Hypocrisy occurs when a person criticizes a behavior or view of the world and claims to have strong beliefs about that. But then their behavior shows that they do not actually believe what they are saying deep down, because their behavior is totally different.
Hypocrisy by definition is the word to describe when a person contradicts the religion, principles, morals, feelings and beliefs they claim to obtain with their actions, behavior and words. Hypocrisy is also defined in a simpler way, a word to describe a person that allows themself to slack where they wouldn’t other another person to slack, sort of a double standard.
A hypocrite is a person that continues to repeat their hypocritical behavior without even considering changing their ways. Hypocrites are often identified in the characteristics of being victims, in their mind they are never ever at fault, and they feel they are above everyone else so the rules of their religions, principles, morals, feelings and beliefs do not apply to them.
If a hypocrite’s hypocrisy is pointed out they tend to belittle and berate instead of being apologetic, realizing their hypocrisy or admitting any fault. Some of the most famous hypocrites are rulers, politicians, and celebrities because a hypocrite has a sense of superiority over the general population.
Hypocrisy Quotes
- “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.”–Jane Austen, Persuasion
- “Do you know who The real hypocrite is? It’s The federal government and The Justice Department. It’s a fraud; it’s a lie. They have no interest in The education of black children. They are only interested in The politics of it.”– James Meredith
- “If any foreign minister begins to defend to The death a peace conference, you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships And airplanes.”–Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader
- “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself And another to The multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be The true.”–Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline.”– Haim G. Ginott
- “Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing The magic And delicious power of reflecting The figure of man at twice its natural size.”– Virginia Woolf.
- “Hypocrisy is a condition of survival. The law of adaptation to environment, whether in The higher or lower forms of animal life, is a law dependent on flexibility. How quickly can We change? How quickly can we put away our previous selves and engender newer attitudes? Turn-coat, Volte-face, and Trimmer always survive in the struggle for existence.”–Benjamin De Casseres
- “I have been known for some time as a person who speaks The truth And speaks it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar And a hypocrite a hypocrite.”–Cindy Sheehan
- “A man can sleep around, no questions asked, but if a woman makes nineteen or twenty mistakes she’s a tramp.”–Joan Rivers
- “It is farmers who are nice to The cows and The pigs And then kill them. It’s even more hypocritical than hunters. At least The hunters don’t flatter The animals.”–Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer
- “A woman knows very well that, though a wit sends her his poems, praises her judgment, solicits her criticism, And drinks her tea, this by no means signifies that he respects her opinions, admires her understanding, or will refuse, though The rapier is denied him, to run through The body with his pen.”–Virginia Woolf, Orlando
- “Hypocrites are those who apply to others the standards that they refuse to accept for themselves.”–Noam Chomsky, philosopher.
- “It is humiliating to realize that when you drive yourself underground, when you fake who you are, often you do so for people you do not even like or respect.”–Nathaniel Branden
- “None of us can claim to be fair And square in love – And I’m definitely not a hypocrite! Humans are built to evolve with time. It depends on The nature of The relationship you share with a person. It is there today, tomorrow it may be gone; c’est la vie.”–Randeep Hooda
- “My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, And viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.”–Mary Wollstonecraft
- “A hypocrite is The kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount The stump And make a speech for conservation.”–Adlai E. Stevenson II
- “Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it.”–Charles Caleb Colton
- “Satire was evidently designed by Heaven for The purpose of unveiling hypocrites And rendering The vile ridiculous.”–Able Brewster
- “Hypocrites in The Church? Yes, And in The lodge And at The home. Don’t hunt through The Church for a hypocrite. Go home And look in The mirror. Hypocrites? Yes. See that you make The number one less.”–Billy Sunday
- “I wore black because I liked it. I still do, And wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.”–Johnny Cash
- “I think that generally one of the things that–one of The things that I sort of feel like is The meta issue in The type of political commentary that I do is that nobody really cares about hypocrisy–everybody expects hypocrisy from politicians. And so, you tell a politician they are being a hypocrite, And they say, oh, you have such a nasty tune, stop saying those rude things, because they don‘t care about The substance of it.”–Rachel Maddow
- “I don’t want to go back to the national team And play The hypocrite when some of them asked for me to be kicked out.”–Samir Nasri
- “He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.”–Sigmund Freud
- “Nothing prevents us being natural so much as The desire to appear so.”–La Rochefoucauld, French writer
- “I will speak daggers to her, but use none; My tongue And soul in this be hypocrites.”–William Shakespeare
- “We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity.”–Thomas Fuller
- “We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one which we preach, but do not practice, And another which we practice, but seldom preach.”–Bertrand Russell, British philosopher
- “When you turn your back on hypocrisy And do nothing you don’t change the hearts of others you change yours.”–Shannon L. Alder
- “Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him — or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know How many great women have had great fathers And husbands behind them.”–Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night
- “Hypocrisy is a quality found in others. I am an optimist. I believe that saying the right thing will eventually cause people to do The right thing for me.”–Bauvard
- “It is not possible to read a person at first sight. The virtues are usually covered by The veil of modesty, while The flaws wear The mask of hypocrisy.”–Jean DE La Bruyère, French writer
- “The people who make wars, The people who reduce their fellows to slavery, the people who kill And torture And tell lies in the name of their sacred causes, The really evil people in a word–these are never The publicans and The sinners. No, they’re The virtuous, respectable men, who have The finest feelings, The best brains, The noblest ideals.”–Aldous Huxley
- “For me, The key is I always have to be the same person. If someone was to hear me say something on Fox And hear me say something different on NPR, they would say, ‘The guy is a hypocrite.’ “–Juan Williams
- “I was not a hypocrite, with one real face and several false ones. I had several faces because I was young And didn’t know who I was or wanted to be.”–Milan Kundera, The Joke
- “When you aren’t sincere you need to pretend, And by pretending you end up believing yourself. That’s The basic principle of every faith.”–Alberto Moravia, Italian writer
- “When I do see a picture of myself that has been touched up too much, I do get a bit sad… it makes me look like a hypocrite. It breaks my heart. I would rather shoot a magazine And shoot my flaws, but that’s not up to me.”–Kendra Wilkinson
- “Pretension usurps The highest seats, puts on The robe of sanctity And utters aloud, to be heard of men, the prayers that The true heart breathes in silent confidence into The ear of a loving Father. Nowhere is The hypocrite a greater usurper than in The realm of religion.”–Henry F. Kletzing & Elmer L. Kletzing=
- “A hypocrite is more dangerous than a dishonest man. A dishonest man deceives And cheats, And a hypocrite betrays And swindles.”–Dr T.P.Chia
- “I care not for a man’s religion whose dog And cat are not The better for it.”–Abraham Lincoln
- “The core problem of hypocrisy is that it precludes the accurate appraisal of moral worth, privileging appearance over reality.”–Ronald C. Naso
- “I think I wear my hypocrisy on my sleeve. I would never say I’m not a complete hypocrite.”–Bo Burnham
- “It’s amazing How much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.”–Thomas Sowell
- “The hypocrite, certainly, is a secret atheist; for if he did believe there was a God, he durst not be so bold as to deceive Him to His face.” – Thomas Adams
- “When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a b*tch.” – Bette Davis
- It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation. He does not want to be holy; he only wants to seem to be holy. He is more concerned with his reputation for righteousness than about actually becoming righteous.” – Augustine
- “The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.” – John Calvin
- “I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white linen sheet. The difference between my sins and your sins is that when I sin I know I’m sinning while you have actually fallen prey to your own fabricated illusions.” – C. Joybell C.
- “The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!” – Tennessee Williams
- “Hypocrisy can plunge the mind of a man into a dark abyss, when he believes his own self-flattery instead of God’s verdict.” – John Calvin
- “It’s gotten to the point that our ability to manufacture fraud now exceeds our ability to detect it.” – Andrew Niccol
- “We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.” – Jose Emilio Pacheco, ‘Battles in the Desert Other Stories’
- “Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.” – Hannah Arendt
- “The man who is most aggressive in teaching tolerance is the most intolerant of all: he wants a world full of people too timid and ashamed to really disagree with anything.” – Criss Jami
- “A hypocrite says one thing but means something else. He pretends to do one thing but intends to do another. He is play-acting, dissembling. He is hiding his real face under a mask.” – William Hendriksen
- “Many a man who tries to talk as if he were standing on a mountain shows by what he says that he is up to his eyes in the mud.” – Billy Sunday
- “It’s better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite.” – George Harrison
- “If men’s religion prevails not to conquer and cure the wickedness of their hearts, it shall not always serve for a cloak. The day is coming when hypocrites will be stripped of their fig-leaves.” – Matthew Henry
- “Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.” – W. Somerset Maugham
- “Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.” – Shannon L. Alder
- “In many ways, the attitude of obedience is much more vital than the act, because if the attitude is right, the act will naturally follow. But the right action with the wrong attitude is nothing but hypocrisy.” – John MacArthur
- “Democracies cannot dispense with hypocrisy any more than dictatorships can with cynicism.”- Georges Bernanos
- “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” – Oscar Wilde, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’
- “Some people’s blameless lives are to blame for a good deal.” – Dorothy L Sayers
- “Of all the things in the world that stink in the nostrils of men, hypocrisy is the worst.” – C.H. Spurgeon
- “It is very noble hypocrisy not to talk of one’s self.” – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- “For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.” – Noam Chomsky, ‘Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World’
- “Everybody is a hypocrite. You can’t live on this planet without being a hypocrite.” – Paul Watson
- “Having then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently, and he lapsed ere long into an amiable indifferentism which to outward appearance differed but little from their indifferentism.” – Samuel Butler
- “It is a terribly easy matter to be a minister of the gospel and a vile hypocrite at the same time.” – C.H. Spurgeon
- “As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.” – William Hazlitt
- “A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.” – Adlai Stevenson I
- “To win the people, always cook them some savory that pleases them.” – Aristophanes
- “Because there is one hypocrite, met set down all the rest the same. I heard one man say that he did not believe there was a true Christian living, because he had found so many hypocrites. I reminded him that there could be no hypocrites if there were no genuine Christians. No one would try to forge bank notes if there were no genuine ones.” – C.H. Spurgeon
- “The best brought-up children are those who have seen their parents as they are. Hypocrisy is not the parents’ first duty.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Your hypocrisy insults my intelligence.” – Toba Beta
- “A hypocrite is a person who acts different on Sunday morning.” – Unknown
- “There is a certain satisfaction in coming down to the lowest ground of politics, for then we get rid of cant and hypocrisy.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.” – Max Stirner
- “I can’t be a hypocrite as a coach because as a player that’s what I wanted. I wanted feedback, I wanted communication from the boss. I showed up for work, you can yell at me if you want, but I want input. So that’s the kind of coach I want to be.” – Adam Oates
- “Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue.” – Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld
- “It is the mark of a hypocrite to be a Christian everywhere but home.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
- “But everybody agrees, somewhere in his heart, that there ought to be some connection between what you believe and how you behave, what you advocate for others and how you live yourself.” – Christopher Hitchens
- “And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.” – Oscar Wilde, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’
- “I feel like I would be a hypocrite not to use my platform to speak up for people who are facing oppression in this country. I did it and I still do it because I believe it’s worth letting people know that if we do this together, if we stand up together we can make change.” – Eric Reid
- “Ordinary hypocrites pretend to be doves; political and literary hypocrites pretend to be eagles. But don’t be disconcerted by their aquiline appearance. They are not eagles, but rats or dogs.”– Anton Chekhov
- “What hypocrites we seem to be whenever we talk of ourselves! Our words sound so humble, while our hearts are so proud.”– Augustus Hare
- “If Satan ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the greatest dupes he has; they serve him better than any others, and receive no wages.”– Charles Caleb Colton
- “Hypocrisy is like this: she has a face of burnished gold and an eye of pleasing crystal, but on the inside of her heart all is of lead, flat and useless.”– John Gower
- “A hypocrite despises those whom he deceives, but has no respect for himself. He would make a dupe of himself too, if he could.”– William Hazlitt
- “If it were not for the intellectual snobs who pay – in solid cash – the arts would perish with their starving practitioners. Let us thank heaven for hypocrisy.”– Aldous Huxley
- “For every man’s nature is concealed with many folds of disguise, and covered as it were with various veils. His brows, his eyes, and very often his countenance, are deceitful, and his speech is most commonly a lie.”– Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “Jesus reserved his hardest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed and legalism.”– Philip Yancey
- “Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.”– Mahatma Gandhi
- “The hypocrite who always plays one and the same part ceases at last to be a hypocrite.”– Friedrich Nietzsche
- “He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.”– William Blake
- “Kids have what I call a built-in hypocrisy antenna that comes up and blocks out what you’re saying when you’re being a hypocrite.”– Ben Carson
Summary
Hypocrites are people who will basically say one thing and then do another. It is most pronounced when they have a very very strong opinion about one thing but then do another.
The most interesting thing about us humans, we tend to think highly of ourselves highlighting our strengths and achievement, and overlooking our failures and weaknesses and this is what we call self-serving bias. When asked to rate ourselves on skills and virtues or any other desirable traits, we say we are above average even when we are not which is hypocrisy.
Although hypocrisy might bring some advantages, they are temporary, and eventually, our true character is revealed. The above hypocrisy quotes show us that there is nothing worse than pretense and should strive to stay true to ourselves. We hope you enjoyed the quotes about hypocrisy.
Some people get caught up in their own feelings, beliefs and religions that they are unaware they are being hypocrites at all. Remember that everyone has been a hypocrite at least once in their life, some people realize their hypocrisy and some people just don’t and flat out refuse to see that they’re being a hypocrite.
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