James Hilton Quotes

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it. The moment we want to disbelieve anything we have previously believed we suddenly discover not only that there is a mass of evidence against it but that this evidence was starting us in the face all the time.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.

You do not need proof for what people want to believe.

The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.

The things that we want we willingly believe, and the things that we think we expect everyone else to think.

Our nature is to desperately want to believe and to take what we believe is the quickest path there even against our better judgment.

For what a man would like to be true, that he more readily believes.

What you see is evidence of what you believe.

I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it.

With most people disbelief in a thing is founded on a blind belief in some other thing.

Belief is a very peculiar thing: we tend to put more store in a belief we like than a fact we hate.

We are all very ready to believe what we like.

We believe what we want to believe, what we like to believe, what suits our prejudices and fuels our passions.

Most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices.

Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire

People just see what they want to see.

Analysis is more likely to adjust evidence than to adjust itself.

But we all recognise the primary foible of frail humanity - our propensity for embracing hope and shunning logic, our tendency to believe what we desire rather than what we observe.

People readily believe what they want to believe.

You must remember, my dear lady, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it.

The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.

With how much ease believe we what we wish!

You can only see what you believe—nothing else is possible.

Men gladly believe what they wish. -Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt

The biggest problem we have as human beings is that we confuse our beliefs with reality.