Lies We Tell Ourselves Quotes

“Other people will try to decide things for you, she says. They'll try to tell you who you are. Remember, no matter what they say, you're the only who really decides.”
― Robin Talley, Lies We Tell Ourselves

“The truth only hurts when you want to believe a lie.”
― Jennifer McVey

“There are times when all the lies you have told about yourself to yourself just fall away. In your twenties, you tell yourself the lie that you are unusual, unprecedented, and interesting. You do this largely by purchasing things or stealing things. You adorn yourself with songs and clothes and borrowed ideas and poses. In your thirties, you tell yourself the lie that you are still in your twenties.”
― John Hodgman, Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches

“We are born atheist and we remain so until someone lies to us.”
― Aron Ra

“The two most common lies in our world are 'I'm fine' and 'You'll be okay'. They are said without harmful intent, and often said in an attempt to placate worries, but still they tell us it is not our place to make another person uncomfortable or to draw too much attention to ourselves. Over and over, we mindlessly repeat variations of the same two phrases as we hide within our lies and attempt to spare others from the miserable truth. I'm fine. I'm okay. You're fine. You'll be okay. Everything will be all right. We become our lies, but only on the surface. Underneath, we are not fine and they will not be okay. We all know this but we're afraid to speak it.”
― Courtney M. Privett, Faelost

“And so you see, dear reader, the death of my friend Sophie forced me to realize that the whole universe is one big concentration camp run by God -- the biggest Nazi of them all! So slavery in Virginia wasn't all that bad. And it was really God's fault anyway. Pretty good tragic insight there. Think I'll crank some Bellamy Brothers and get loaded!”
― William Styron, Sophie’s Choice

“Truth is emotional, it is based on vested interests. A lie that defends my interests is the absolute truth, but truth that goes against my survival is a pure lie. We know the objective truth, but we smear it, tarnish it and assassinate it if it speaks against our wellbeing.”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

“Like any other matter of public consumption bullshit is meant primarily to satisfy the hunger of its manufacturer, for you have to believe in your own delusion in order to make people have a share in it.”
― Lamine Pearlheart, To Life from the Shadows

“People believe things they know ain't true every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
― Walter Goodwater, The Liar of Red Valley

“The truth will only offend those who would rather defend lies.”
― Carlos Wallace

“To be human is to lie, after all. Our minds tell lies to our hearts and our hearts tell lies to our souls.”
― Kelly Barnhill, Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories

“We must kill the lies we believe before they kill our ability to live life to the full.”
― Niki Hardy, Breathe Again: How to Live Well When Life Falls Apart

“Temptation...
What would the warning label in your life say? Something like this..
"You will think this is a way to ease the loneliness you feel. You will think it will make you feel all the things you deserve to feel: beautiful, respected, noticed, appreciated for who you are, and validated as special. You will think that you are the exception in being able to handle a flirty friendship without crossing any lines and that it won't hurt anyone. You will think this is going wonderful, because it stirs up such warm feelings in those places deep inside your heart that have felt cold for so long. You will think all those warm fuzzies are good for you. But it's all a lie. You are being blinded with desire. You are being made deaf to truth. You are reaching for a forbidden fruit that looks so good on the outside but is filled with razors on the inside. You can't even take a bite without getting cut. And, worst of all, even though you are bleeding from that first bite, you'll get so enamored with it's alluring sweetness that you'll keep eating it. You will devour this sin without realizing its devouring you. Trust me, your feelings are lying to you. This won't fix your disappointments. It will only multiply them into devastations.”
― Lysa TerKeurst, It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered

“Claire continued. "There's a complexity of... looking forward to something. Being scared it doesn’t live up to your hope... like second dates... or returning to Cancun... or being in love with a stranger, hoping they never love you. It’s not that you prefer the concept or the excitement of the beginning. It’s the fear that a future with someone won’t be as nice as you hoped it would be. I would hate that, Brit. It'd crush me. It's like when you tell a person you like them—it always dips. It gets awkward. The expectation of it. I feel some things are best left at 'Hello.' Like, I write about living in a forest away from everyone, but I can’t tell if that’s the future I want or only enjoy writing about.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, The Goodbye Song

“For how long are you willing to lie to yourself about who you are? You are not one of them with an expiry date. You're not bound to time.”
― Neda Aria, Rythm of Missing Pieces

“Be careful the pretty lies you eat and
speak….for they will change you. - Kimberly McFadyen”
― Linda Greyman, Soul Works - The Minds Journal Collection

“Stop.” His hands framed her face, anchoring her, refusing to let her look
away. His eyes blazed. “Don’t believe those lies, Arabelle. Not for a
second. You are everything. Everything. Everything good, everything
bright. Everything worthwhile.”
― Roseanna M. White, On Wings of Devotion

“We allow turmoil to control us simply because we let others tell us deceiving things about ourselves, thereby getting us to believe the lies. Like spreadable margarine! This so-called spreadable stuff still tears bread to shreds, but yet I believed the writing on the package…this is probably why I have trust issues, too.”
― Cage J. Madison, The Proclamation of the Demon in I

“I desire for love to be woven so deeply into every part of me, that when he dies, I too would succumb and die of a broken heart. But a love so unadulterated and prodigious does not exist.
Fuck love, fuck beauty, and fuck Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy and every other Happily Ever After lie. Love is nothing but a morbid curiosity that will send you to your grave… alone.”
― Natasha Meyer

“You are an embarrassment, Bob. A dead hero resurrected and tried for murder is a political nightmare in an election year. Come to China with me. If you do not like it, leave and reunite with your family. Just stay out of the US.”
“Is this you talking, or Payne?”
“It is common sense. America and you are finished.”
“I just want the lies to end,” Nolan said.
“Nonsense, it is the lies that keep us going.”
― Bradley West, End of Lies

“Guilt is a control program that causes laziness, postponement, and reincarnation. Sin is a lie. The idea that a bleeding man can take away your bad behavior is a massive lie that NEEDS TO STOP.

Own your behavior. Grow up. Apologize. Apologizing is a form of dissolving “sin” and an initiation into adulthood. This is emotional intelligence.”
― Deborah Bravandt

“Why must thou torment me so? For even the face of an angel lies. Skin as sweet as honey that smells of roses. Oh! Do away with this life and let death be the cause of it. Kill me now and end my suffering! For all the glory in the world is nothing without thy breath.”
― Marilyn Velez

“Felix lied often and easily in his life. As long as it was for the right reasons, he didn’t see why he shouldn’t. Reality was the fiction that you painted it to be. Painting it the way he liked instead of falling victim to someone else’s brush just made him smarter, didn’t it?”
― K.L. Harris, Equillian's Key

“We find the truth only when are searching for it. Sometimes the truth may be right in front of our eyes, but we may not see it because that's not what we are seeking for.”
― Thobile Mazibuko

“What are humanity’s great dreams? To conquer the world? To split the atom? When Alexander spread his empire from the Mediterranean to India, we say he conquered the world, but he barely touched a quarter of it. We lie. We lie again when we say we split the atom. ‘Atom’ was supposed to be the smallest piece of matter—all we did is give that name to something we can split, knowing that there are quarks and tensors, other pieces smaller that we cannot touch, and only these deserve the title ‘atom.’ Man is more ambitious than patient. When we realize we cannot split a true atom, cannot conquer the whole Earth, we redefine the terms to fake our victory, check off our boxes and pretend the deed is done. Alexander conquered Earth, we tell ourselves, Rutherford split the atom, no need to try again. Lies.”
― Ada Palmer, Too Like the Lightning

“Sometimes you'd just forget the truth like a language you haven't spoken in for years: when you would try again in a quiet hour, you'd only stutter and falter. You would make a fool of yourself and promise you wouldn't ever try again. But over one too many drinks you would be trying, anyway, which would be when fluently you’d speak languages you wouldn’t even know when sober. The truth that sober Tom had unlearned was turning him into an alcoholic. Constantly it kept coaxing him to drink, because he couldn't get it out any other way .”
― Sima B. Moussavian, As the moon began to rust

“Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Harrow the Ninth

“The art of discernment lies in recognizing the symphony of sincerity amidst the cacophony of deception.”
― Carlos Wallace, Why Sell Lies When The Truth Is Free

“Lies were sweet. Why was the truth always so bitter?”
― Bert-Oliver Boehmer, Galacticide

“Lies may glitter momentarily, but truth shines eternally.”
― Carlos Wallace, Why Sell Lies When The Truth Is Free