Quotes about Self-deception
The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Good News means we can stop lying to ourselves. The sweet sound of amazing grace saves us from the necessity of self-deception. It keeps us from denying that though Christ was victorious, the battle with lust, greed, and pride still rages within us.
- Brennan Manning
Self-deception is the enemy of wholeness because it prevents us from seeing ourselves as we really are. It covers up our lack of growth in the Spirit of the truthful One and keeps us from coming to terms with our real personalities.
- Brennan Manning
My indwelling pharisee has devised a way to disembowel my true self, deny my humanity, and camouflage my emotions through a fraudulent mental maneuver called "spiritualizing.
- Brennan Manning
Our first task is to dispel this vague, murky feeling of discontent and to look critically at how we are living our lives. This requires honesty, courage, and trust. We must honestly unmask and courageously confront our many self-deceptive games. We must trust that our honesty and courage will lead us not to despair, but to a new heaven and a new earth.
- Henri Nouwen
Foolish people imagine that what they imagine is somewhere else. That stuff is not made in any factory but their own.
- Henry David Thoreau
If anyone can give me good reason to think that I am going astray in my thoughts or my actions, I will gladly change my ways. For I seek the truth, which has never caused harm to anyone; no, the person who is harmed is one who persists in his self-deception and ignorance. 22
- Marcus Aurelius
Let no one flatter himself of himself he is Satan. Let man take sin, which is his own, and leave righteousness with God.
- St. Augustine
An awful realization that I have been fooling myself all my life thinking there was a next thing to do to keep the show going and actually I'm just a sick clown and so is everybody else...
- Jack Kerouac
Deceit finds its way into every religion, including Christianity. In fact, deceit was at work from the very beginning. Two sorts of deceit are found in our verses: some leaders deceive the people of God (7:15—20), while some deceive themselves (7:21—23).
- Scot McKnight
The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.
- Mark Twain
There are two sorts of hypocrites: ones that are deceived with their outward morality and external religion and the others are those that are deceived with false discoveries and elevation which often cry down works, and men's own righteousness, and.
- Jonathan Edwards