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).