It is not irritating to be where one is. It is only irritating to think one would like to be somewhere else.
—John Cage (1912–92) American Composer
Art must take reality by surprise.
—Francoise Sagan (1935–2004) French Novelist, Playwright, Short-Story Writer
There is no man in any rank who is always at liberty to act as he would incline. In some quarter or other he is limited by circumstances.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
Across the gulfs and barriers that now divide us, we must remember that there are no permanent enemies. Hostility today is a fact, but it is not a ruling law. The supreme reality of our time is our indivisibility as children of God and our common vulnerability on this planet.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Reality bites… and doesn’t let go.
—Unknown
None think the great unhappy but the great.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Realism is a bad word. In a sense everything is realistic. I see no line between the imaginary and the real.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
Reality is the name we give to our disappointments.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
I’m not crazy about reality, but it’s still the only place to get a decent meal.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
Reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it.
—Philip K. Dick (1928–82) American Novelist, Essayist, Short Story Writer
Oh God, don’t envy me, I have my own pains.
—Barbra Streisand (b.1942) American Musician, Actor, Songwriter
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
The proper means of increasing the love we bear to our native country is to reside some time in a foreign one.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
When a man’s busy, leisure strikes him as a wonderful pleasure; and at leisure once is he? Straightway he wants to be busy.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Pray the Gods do not envy your happiness.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That’s why it satisfies nobody.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Realism, whether it be socialist or not, falls short of reality. It shrinks it, attenuates it, falsifies it; it does not take into account our basic truths and our fundamental obsessions: love, death, astonishment. It presents man in a reduced and estranged perspective. Truth is in our dreams, in the imagination.
—Eugene Ionesco (1909–94) Romanian-born French Dramatist
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
There is no man in this world without some manner of tribulation or anguish, though he be king or pope.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
The degree in which a poet’s imagination dominates reality is, in the end, the exact measure of his importance and dignity
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future
—Unknown
Far from being a material world, this is a psychic world, which allows us to make only indirect and hypothetical inferences about the real nature of matter. The psychic, alone has immediate reality, and this includes all forms of the psychic, even
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
The problem with beauty is that it’s like being born rich and getting poorer.
—Joan Collins (b.1933) English Actress
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
There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich, who want something more; that of the sick, who want something different; and that of the traveler, who says, “Anywhere but here”.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Everything you can imagine is real.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems—but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems incredible.
—Salman Rushdie (b.1947) Indian-born British Novelist
I don’t like my voice. I don’t like the way I look. I don’t like the way I move. I don’t like the way I act. I mean, period. So you know, I don’t like myself.
—Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) British-born American Actress
I never admired another’s fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
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