#imaginary

So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born. ↗

— Edward Dahlberg

#consideration #creature #dies #given #imaginary

I like to create imaginary characters and events around a real historical situation. I want readers to feel: OK, this probably didn't happen, but it might have. ↗

— Ken Follett

#characters #create #events #feel #happen

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#certain #characters #doubts #excepting #existence

I sometimes suspect that half our difficulties are imaginary and that if we kept quiet about them they would disappear. ↗

— Robert Staughton Lynd

#difficulties #disappear #half #i #imaginary

Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren't. ↗

— Barbara Sher

#insurmountable #obstacles #ones #real #real ones

In those days he seemed to be a nice old gentleman, and his existence always served practical purposes, such as when I was accused of misconduct, for then I could shift the blame to him by saying, "Old Tacet did it." Naturally, no one would believe me, this being a last-ditch effort to avoid the hairbrush. If my mother were alive today, she'd laugh at me for still fantasizing - yet it's the truth. Even now, whenever necessary, I still summon forth the old geezer - in theater programs, for example, to credit him for costumes that I've designed, ones for which I prefer not getting the hook. Yes, he's another of my names: the unlikely but lovely and perfectly logical ↗

— Paul Taylor

#imaginary-friend #ph-d #tacet #design

No fiction, no myths, no lies, no tangled webs - this is how Irie imagined her homeland. Because homeland is one of the magical fantasy words like unicorn and soul and infinity that have now passed into language. ↗

— Zadie Smith

#imaginary-things #immigrants #immigration #imagination

He was everything I needed because his entire character had been molded by my deepest wants and desires. He was my rock when I cried, my playmate when I laughed, and my hero when I needed to imagine that one existed for me. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#hero #imaginary-friend #imagination #kindness #love

Don Quixote is not an imaginary person; he is as real as Alexander the Great. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#don-quixote #imaginary #imagination #literature #real

Where's your dog?" Peter's voice came from within the gushing stream of water. Justin thought he must have misheard. "Pardon?" "Your dog." "Yes?" "Isn't he with you today?" Justin looked at Peter. "Ha bloody ha." Peter stuck his head out of the stream of water, features dripping. He smiled shyly. "I love greyhounds." Justin stared. "My dog is imaginary." "Oh." Peter looked interested. "That's unusual." Justin put his head under the water. When he emerged, Peter was still looking at him. "Less work," Peter offered, cheerily. "If the dog's imaginary, I mean. Not so much grooming, feeding, et cetera. ↗

— Meg Rosoff

#imaginary #love