Everyone has the right to believe and accept what he or she wants, but reality doesn’t discriminate. Reality is not different for different people. Not once has reality excused anyone for good intentions ignorance or stubbornness. Reality shows no mercy, accepts no excuses, and issues no pardons. Reality does not “turn the other cheek.” This does not mean that reality is cruel, it just means that reality is.
—Gary Ryan Blair
There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.
—John Irving (b.1942) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The wise man does not deny and affirm, he does not exalt himself and he does not despair, he does not believe either in the existence of God or in his existence. The wise man has no certainty, he only has more or less probable hypotheses.
—Luciano De Crescenzo (b.1928) Italian Writer, Film Actor, Director, Engineer
Now the writer, I think, has the chance to live more than other people in the presence of … reality. It is his business to find it and collect it and communicate it to the rest of us.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.
—Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945) American Inventor, Physicist, Academic
Reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
If we think we have ours and don’t owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind’s eye.
—Shana Alexander (1925–2005) American Journalist, Editor, Author
Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.
—Robert Ringer (b.1979) American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author
Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Reality is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.
—Indian Proverb
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
—John Henry Newman (1801–90) British Theologian, Poet
Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
—Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek Novelist, Poet, Dramatist
The first rule (to Peace of Mind, Serenity) is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor bad to the deaf.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.
—Indian Proverb
The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. Recognizing our limitations and imperfections is the first requisite of progress. Those who believe they have “arrived” believe they have nowhere to go. Some not only have closed their minds to new truth, but they sit on the lid.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
Reality is something you rise above.
—Liza Minnelli (b.1946) American Singer, Actress
The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.
—James A. Michener (1907–97) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Historian
A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.
—Philip K. Dick (1928–82) American Novelist, Essayist, Short Story Writer
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you’re not really interested in order to get where you’re going.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
A Realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.
—Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar
We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
When you’re the victim of the behavior, it’s black and white; when you’re the perpetrator, there are a million shades of gray.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
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