#illusions

That's the beauty of it. Have you seen the contraptions these magicians build to accomplish the most mundane feats? They are a bunch of fish covered in feathers trying to convince the public they can fly, I am simply a bird in their midst. ↗

— Erin Morgenstern

#fish #illusions #magic #beauty

War is being reminded that you are completely at the mercy of death at every moment, without the illusion that you are not. Without the distractions that make life worth living. ↗

— Francesca Lia Block

#distractions #illusions #life #war #death

We all suffer from dreams ↗

— Bernard Cornwell

#false-hope #illusions #suffering #death

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

But with me, you are never just a spring faerie. ↗

— Aprilynne Pike

#illusions #laurel #tamani #wings #spring

There are two paths of which one may choose in the walk of life; one we are born with, and the one we consciously blaze. One is naturally true, while the other is a perceptive illusion. Choose wisely at each fork in the road. ↗

— T.F. Hodge

#consciousness #illusions #life #natural #path

It is respectable to have no illusions, and safe, and profitable and dull. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#illusions #profitable #respectable #safe

Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions. ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#enemy #flattering #friend #illusions #thought

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached. ↗

— Simone Weil

#attained #detached #great #illusions #only

The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned. ↗

— Antonio Gramsci

#challenge #disillusioned #illusions #live #modernity