Friedrich Nietzsche - C Northcote Parkinson - Richard Dawkins - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Claud Cockburn - Benjamin Disraeli - The Falcon and the Snowman 1985 - John Pilger - Percy Bysshe Shelley - Tony Benn - Margaret Weis - Bill Watterson - Wes Bently - Frank Herbert - Oscar Wilde - Mark Twain - David Geffen - Matthew 26:34 - J Donald Walters - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Christopher Hitchens - Ernest Hemingway - D H Lawrence - Sylvia Plath - Donald Trump, the Koch Brothers, and Their War on Climate Science TV - Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel TV - Conspiracies Decoded TV - George Orwell - Panorama TV -
Faith means not wanting to know what is true. Friedrich Nietzsche
Delay is the deadliest form of denial. C Northcote Parkinson
This state of denial is extraordinary. Even when confronted by hard fact, these dowsers prefer not to face up to truth, but retain their delusion. Richard Dawkins, Enemies of Reason: Slaves to Superstition, Channel 4 2007
Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
That is the song that never ends. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, Faust
Since becoming a journalist I had often heard the advice to believe nothing until it has been officially denied. Claud Cockburn, A Discord of Trumpets p190
I never deny; I never contradict; I sometimes forget. Benjamin Disraeli, re Lord Esher’s relations with Queen Victoria
Standard program of denial recommended. The Falcon and the Snowman 1985 starring Sean Penn & Timothy Hutton & Sean Penn & Pat Hingle & Joyce van Patten & Rob Reed & Richard Dysart & David Suchet & Chris Makepeace et al, director John Schlesinger, teletext
Pilger’s Law: If It’s Been Officially Denied Then It’s Probably True. John Pilger
When a thing is said to be not worth refuting you may be sure that either it is flagrantly stupid – in which case all comment is superfluous – or it is something formidable, the very crux of the problem. Percy Bysshe Shelley
It is tempting to deny, but if you deny, you confirm what you won’t deny. Tony Benn
Hope is the denial of reality. Margaret Weis
It’s not denial – I’m just selective about the reality I accept. Bill Watterson
Never underestimate the power of denial. Wes Bently
How often it is that that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him. Frank Herbert
To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s life. It is no less than a denial of the soul. Oscar Wilde
I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. Mark Twain
I believe we’re all in denial about the people we love. David Geffen
This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Matthew 26:34
You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory. J Donald Walters
Denial helps us to pace our feelings of grief. There is a grace in denial. It is nature’s way of letting in only as much as we can handle. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
I feel that as long as you’re honest, you have the opportunity to grow. It’s when you shut down, go into denial, and try to start hiding things from yourself and others, that’s when you lock in certain behaviours and attitudes that keep you stuck. Tracy McMillan
In one way, I suppose, I have been ‘in denial’ for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. Christopher Hitchens
You notice how the denial is so often the preface to the justification. Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir
Security is when everything is settled, when nothing can happen to you; security is the denial of life. Germaine Greer
If you meet a woman in a burqa, she can’t reply to your smile. It’s a denial of identity. Jean-Francois Cope
You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
And that is how we are. By strength of will we cut off our inner intuitive knowledge from admitted consciousness. This causes a state of dread, or apprehension, which makes the blow ten times worse when it does fall. D H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
I moved in front of the medicine cabinet. If I looked in the mirror while I did it, it would be like watching somebody else, in a book or a play. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
2016 was the hottest year on record, topping a decade of increasingly warmer years: powerful storms, heatwaves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, declining ice-caps, and drought stalked the planet. Yet how did a climate change denier get elected president of the United States? Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is an expensive hoax. Donald Trump, the Koch Brothers & Their War on Climate Science, The Real News.com
Climate change deniers now inhabit the most powerful positions in the world’s most powerful government … This is largely the handiwork of two brothers – David and Charles Koch. ibid.
Greenpeace soon dubbed the brother’s apparatus – the Climate Change Denial Machine. ibid.
Koch money has gone to more than half of all senators and nearly 40% of all congressmen. ibid.
Sometime after the War a holocaust survivor dies and goes to heaven. When he gets there, God asks this man to tell a Holocaust joke. So he does. God says, That’s not funny. And the survivor says, Well I guess you had to be there. Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel, BBC 2020
I’ve never understood how the Holocaust could possibly be denied. But today, one in six people around the world believe it has been exaggerated or claim it never happened … I’m going to delve into the dark world of Holocaust denial. ibid.
The Nazis weren’t the only one manipulating truth about the Holocaust. Early in the War, the British were receiving reports of Nazi atrocities in Europe. But there was concern at the Ministry of Information – the Government Propaganda Machine – about how the public would react. ibid.
The authors of these pamphlets called themselves revisionists: self-styled maverick historians arguing against the established narrative of the Holocaust. ibid.
In her book Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt accused British historian David Irvin of being a denier … Irvin was a rabble-rouser for Holocaust denial. ibid.