They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Rob the average man of his illusion and you rob him of his happiness at one stroke.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
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
To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
What we gain by experience is not worth that we lose in illusion.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) Swiss Poet
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
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
A woman should be an illusion.
—Ian L. Fleming (1908–64) English Novelist, Journalist, Naval Intelligence Officer
Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.
—Margaret J. Wheatley American Management Consultant, Writer
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
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, Essayist, Novelist, Author
It is respectable to have no illusions, and safe, and profitable and dull.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
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
An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
We always think every other man’s job is easier than our own. The better he does it, the easier it looks.
—Eden Phillpotts (1862–1960) English Novelist, Dramatist, Poet
I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
A poor man with nothing in his belly needs hope, illusion, more than bread.
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Author
We trained hard-but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.
—Petronius (c.27–66 CE) Roman Courtier, Novelist
There is no such thing as real happiness in life. The justest definition that was ever given of it was “a tranquil acquiescence under an agreeable delusion”—I forget where.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
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
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
However, one cannot put a quart in a pint cup.
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American Feminist, Writer
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
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