Both of us, me and Friedrich Nietzsche being writers, if we weren't capable of some strategic self-deception, we would have moved on to more lucrative careers long ago.

What is the most fascinating kind of self-deception to me, and a kind that isn't necessarily unhealthy, is what Friedrich Nietzsche called strategic self-deception. The kind of self-deception that you can engage in with your eyes wide open. You do it because you say, There's things that I couldn't accomplish without this kind of self-decepti

Unreflective self-deception leads people into hypocrisy and all sorts of moral failings. When you look at these people who are busy pontificating like I was a moment ago - Saint Clancy - those are the people that get into the most egregious kinds of moral problems.