Quotes About Reality

Behind the world we live in, in the distant background, lies another world standing in roughly the same relation to the former as the stage one sometimes sees in the theatre behind the real stage stands to the latter.

Wenn man die Philosophen von der Wirklichkeit reden hört, so ist das oft ebenso irreführend, wie wenn man im Schaufenster eines Trödlers auf einem Schild die Worte liest: Hier wird gerollt. Wollte man mit seiner Wäsche kommen und sie rollen lassen, so wäre man angeführt. Der Schild hängt nur zum Verkauf da.

Love for that princess became for him the expression for an eternal love, assumed a religious character, was transfigured into a love for the Eternal Being, which did to be sure deny him the fulfilment of his love, yet reconciled him again by the eternal consciousness of its validity in the form of eternity, which no reality can take from him.

Only at the moment when his act is in absolute contradiction to his feeling is his act a sacrifice, but the reality of his act is the factor by which he belongs to the universal, and in that aspect he is and remains a murderer.

Numbers are the most dangerous of all illusions

Cuando una muchacha no despierta en nosotros desde la primera mirada una impresión tan viva que cree una imagen ideal de sí misma, generalmente no es digna de que nos tomemos el trabajo de buscarla en la realidad. Pero si despierta en nosotros esa imagen, pese a nuestra experiencia, nos sentimos dominados y vencidos por una desconocida fuerza.

Is it such a self-deception the present generation has need of, does it need to be trained to virtuosity in self-deception, or is it not rather sufficiently perfected already in the art of deceiving itself?

Are we so thoroughly convinced that we have attained the highest point that there is nothing left for us but to piously make ourselves believe that we have not got so far — just for the sake of having something left to occupy our time? Is it such a self-deception the present generation has need of, does it need to be trained to virtuosity in self-deception, or is it not rather sufficiently perfected already in the art of deceiving itself?

The act of concealing truth is known as 'aavarana', and that of projecting untruth is called 'vikshepa'. When these occur at the level of an individual, it is known as 'avidya' and when they occur at the level of a group or the world, it is known as 'maya'.

History is not tied to slogans and ideals and reform movements. It is to rid ourselves of notions of doctrines and movements and look at the incidents of the past as they actually happened. And this can't happen unless we allow our minds to be cleared of the illusions created by the present.

No one in life can ever match fiction

Because Harry knew there was no forever. Not for them. Such things were impossible. There was only today, there was only tonight. And he'd do well not to forget it.

Kinder?" Ash snorted. "Easier, you mean. Wrap it all in King and Country and forget what war really is. It betrays them, it betrays everyone who died.

I guess it's easy to lose yourself in a book," Leo said quietly, "when the real world doesn't feel so friendly.

He didn't promise to always be there. Whatever Ash might think, Harry knew it was impossible. And there was no point in wishing for impossible things.

It's funny how you imagine loving someone is enough to make them believe you love them. Thomas to Elizabeth, The Other Side of You

I learned: the first lesson of my life: nobody can face the world with his eyes open all the time.

How to forgive the world for its beauty, which merely disguises its ugliness; for its gentleness, which merely cloaks its cruelty; for its illusion of continuity, seamlessly, as the night follows the day, so to speak- whereas in reality life is a series of brutal raptures, falling upon your defenseless hands, like the blows of a woodman's axe?

Only the foolish, blinded by language's conventions, think of fire as red or gold. Fire is blue at its melancholy rim, green in its envious heart. It may burn white, or even, in its greatest rages, black.

everything is relative, one man's absolute belief is another man's fairy tale;

What's the use of stories that aren't even true?

I fell victim to the temptation of every autobiographer, to the illusion that since the past exists only in one's memories and the words which strive vainly to encapsulate them, it is possible to create past events simply by saying they occurred.

The inevitable triumph of illusion over reality that was the single most obvious truth about the history of the human race.

Believe in your own eyes and you'll get into a lot of trouble, hot water, a mess.