Quotes About Illusion

Wishful thinking doesn't change reality.

Every dead hope is a phantom that grimaces over its tomb.

There is nothing waste, nothing sterile, nothing dead in the universe; no chaos, no confusions, save in appearance.

Although the whole of this life were said to be nothing but a dream and the physical world nothing but a phantasm, I should call this dream or phantasm real enough, if, using reason well, we were never deceived by it.

Memory's oldest trick is convincing us of its accuracy.

Hvis man er forelsket, tænker man jo ikke på, at pigen er tung. Næ, man slæber hende på fuglevinger gennem den halve verden, hvis det behøv's

The entire world wasn't after them. It only seemed that way.

I left the Rocking Vicars, thinking I was going to be a star in my own right immediately. Everything was going to be wonderful and huge women would get a hold of me and do things to me with raw carrots – you know, shit like that. Of course, it didn't happen quite that way.

If you are trying to fool a farsighted or dimwitted person, a veiled facial disguise might be enough.

Blinded following the Blindfolded

He looked like the sort of person who would tell you that he did not have an umbrella to lend you when he actually had several and simply wanted to see you get soaked.

But your imaginings would be ersatz, as all imaginings are.

Nobody knows anything at all. We have no idea what is happening. We are all bewildered. Someone may say that they understand something, to ourselves or to others, but they are wrong, or guessing, or making it up.

I don't know why wicked places generally look wicked. You'd think they'd look nice, to fool people, but they hardly ever do.

But the world did not match the picture in my head, and instead I was with a strange, uncombed person, overlooking a sea without water and a forest without trees.

I'm afraid that's the wicked way of the world. Everything's covered in smoke and mirrors.

When someone is in disguise, and the disguise is not very good, one can describe it as a transparent disguise. This does not mean that the person is wearing plastic wrap or glass or anything else transparent. It merely means that people can see through his disguise - that is, the disguise doesn't fool them for a minute.

The map is not the territory," Snicket's chaperon advises him. "That's an expression which means the world does not match the picture in our heads.

All of life is just shadows.

Very often you expect one thing from looking at the outside of it, but when you open it, there's something else entirely.

A rug feels like a lion, but that doesn't mean you can ride it.

Just because you can picture something does not make it so.

But just because you can picture something does not make it so.

That's the wicked way of the world. Everything's covered in smoke and mirrors.