such self-awareness is rare

Playing video poker in Yet Another Shitty Locals Joint, for about a hundred times the stakes of anyone around me, waiting for the staff to pay off a jackpot.

Lady looks up from the slot machine behind us. "Ooooh, what did you hit? Wow, that must be nice! How much is that? Oooh!"

I answer these questions honestly, but I really hate contributing to the delusions of gamblers that everyone around them is winning, and maybe next it'll be them. I'm winning. They're not. They never will. So I add - also honestly - "just don't ask how much I put in."

"Oh, we never talk about that. Only talk about the winning, never about the losing. That's how gambling works! It's lying to everyone around you, and to yourself."

...wow. That's sort of disturbingly profound to hear from someone playing penny slots.

"I... I think I might have to quote you on that. Do you want attribution, or should I just say I heard it from a wise woman I met in a casino?"

"Just say you heard it from some chick."

She wanders off to find another penny slot, and I return to my work.