Stefan Zweig Quotes

Rationalization may be defined as self-deception by reasoning.

The ingenuity of self-deception is inexhaustible.

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.

The human mind has an infinite capacity for self-deception.

Our capacity for self-deception has no known limits

I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.

I do think that sometimes you can invent more palatable or digestible reasons versions or reasons, when perhaps you don't want to admit the truth to yourself, and sometimes we deceive ourselves - along with others - about our reasons and motives.

Realize that the surface personality has no interest in anything which might disturb its darling delusions.

We know how often in our lives through laziness and cowardice we give up the battle and try to hypnotise our minds into the belief that we are brave.

Self-deception is sometimes as necessary a tool as a crowbar.

Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it.

The most common sort of lie is the one uttered to one's self.

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

If you're going to maintain any kind of self-respect, you're going to have to keep secrets from yourself.

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm somebody else!

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

We're all human beings, but some of us are more sophisticated at covering our flaws. We're just smart enough to lie to ourselves that everything is OK.

For us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other and especially to ourselves. The lies are necessary because, without them, many deplorable acts would become impossibilities.

Self-justification is a treacherous servant.

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

In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant. One motto on the show is, 'Keep your facts, I'm going with the truth.'

Politicians: Some are ignorant; some are not ignorant, but those who are ignorant don't want to know. The psychologists call it denial.

We have a never sated appetite for self deception.

Cultists do not want to admit they have been manipulated by charisma. Nigerian money scheme victims do not want to accept that they had been swindled. To accept those realities is to accept their own faults. Denial of our own weaknesses is something we all suffer from time to time.

I'm very good at denial.