Inconsistent Behaviour Quotes

it is a melancholy truth that the behaviour of many among us might serve as the severest satire upon the [human] species. It has been a compound of inconsistency, falsehood, cowardice, selfishness and dissimulation.

Covert narcissists change their attitude depending on who they want to project their image to. My father was at work all day and my mother was showing us what a good mother she was with food, but she easily changed her behaviour to target my father, not caring at all about the inconsistency in her behaviour.

If I closely examine what is my ultimate aim, it turns out that I am not really striving to be good and to fulfil the demands of a Supreme Judgement, but rather very much the contrary: I strive to know the whole human and animal community, to recognize their basic predilections, desires, moral ideals, to reduce these to simple rules and as quickly as possible trim my behaviour to these rules in order that I may find favour in the whole world’s eyes; and, indeed (this is the inconsistency), so much favour that in the end I could openly perpetrate the iniquities within me without alienating the universal love in which I am held –the only sinner who won’t be roasted. To sum up, then, my sole concern is the human tribunal, which I wish to deceive, moreover, though without practising any actual deception.

One woman told me, ‘Well, I’d ticked “Christian” on the first page, in the sense that I suppose I’m sort of Christian as opposed to Muslim or Hindu or something, so then I thought I’d better tick God as well – otherwise I’d look a bit inconsistent.’ Others are clearly not so concerned about consistency, as surveys regularly show that up to 15 per cent of those identifying themselves as Christian freely admit that they do not believe in God. This may seem utterly bizarre, but Alan Bennett wasn’t joking: in the C of E, belief in God is optional, and even raising the issue of belief would be in poor taste. Over half of those who tick ‘Christian’ do not believe in Christ .

The empire of Christ is not of this world: it is not a temporal, but a Spiritual kingdom. Our Lord, therefore, is a spiritual sovereign; whose dominion extends to the mind, conscience, and heart, no less than to the external behaviour. Consequently, all the subjects of his government must have spiritual dispositions, and yield spiritual obedience proceeding from an enlightened understanding, an awakened conscience, and a renewed heart. For, as is the sovereign, such are the subjects, and such the allegiance required. A spiritual Sovereign, and subjects yielding an obedience merely external, are manifestly inconsistent.

Micromanaged consistency breeds inconsistency because teachers resent the control and limitation.

Despite getting the student’s agreement and collective efforts, the underachievement reversal process may have no guaranteed success. Inconsistencies, such as a lack of belief in progress or conflicting interests, may hinder the underachievement reversal. Regular assessment and attention to behavioural changes are vital for addressing these challenges and refining the reversal strategy.

I would have said that I believed the women who came forward, because their stories sounded so similar to my own; his behaviour and petulance and self-involvement sounded so familiar. I believe those women because the erratic way they behaved later, the inconsistencies in their stories, the gaps in their memories, all reminded me of my own behaviour, my own memory. For me, those inconsistencies were as much evidence that they were victims of sexual assault as it was for others that they hadn’t been. As I write this now, years later, I think of the advice that lawyer Chris Murphy gave to me long ago. “Say everything. Tell the embarrassing parts. Tell the truth.” I don’t think it’s that easy to access the truth, or to remember to say everything, but I’m trying now.

In Blaming Mode, you might say, “We broke up because I was angry with him for letting me down and not turning up. Maybe if I hadn’t been so upset, we’d still be together.” In Accountability Mode, you’d instead say, “We did break up when I expressed how upset I was about him disappointing me by failing to turn up, however, it was a culmination of repeated poor behaviour. The truth is, if I’m willing to be with someone who hasn’t actually properly left his wife, is inconsistent, disappears, calls me ‘needy’, and continuously devalues me with his behaviour, I’m contributing by setting the status quo and accepting it. I need to look at why I’m willing to accept this behaviour and the first thing I recognise is that I end up in relationships like this because I don’t believe I’m good enough.” That, ladies, is acknowledgement and accountability.

If we don’t address the language we use by default then we risk the greatest inconsistency of all: managing poor behaviour with improvised responses.

Deviating from the script. Although at first it will seem natural to individualise the script or skip it altogether – ‘You know what I am going to say, right?’ – this won’t end well. You will quickly find yourself back to improvising and the children will know that you are not really serious about using the script. They will return to default mode and start to exploit your inconsistency.

My relationship with my sister had become so complicated by then that we only ever spoke on the phone. As for Sheena, even phone conversations had become challenging to the point where I’d pretend to miss her calls. The problem in both cases was the same: my own inconsistency. Due to my litany of complaints about Ant’s behaviour, they’d individually come to realise that he wasn’t the nicest person. But as they’d ceased, one after the other, telling me to stop whingeing and begun, instead, to encourage me to leave him, I’d found myself rather perversely defending him. A point had been reached where no matter how Kerry or Sheena reacted to whatever I’d just told them about Ant, good or bad, I’d find myself telling them they were wrong