Demosthenes Quotes

With how much ease believe we what we wish!

A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.

False beliefs can be every bit as consoling as true ones, right up until the moment of disillusionment.

Men gladly believe what they wish. -Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt

It's the easiest thing in the world for a man to deceive himself.

Things we wish to be true are apt to gain too ready credit with us.

Of all forms of deception self-deception is the most deadly, and of all deceived persons the self-deceived are the least likely to discover the fraud.

What we wish, that we readily believe.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, since what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.

We have a never sated appetite for self deception.

One theme we look at is what psychologists call motivated reasoning; lay people refer to it as self-deception, wishful thinking or rationalization. The list of creative ways people have for reaching conclusions they wish to reach and dismissing conclusions they find threatening is amazing. We've shown that it goes down even to the level of visual perception: You literally see what you want to see.

You must remember, my dear lady, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit.

He thinks he believes only what he sees, but he is much better at believing than at seeing.

Man's ability to delude himself is infinite.

The greater your powers of self-delusion, the greater will be the apparent efficacy of this untruth.

It is in the ability to deceive oneself that the greatest talent is shown.

I'm really interested in self-deception. Really interested in how people live in bubble universes. How people can fail to see the seemingly obvious.

If you can delude yourself by believing that there is some kind of Santa Claus out there who is going to bail you out in the end, then it will help you get through. Even if you are proven wrong in the end, you would have had a better life than a non-believer.

Belief is a deception you play upon yourself.

You can fool yourself, you know. You'd think it's impossible, but it turns out it's the easiest thing of all.

We are eager to believe that others are flawed because we are eager to believe in what we wish for.

We falsely interpret the world around us. We ignore evidence that doesn't support our prior beliefs and we convince ourselves we know things we don. We think we know things we don't know.

The human capacity for self-delusion is boundless, and the effects of belief are overpowering.