#illusion

We all suffer from dreams ↗

— Bernard Cornwell

#false-hope #illusions #suffering #death

You know Sven? The man who takes care of the gym?' he asked. He waited till he got a nod from Nicholson. 'Well, if Sven dreamed tonight that his dog died, he'd have a very, very bad night's sleep, because he's very fond of that dog. But when he woke up in the morning, everything would be all right. He'd know it was only a dream.' Nicholson nodded. 'What's the point exactly?' The point is if his dog really died, it would be exactly the same thing. Only he wouldn't know it. I mean he wouldn't wake up till he died himself. ↗

— J.D. Salinger

#dream #illusion #teddy #death

...all these things were part of the business of dreams. He had learned not to laugh at the advertisements offering to teach writing, cartooning, engineering, to add inches to the biceps and to develop the bust ↗

— Nathanael West

#capitalism #commercialization #conformity #disillusionment #self-perception

Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings had not darkened because of her grief, nor sickened because of her pain. She might have seen that what had bowed her head so profoundly -the thought of the world's concern at her situation- was found on an illusion. She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. ↗

— Thomas Hardy

#illusion #pain #tess-of-the-d-urbervilles #thomas-hardy #experience

Whatever I learned, Whatever I knew, Seems like those faded years of childhood that flew, Away in some dilemma, Always in some confusion, The purpose of this life, Seems like an illusion! ↗

— Mehek Bassi

#breakups #childhood #confusion #dilemma #experience

if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones. ↗

— Norton Juster

#fantasy #fiction #humor #illusions #imaginary

In those days, we imagined ourselves as being kept in some kind of holding pen, waiting to be released into our lives. And when the moment came, our lives -- and time itself -- would speed up. How were we to know that our lives had in any case begun, that some advantage had already been gained, some damage already inflicted? Also, that our release would only be into a larger holding pen, whose boundaries would be at first undiscernible. ↗

— Julian Barnes

#youth #imagination

Life is not a song, sweetling. Someday you may learn that, to your sorrow. ↗

— George R.R. Martin

#romanticism #life

In order to survive, we cling to all we know and understand. And label it reality. But knowledge and understanding are ambiguous. That reality could be an illusion. All humans live with the wrong assumptions. Isn't that another way of looking at it? That sharingan how much can you really se? ↗

— Masashi Kishimoto

#illusion

Everyone should know--there's no such thing as a decent human being. It's just an illusion. And when it's gone, it's really gone. ↗

— Courtney Summers

#illusion