Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship,” Essays, 1841

People are very inclined to set moral standards for others. – Elizabeth Drew, The New Yorker, 1987 February 16th

Whatever you condemn, you have done yourself. – Georg Groddeck, The Book of the It, 1950

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 practiced at spare moments; it is a whole-time job. – W. Somerset Maugham