The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The one person who has more illusions than the dreamer is the man of action.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Time is indeed the theater and seat of illusions; nothing is so ductile and elastic. The mind stretches an hour to a century, and dwarfs an age to an hour.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is respectable to have no illusions, and safe, and profitable and dull.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
For every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early, and the human race come to an end.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all that there is.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
We must select the Illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
Time, space, the whole universe – just an illusion! Often said, philosophically verifiable, even scientifically explainable. It’s the ‘just’ which makes the honest mind go crazy and the ego go berserk.
—Hans Taeger
Don’t believe your friends when they ask you to be honest with them. All they really want is to be maintained in the good opinion they have of themselves.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
It isn’t safe to sit in judgment upon another person’s illusion when you are not on the inside. While you are thinking it is a dream, he may be knowing it is a planet.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.
—Judy Garland (1922–69) American Actress, Singer
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
For what we call illusions are often, in truth, a wider vision of past and present realities—a willing movement of a man’s soul with the larger sweep of the world’s forces—a movement towards a more assured end than the chances of a single life.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Experience comprises illusions lost, rather than wisdom gained.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
The highest problem of any art is to cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
What seems to be, is, to those to whom it seems to be, and is productive of the most dreadful consequences to those to whom it seems to be, even of torments, despair, eternal death.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Illusions are the mirages of Hope
—Unknown
An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Lost Illusion is the undisclosed title of every novel.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
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
Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it… I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it’s an illusion to me. … Failure always made me try harder next time.
—Michael Jordan (b.1963) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Emotional attachment to Maya is created by my God; He Himself misleads us through illusion and doubt.
—The Guru Granth Sahib Sacred Text of Sikhism
Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
It appears to me that almost any man may like the spider spin from his own inwards his own airy citadel.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion.
—Arthur Koestler (1905–83) British Writer, Journalist, Political Refugee
A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
How strange when an illusion dies, it’s as though you’ve lost a child.
—Judy Garland (1922–69) American Actress, Singer
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