A dull mind, once arriving at an inference that flatters a desire, is rarely able to retain the impression that the notion from which the inference started was purely problematic.
迟钝的头脑一旦得出迎合自身欲望的推论,往往便记不住:推论所依据的那个念头,本来还只是未经证实的猜想。
— George Eliot · Silas Marner · Chapter IV —