deceptive appearances

Sometimes we use inspirational quotes because they sound good, and they carry a certain weight because of who said them and how they sound, but they don't necessarily prove what we think they do. 

My absolute favorite example of this is something that John Milton wrote: "The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven." 

It makes a lot of sense and people quote it as an expression of wisdom on the part of John Milton. I've seen it used in psychology books to convey the idea that, if we work on our thinking, we can really transform our world. 

That's true, but there's a huge problem with attributing this quote to John Milton. Yes, it's a quote from his masterpiece, Paradise Lost, but the character that makes this statement is Satan. Satan is trying to comfort himself about being in hell, so he's saying, it's no big deal. I can make heaven here through my thinking. But that, of course is not true, and by putting it in the mouth of Satan, Milton is saying that it's absolutely not true....that it represents a depraved and reprehensible line of thought.