Justify

Famous quotes containing the word justify:

    In the small circle of pain within the skull
    You still shall tramp and tread one endless round
    Of thought, to justify your action to yourselves,
    Weaving a fiction which unravels as you weave,
    Pacing forever in the hell of make-believe
    Which never is belief: this is your fate on earth
    And we must think no further of you.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    Most bad books get that way because their authors are engaged in trying to justify themselves. If a vain author is an alcoholic, then the most sympathetically portrayed character in his book will be an alcoholic. This sort of thing is very boring for outsiders.
    Stephen Vizinczey (b. 1933)

    It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.
    Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)