There is in human nature an unworthy propensity—a propensity which, like everything that springs from nature, must in its final purpose be conducive to the good of humanity—to conceal our real sentiments, and to give expression only to certain received opinions, which are regarded as at once safe and promotive of the common good.
 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (1791). copy citation

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Author Immanuel Kant
Source Critique of Pure Reason
Topic humanity expression
Date 1791
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by J. M. D. Meiklejohn
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm

Context

“In this case, we should have had at an earlier period a matured and profound criticism, which must have put an end to all dialectical disputes, by exposing the illusions and prejudices in which they originated. There is in human nature an unworthy propensity—a propensity which, like everything that springs from nature, must in its final purpose be conducive to the good of humanity—to conceal our real sentiments, and to give expression only to certain received opinions, which are regarded as at once safe and promotive of the common good. It is true, this tendency, not only to conceal our real sentiments, but to profess those which may gain us favour in the eyes of society, has not only civilized, but, in a certain measure, moralized us;” source