The man who shuts his eyes deliberately and walks toward a deep hole
into which he falls, is a fool and does not deserve sympathy or help.
But the man who deliberately deceives himself and uses false arguments
to bolster up some bad habit, or shady dealing with his fellow men, is
working dead against his conscience, and drifting down deep in the human
scale. He is an object of contempt.
You get the better of a man by some trick and say to yourself: “Oh, he
would have done the same thing to me.”
So you measure yourself by others? This is not an assertion of manhood,
it is a slavish subjection to others mentally.
When a man goes wrong, or commits a wrong act, and deceives himself into
the belief that he was right, he commits moral suicide, just the same as
if he killed himself.
There is another point of view to this question: If you could deceive
yourself and let it go at that, there might be no harm done except to
your own self-respect, but in deceiving yourself you deceive others into
the belief that you are honest and square. Whereas, you are a hypocrite.
Others will find you out very soon, and then you may as well shut up
shop, for all the business and trust you will get.
A man who is square with himself will be true to everybody else. This
makes for character, and character is all a man has on this earth; once
lost it can never be regained. You see, there are too many people on
earth to deal with. You are not the only one, and so your disappearance
will not make even a small ripple.
Be a man among other men, and be true to yourself, for so you will gain
the respect and good will of all.