Feigned Interest Quotes

One of the cruelest things you can do to another person is pretend you care about them more than you really do.

We all appear as dunces when feigning an interest in things we care nothing about.

Being natural is one of the most irritating poses I know in people.

I don't like affectation.

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.

There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the foolish face of praise," the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease, in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved but moved, by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face, with the most disagreeable sensation.

A single moment spent in a business meeting or at a pub is more than enough to reveal the basic human truth that we are all faking it most of the time. We congratulate a rival on a triumph when actually we are choking on spite. We are cordial and attentive to crashing bores.

In India, I tried never to show enthusiasm for the things I wanted most, but instead to focus it falsely on something showy, ask the price of that and then make a disappointed face when told.