Source: Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
“Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing.”
Criterion Collection essay on Rashamon, excerpted from Something Like an Autobiography as translated by Audie E. Bock (1982) http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/196-akira-kurosawa-on-rashomon
Context: Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script portrays such human beings — the kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are. It even shows this sinful need for flattering falsehood going beyond the grave — even the character who dies cannot give up his lies when he speaks to the living through a medium. Egoism is a sin the human being carries with him from birth; it is the most difficult to redeem. This film is like a strange picture scroll that is unrolled and displayed by the ego. You say that you can’t understand this script at all, but that is because the human heart itself is impossible to understand. If you focus on the impossibility of truly understanding human psychology and read the script one more time, I think you will grasp the point of it.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embell…" by Akira Kurosawa?
Akira Kurosawa 16
Japanese film maker 1910–1998Related quotes
Something Like an Autobiography (1981)
Context: Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.
“Talk to someone about themselves and they'll listen for hours.”
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People
“Have you noticed that about journalists—all they really want to talk about is themselves.”
Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 13, “Autumn Leaves” (p. 273)
“We reproach people for talking about themselves but it is the subject they treat best.”
Anatole France
(1844–1924) French writer
On reproche aux gens de parler d’eux-mêmes. C’est pourtant le sujet qu’ils traitent le mieux.
Series I: À propos du journal des Goncourt http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/%C3%80_propos_du_%C2%AB_journal_des_Goncourt_%C2%BB
The Literary Life (1888-1892)
“Lovers never get tired of each other, because they are always talking about themselves.”
Ce qui fait que les amants et les maîtresses ne s'ennuient point d'être ensemble, c'est qu'ils parlent toujours d'eux-mêmes.
Variant translation: What makes lovers and their mistresses never weary of being together is that they are always talking about themselves.
Maxim 312.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)