Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet

Essay (1860), “Illusions,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 9
    (Source)

Based on a course of lectures by that name first delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03).