If I had my life to live over, I wish I could be a great pianist or something.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
What is a face, really? Its own photo? Its make-up? Or is it a face as painted by such or such painter? That which is in front? Inside? Behind? And the rest? Doesn’t everyone look at himself in his own particular way? Deformations simply do not exist.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
I want to be able to live without a crowded calendar. I want to be able to read a book without feeling guilty, or go to a concert when I like.
—Golda Meir (1898–1978) Israeli Head of State
One of the most important-and most neglected-elements in the beginning of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendour that is all around us.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
Learn to be one with who you are in Reality, and the waves of a thousand passing worlds cannot wash you away.
—Guy Finley
The reality is more excellent than the report.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Oh God, don’t envy me, I have my own pains.
—Barbra Streisand (b.1942) American Musician, Actor, Songwriter
All these constructions and the laws connecting them can be arrived at by the principle of looking for the mathematically simplest concepts and the link between them.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
I hate myself on the screen. I want to die… my voice is either too high or too gravelly. I want to dive under the carpet… I’ll love to be tall and willowy… I’m short.
—Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) British-born American Actress
You have no idea how big the other fellow’s troubles are.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Every stage of life has its troubles, and no man is content with his own age.
—Ausonius (c.309–392 CE) Latin Poet, Rhetorician
How many legs does a dog have, if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
It’s deja vu all over again!
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
What happens to the wide-eyed observer when the window between reality and unreality breaks and the glass begins to fly?
—Unknown
Okay, who put a “stop payment” on my reality check?
—Unknown
We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found; and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it.
—Philip K. Dick (1928–82) American Novelist, Essayist, Short Story Writer
Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather what he does not say.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
None of us is ever satisfied with what we are.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.
—Neil Gaiman (b.1960) British Writer
Comparisons of one’s lot with others’ teaches us nothing and enfeebles the will.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Ambition, having reached the summit, longs to descend.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din) (c.1213–91) Persian Poet
Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
Try as we may, none of us can be free of conflict and woe. Even the greatest men have had to accept disappointments as their daily bread…. The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. Man and society must grow together. Each individual’s efforts to discipline himself must be matched by society’s struggle to enforce the rules of law and of justice under the law.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
My crown is in my heart, not on my head, Nor decked with diamonds and Indian stones, Nor to be seen: My crown is called content: A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
—Tupac Shakur (1971–96) American Rapper, Actor
Diogenes was asked what wine he liked best, and he answered, “Somebody else’s”.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
In the American metaphysic, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant.
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic
I think that a particle must have a separate reality independent of the measurements. That is an electron has spin, location and so forth even when it is not being measured. I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
There is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes, and values.
—David G. Myers (b.1942) American Psychologist
It is my conviction that pure mathematical construction enables us to discover the concepts and the laws connecting them, which gives us the key to the understanding of nature … In a certain sense, therefore, I hold it true that pure thought can grasp reality, as the ancients dreamed.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I sure would not want to live there
—Unknown
It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The problem with beauty is that it’s like being born rich and getting poorer.
—Joan Collins (b.1933) English Actress
Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?
—M. C. Escher (1898–1972) Dutch Graphic Artist
In Rome you long for the country. In the country you praise to the skies the distant town.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
I’d rather have written “Cheers” than anything I’ve written.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
He who leaves his house in search of happiness pursues a shadow.
—Unknown
I look at what I have not and think myself unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
The unreal is natural, so natural that it makes of unreality the most natural of anything natural. That is what America does, and that is what America is.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
These patients have turned away from outer reality; it is for this reason that they are more aware than we of inner reality and can reveal to us things which without them would remain impenetrable.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry.
—Georges Braque (1882–1963) French Painter, Artist, Sculptor
To be realistic today is to be visionary. To be realistic is to be starry-eyed.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality