We pretend to be whatever we must in order to survive.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People adopt false personas or masks to ensure their survival in difficult situations.
- In plain terms
- We change who we seem to be just to stay alive.
- What can you take from it?
- Survival sometimes requires hiding your true self.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do you feel you must pretend?
- Is hiding your self worth the cost?
Another view
Constant pretending can lead to losing one's true identity.
More from Orson Scott Card
How do they manage it, these humans - beginning each time so innocently, yet always sending up with the most blood on their hands?
Permalink to quote #166 Don't call the speaker of truth a liar.
Permalink to quote #168 I really don't fear death. I never knew that.
Permalink to quote #165
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