#deceit

It was as though, so long as the deceit ran along quiet and monotonous, all of us let ourselves be deceived, abetting it unawares or maybe through cowardice, since all people are cowards and naturally prefer any kind of treachery because it has a bland outside. ↗

— William Faulkner

#enabling #nature

What man ever openly apologizes for slander? It is not so much a feeling of slander as it is that of a massive lie, a misdeed not only to the slandered but also to those manipulated in the process. He has made them all, every one, his enemies, thereupon he is so overwhelmed with guilt that he will deny it until his grave. ↗

— Criss Jami

#deceit #defamation #denial #enemy #feelings

MAKING THE LIE MAKE SENSE: When denial (his or ours) can no longer hold and we finally have to admit to ourselves that we’ve been lied to, we search frantically for ways to keep it from disrupting our lives. So we rationalize. We find “good reasons” to justify his lying, just as he almost always accompanies his confessions with “good reasons” for his lies. He tells us he only lied because…. We tell ourselves he only lied because…. We make excuses for him: The lying wasn’t significant/Everybody lies/He’s only human/I have no right to judge him. Allowing the lies to register in our consciousness means having to make room for any number of frightening possibilities: • He’s not the man I thought he was. • The relationship has spun out of control and I don’t know what to do • The relationship may be over. Most women will do almost anything to avoid having to face these truths. Even if we yell and scream at him when we discover that he’s lied to us, once the dust settles, most of us will opt for the comforting territory of rationalization. In fact, many of us are willing to rewire our senses, short-circuit our instincts and intelligence, and accept the seductive comfort of self-delusion. ↗

— Susan Forward

#compulsive-liars #deceit #liar #lies #pathological-liars

My mother is a firm believer in the long pause, useful in interrogations, proclamations of truth, and the occasional cutting dead of someone without their knowing it. ↗

— Suzanne Finnamore

#divorce #infidelity #interrogations #truth #infidelity

Whatever others may say, they say it to deceive and comfort themselves, not help you. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#comfort #deceit #deceive #dejan-stojanovic #literature

In the essence of truth lies deceit. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#dejan-stojanovic #essence #literature #literature-quotes #philosophy

Tragedy is restful: and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. ↗

— Jean Anouilh

#foul #hope #part #reason #restful

Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man. ↗