Brendan Gill Quotes

The vain.- We are like shop windows in which we are continually arranging, concealing or illuminating the supposed qualities other ascribe to us - in order to deceive ourselves.

No matter how unappealing, each of them imagines he is somehow worthy.

What amazes me is how far some people will go to justify their behavior to themselves, just to preserve that self-perception.

Psychologically speaking, one may say that the hypocrite is too ambitious; not only does he want to appear virtuous before others, he wants to convince himself.

Our persona was not created by accident; it was created in order to camouflage the parts of ourselves we deemed the most undesirable and to overcompensate for what we believe to be our deepest flaws. What persona are you hiding behind?

You've got to lie to stay halfway interested in yourself.

Every one at the bottom of his heart cherishes vanity; even the toad thinks himself good-looking,--"rather tawny perhaps, but look at his eye!

When we come to judge others it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world.

What we like to think of ourselves and what we really are rarely have much in common.

Once I looked into a mirror at my face I felt like it was completely convincing. I was Salieri.

Actually, in my own life I think I probably feign neuroses to be more interesting than I am.

Alcohol is necessary for a man so that he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed be the facts.

Affectation is a very good word when someone does not wish to confess to what he would none the less like to believe of himself.

I think people deceive themselves about themselves, particularly as they get older.

In reality, there are very few villains who view themselves as villains. They just have a certain agenda at a certain time.

Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing

Each community has a curious and distorted image of itself which is always flattering.

People create the sort of myths they want to believe about themselves.

Nobody sees themselves as being an evil person or doing something for a bad reason. There's always something that justifies it to themselves.

No sickness worse than imagining thyself to be perfect can afflict thy soul.

Every man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine that he possesses some qualities, superior, either in kind or degree, to those which he sees allotted to the rest of the world; and, whatever apparent disadvantages he may suffer in the comparison with others, he has some invisible distinctions, some latent reserve of excellence, which he throws into the balance, and by which he generally fancies that it is turned in his favour.

Those who suffer from an exaggerated sense of their own ability and accomplishment are continually subject to frustration, disappointment, and rage when reality intrudes and the world doesn't validate their idealized view of themselves.

If we never flattered ourselves we should have but scant pleasure.

It seems that nature, which has so wisely disposed our bodily organs with a view to our happiness, has also bestowed on us pride, to spare us the pain of being aware of our imperfections.

We have to have a version of our own story that we keep telling ourselves that allows us to get up in the morning. This version of yourself is what you sell to yourself. I think it necessarily includes ... not looking at certain things. Everybody's got some blind spot.