“He had leaped into the embrace of self-delusion.
There was a lot of that going around.”
Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 76, “The Taglian Territories: Another Origin Story” (p. 609)
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Glen Cook 205
American fiction writer 1944Related quotes
“The brain is very good at self-delusion.”
Talks at Google (Oct 28, 2014)
2016, Los Angeles 2024 Summer Olympics bid
Context: Please don’t doubt us. America’s diversity is our greatest strength. Diversity is not easy. Diversity is a leap of faith that embraces all faiths. And that’s why I believe L. A. is a perfect choice for the 2024 Games, because the face of our city reflects the face of the Olympic Movement itself.
“That's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion.”
Source: The Final Empire
“I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.”
Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Source: Corridors (1982), p. 145 in The Nebula Awards 18 edited by Robert Silverberg
The Golden Man (1954)
Context: The chamber was an inferno of energy. The figure had completely disappeared. Wisdom waited a moment, then nodded to the technicians operating the cube. They touched guide buttons and the muzzles slowed and died. Some sank back into the cube. All became silent. The works of the cube ceased humming.
Cris Johnson was still alive. He emerged from the settling clouds of ash, blackened and singed. But unhurt. He had avoided each beam. He had weaved between them and among them as they came, a dancer leaping over glittering sword-points of pink fire. He had survived.
Source: Dimension of Miracles (1968), Chapter 4 (p. 31)
Speech to the House of Commons (8 June 1982) http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/60882a.htm
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)
Context: From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.... If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.... Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.