the reasons why it's okay we did whatever we did.

Every vice has its excuse ready.

If people got hit on the head by a baseball bat every week, pretty soon they would invent reasons why getting hit on the head with a baseball bat was a good thing.

We did what our people do all the time, we told ourselves something we did was right and we found a way to justify it, even though we knew it was wrong.

Research suggests that people are typically unaware of the reasons why they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one.

he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't guilty.

Rationalization is one of the real obstacles to obedience.

Denial can be a pathology or a survival mechanism - and sometimes it's both.

Guilt is often an excuse for not thinking.