I Believe That You Believe It

"I believe that you believe it" is a Stock Phrase that can occur in several different contexts. For example:

"Alice: "Bob, I've been keeping this from you from you for long enough; it's time you knew the whole truth. Ninja Pirate Zombie Robots are real, and I am the one tasked with slaying them. They'll do anything to get at me, including attacking my friends -- you could be in grave danger. I know, it sounds crazy, but... you do believe me, don't you?"

Bob: "I believe that you believe it.""

Or...

"Alice: "Fine, that's it! I'm out of your life -- forever!"

Bob: "Sure."

Alice: "You don't believe I'll stay away, do you?"

Bob: "I believe that you believe it.""

Either way, Bob's not accusing Alice of lying, but he's still not quite as understanding as Alice might hope. He's implying (in the former case) that she's over-imaginative, paranoid, even crazy, or (in the latter) that she doesn't know herself as well as he does or that she lacks follow-through. In any case, Alice usually finds it pretty insulting, even though in most cases Bob means well by it. Related to Damned By Faint Praise Trivially Obvious, Theory Before Phenomenon. Not related to believing in someone who believes in you.

Film
"Marjorie Worden: Can you believe that I believe that the devil's in my house?
 * Something Evil

Harry Lincoln: Yes. If you believe there's a devil, you believe the devil's in your house; then for you it's true."


 * In Ghostbusters, Dana is hooked up to one of the group's special machines while she gives her account of a supernatural experience. When she's finished, Egon reports, "She's telling the truth, or at least she thinks she is." They then clarify that they do this to weed out people who are lying in order to get attention.

Literature
"Cherokee Putnam: You think I'm crazy?
 * Mount Misery by Samuel Shem.

Dr. Roy Basch: No, no, you are not crazy.

Putnam: You believe that he's. . . you know, screwing her in therapy?

Dr. Basch: I believe that you believe it."

"Xyon: Kalinda, this is insanity.
 * Star Trek New Frontier: Treason. Kalinda believes her dead brother is talking to her.

Kalinda: You Have to Believe Me.

Xyon: I believe that you believe it, but that's as far as it goes."

""And now?" John pressed him. "Do you believe us?"
 * The Death of Grass by John Christopher. Roger tells Pirrie about a defensible farm in a valley.

Pirrie sighed. "I believe that you believe it.""


 * Black Out by Lisa Unger
 * Though the Stock Phrase isn't used in so many words, Wataru in Brave Story characterizes his uncle's reaction to Wataru telling him he met a wizard this way.
 * in The Feathered Serpent by Chris Heimerdinger, King Jacob says this to Melody after she tells him her Uncle Garth doesn't know the information he wants. Still convinced that Garth has the info,.
 * In the Sword of Truth, this happens all over the place.
 * There's a spell that Lunetta uses that lets her know if others believe what they're saying. However, she says this to the people asking the questions, though.
 * When the Chainfire spell was unleashed, Richard had this exchange with more than half of the ten most dangerous people in the world. They believed that he believed it.
 * Sister Verna to Richard. He was completely right.

Live Action TV
"Joan: [explains about her talks with God] You have to believe me. If you believe me, then... I know it's not crazy, but if you don't... you promised.
 * Joan of Arcadia episode "Silence"

Adam: I believe... that you believe it."

"Meredith: So what, you didn't believe that I would let you move in, in the first place?
 * Greys Anatomy episode "Dream a Little Dream of Me"

Derek: I believe that you believe it."

"Scott: I have this ability. When I touch something, I can electrocute it if I want.
 * Supernatural episode "Hunted"

Dr. Waxler: How do you know?

Scott: I did it to the neighbor's cat. Its insides fried up like a hamburger.

Dr. Waxler: [frowns and takes a note, his face passive]

Scott: You don't believe me.

Dr. Waxler: I believe that you believe it."


 * Liz on Roswell got this reaction from another character when trying to tell them about the aliens.
 * In one episode of That Seventies Show, Eric fixes a lawnmower all by himself, but it gets destroyed after Kelso accidentally drives into it. Red walks away, muttering "Well, it was broken anyway", but Eric insists he fixed the mower on his own, and asks Kitty if she believes him. She answers "I believe that you believe you fixed it.".
 * Melinda's friend, Delia, in Ghost Whisperer is an egregious example of this. She spends at least one season/year trying hard to fit this trope into her life, and for an episode Taking A Level In Stupidity by not believing anymore.
 * Xander overhears Buffy talking about being the Slayer in the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and confronts her with exactly these words. Getting attacked by actual vampires quickly clears up his misconception.
 * Buffy says this about Spike's declaration of love for her, as she refuses to believe that you can love without a soul.

Newspaper Comics

 * In Peanuts, Linus got this reaction from Peppermint Patty after he told her about the Great Pumpkin.

Tabletop Games

 * In Dungeons and Dragons, a successful use of the Bluff skill is used to make someone believe you're being genuine even when you're not. A particularly sadistic DM (or simply a reasonable one trying to curb Munchkinism through Bothering By the Book) can use this trope to make people believe characters aren't lying without actually buying into their bluffs. Given how easily it is to turn the bluff skill into a Game Breaker if you do not employ this trope, this may be justified.

Video Games

 * In Dragon Age: Origins, the PC can say this about Leliana's vision.
 * In Mass Effect 2, if you try to convince the Council about the giant killer robots from deep space, they say they believe that you believe this but they still think Sovereign was just a Geth ship.
 * In Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Cybil tells Harry toward the end that she believes that he believes he's.

Western Animation
"Bert Banana: You've read the Bible, haven't you?
 * There was one episode of The Smurfs about a daydreaming smurf meeting an alien, and while Papa Smurf did not just believe him he said that at least he thought that it was possible. This got its reward in the end of the episode, when he also would see the alien's spaceship leaving (with the rest of the smurfs still believing the other smurf to be crazy).
 * Kyle uses this line on Cartman in the South Park episode "Fishsticks", where Cartman is concerned that Jimmy is going to take all the credit for a joke they "co-wrote." Kyle tells Cartman that he believes Cartman thinks he helped write the joke because his ego won't let him think otherwise. Later in the episode, Cartman remembers what Kyle said and applies it to Jimmy, thinking this is what Kyle really meant.
 * A Running Gag on Freakazoid had Dexter's Jerk Jock older brother trying to convince their parents about the big blue-and-red fairy tormenting him (actually Dexter's eponymous Alter Ego exacting some revenge). After one plea, Mom replies cheerily, "Oh, we believe that you believe it, dear, but you believe it because you're an incurable nutcase."
 * From the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode Bible Fruit:

Frylock: Yes.

Bert Banana: And you believe that, don't you?

Frylock: Well, I believe that I've read it."

Real Life
"Inquisitor: Do you believe in the one true faith?
 * Medieval heretics didn't like to be caught by the Inquisitions but a lot of them also didn't like to lie, since that was frequently one of those things that they found so reprehensible about mainstream religion that they would bother to be heretics with the associated risks and effort, so Inquisitors' manuals are full of warnings of their trying tricks based on this. Especially in the form:

Heretic: I am unlearned, this I do not know. What is this faith?

Inquisitor: We believe that [insert orthodoxy].

Heretic: This I believe."

"Jay: I'm not going anywhere; neither are you. [snip]
 * With notes emphasizing that what the heretic means in this case is "I believe that you believe this, though I do not."
 * Jay Leno's interview on the Oprah Winfrey show. Oprah was talking about her decision to stop doing her show.

Oprah: You don't believe I'll do it?

Jay: I believe that you believe it."