Rene Girard Quotes

People will justify whatever for a good cause.

One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.

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.

People who lie, particularly those who lie really big, can't do it effectively unless they feel that there's a righteous power behind what they're doing. You're entitled to lie because the end justifies the means.

Humanity never met a dictator or demagogue who said, “I’m a bad person. I want to do bad things.” The worst among us always feel justified.

Everyone's constantly scrambling around trying to justify their own cruel behavior, trying to come up with psychological tricks to make themselves not feel bad.

Having a scapegoat means not knowing that we have one.

Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.

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.

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

One of the less attractive aspects of human nature is our tendency to hate the people we haven't treated very well; it's much easier than accepting guilt. If we can convince ourselves that the people we betrayed or enslaved were subhuman monsters in the first place, then our guilt isn't nearly so black as we secretly know that it is. Humans are very, very good at shifting blame and avoiding guilt.

Start making excuses and there's no end to it. I can't live that kind of life.

Excuses sound best to the person that's making 'em up!

I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards.

Let them say what they say. The truth is, I did not engage in corruption.

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.

To say 'I quit' brings a lot of criticism, but to get disqualified and say the ref was unfair and harsh, in denial - fans will jump on that.

Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends.

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.

Every vice has its excuse ready.

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.

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

So don't blame me for the problems. You can't fault me for it. You can't blame me. You want to blame me but I'm just trying to express what is going on, and trying to keep America open to it.

I did nothing. The Word did it all.

There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular one is Providence.