Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.
—Robert Ringer (b.1979) American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
You can get all A’s and flunk life.
—Walker Percy (1916–90) American Novelist
Reality is something you rise above.
—Liza Minnelli (b.1946) American Singer, Actress
We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Reality is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.
—Indian Proverb
A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. Recognizing our limitations and imperfections is the first requisite of progress. Those who believe they have “arrived” believe they have nowhere to go. Some not only have closed their minds to new truth, but they sit on the lid.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Whatever you believe with emotion becomes your reality. You always act in a manner consistent with your innermost beliefs and convictions.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
—John Henry Newman (1801–90) British Theologian, Poet
If you see a whole thing – it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives… But up close a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
When you’re the victim of the behavior, it’s black and white; when you’re the perpetrator, there are a million shades of gray.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.
—Unknown
A Realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.
—Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar
The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.
—James A. Michener (1907–97) American Writer, Novelist
The first rule (to Peace of Mind, Serenity) is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
—Arabic Proverb
Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.
—Indian Proverb
There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.
—John Irving (b.1942) American Modern Novelist
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind’s eye.
—Shana Alexander (1925–2005) American Journalist, Columnist, Commentator
We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don’t it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.
—Jessamyn West
People are where they are because that is exactly where they really want to be—whether they will admit that or not.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you’re not really interested in order to get where you’re going.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Anything, everything, can be learned if you can just get yourself in a little patch of real ground, real nature, real wood, real anything … and just sit still and watch.
—Lauren Hutton (b.1943) American Actress, Model
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