The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.

I play the fool, Pyotr Alexandrovitch, to make myself agreeable. Though I really don’t know myself, sometimes, what I do it for.

to escape the lot of those who have lived their whole life without finding their true selves in themselves.

One option is taking action only inside their head, in fantasy, where no one else can know about it or punish them for it.