Quotes about Rationalization

The voice of Satan is often hard to recognise precisely because it appears so frequently as the voice of common sense, of prudence, of reason.

We discussed the function of defense mechanisms and found that we were humbled by the power of that portion of our psyche, we began to understand that if it weren't for rationalization, sublimation, denial—all the little tricks we let ourselves perform—if instead we simply saw the world as it was, with nothing to protect us, honestly and courageously, it would break our hearts.

One of my main agenda right from the beginning has been cost rationalization, and we have done a lot of cost rationalization.

we humans have a fatal tendency to try to adjust the truth to fit our desires rather than adjusting our desires to fit the truth. But

In fact, we humans have a fatal tendency to try to adjust the truth to fit our desires rather than adjusting our desires to fit the truth.

And when people sense that something is coming around the logical corner that they will not to be so, they often just refuse to carefully follow the argument. It's as common as sin, and a large part of it too.

Denial—usually in some form of rationalization—is the primary device that humans use to deal with their own wrongness. It was the first thing out of the mouths of Adam and Eve after they sinned, and it continues up to the latest edition of the newspaper. The prophetic witness from God must throw itself against the massive weight of group and individual denial, often institutionalized and subtly built into our customary ways of speaking and interacting.

An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.

We keep on deceiving ourselves in regard to our faults, until we at last come to look upon them as virtues.

The only thing that ever consoles man for the stupid things he does is the praise he always gives himself for doing them.

Well, most of the time I do what feels right. But I admit there are times when I give in to my ego. Sometimes the rationalizations are so good that it's easy to sidestep what's right. But eventually you do always realize if you haven't been true to yourself. There's that tiny niggling but persistent voice at the back of your head that is not very easy to ignore for long.

If we rationalize our problems when He points them out, we will spend less and less time meditating because we won't want to face God in that area of our lives.