#pretense

I was utterly convinced that an intellectual could never be anything but an intellectual, was simply not capable of being anything else, that his intellectuality would, sooner or later, erode his faith or erode whatever he'd masked it with . . . For example, intellectuals like to dress themselves up as peasants . . . but it never works. The intellectual's constitution is impervious to such things - it permits only one object of worship - oneself. Generally speaking, an intellectual in the contemporary version is an exceptionally resourceful and, essentially, pitiful being. ↗

— Leonid Borodin

#intellectualism #intellectuals #posturing #pretense #faith

We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be. ↗

— Patrick Rothfuss

#pretending #pretense #danger

I didn't come from any kind of academic background, but I lived in a college town and I knew people who weren't without pretense. There was this idea in the town that if something was European it would be good. ↗

— Sarah Vowell

#any #background #college #come #european

So may the outward shows be least themselves: The world is still deceived with ornament. In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil? In religion, What damned error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? There is no vice so simple but assumes Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#falsehood #law #ornament #pretense #religion

Comics, at least in periodical form, exist almost entirely free of any pretense; the critical world of art hardly touches them, and they're 100% personal. ↗

— Chris Ware

#any #art #comics #critical #entirely

Pretense cannot sustain blind power. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#dejan-stojanovic #literature #literature-quotes #poetry #poetry-quotes

I despise the rituals of fake friendship. I wish we could just claw each other's eyes out and call it a day; instead we put on huge radiant smiles and spout compliments until our teeth hurt from the saccharine sweetness of it all. ↗

— Jody Gehrman

#fake #friends #friendship #humor #pretense

[E]verywhere I'm looking at kids, adults mostly don't seem to like them, not even the parents do. They call the kids gorgeous and so cute, they make the kids do the thing all over again so they can take a photo, but they don't want to actually play with them, they'd rather drink coffee talking to other adults. Sometimes there's a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn't even hear. ↗

— Emma Donoghue

#caring #children #cuteness #hypocrisy #kids

When you aren't sincere you need to pretend, and by pretending you end up believing yourself; that's the basic principle of every faith. ↗

— Alberto Moravia

#faith #insincerity #pretense #religion #faith

I don't like bullshit and pretense. I can't enjoy the joy at church... without some cash in my wallet. ↗

— Toba Beta

#money #pretense #money