Edith Wharton Quotes

Most people try to isolate themselves and pretend like things are all good when a lot of times, that's not how it is.

I often wonder which is best, to be honest about what you know in this world, or to continue to deny you know it and thereby fool yourself into believing that it does not exist!

I think the greatest illusion we have is that denial protects us. It's actually the biggest distortion and lie. In fact, staying asleep is what's killing us.

I've been living a lie all my life.

I always divide people into two groups. Those who live by what they know to be a lie, and those who live by what they believe, falsely, to be the truth.

We don’t like to face unpleasant reality. We want our leaders to tell us what we want to hear …. You cannot manipulate reality. Reality will real its ugly head

I've been pretending to be a man that I'm not my entire life. I've been pretending to be strong when I felt weak, confident when I felt insecure and tough when really I was hurting. And I can tell you right now that it is exhausting.

If someone asks you if you're all right, and you say you are, that's usually a lie.

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives not by truth but by make-believe.

the problem with knowing is that it takes away the possibility of pretending!

It’s not that I’ve been dishonest, it’s just that I loathe reality.

Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work.

We lie to one another every day, in the sweetest way, often unconsciously. We dress ourselves and compose ourselves in order to present ourselves to one another.

One of my weaknesses happens to be lying, and I could tell you that I'm never going to lie again in my life, but that would be a lie.

Some people have a difficult time facing truth and reality. They prefer to live in a make-believe world, pretending that certain things aren't happening.

We all not only could know everything. We do. We just tell ourselves we don't to make it all bearable.

Let's not pretend that all of a sudden, this is some new system.

Problems emerge and some people try to sweep them under the rug.

What lies behind appearance is usually another appearance.

What is a lie? It is to say what is real is not real. It is to deny the existence of what exists.

It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the 'fronts' people assume before one another's eyes, and the 'front' a writer puts on the face of reality.

Anyone who speaks in the name of others is always an imposter.

People don't want to hear the truth; they never do. They wanna live in some kind of fantasy.

You have to put on more faces to pretend who you are.

God knows we are subtle creatures who are more than able to use candour to avoid acknowledging our deceptions of others and ourselves.