Reality Quotes - 70 quotes

quote icon Sanson Carrasco: Why are you poets so fascinated with madmen? Cervantes: We have much in common. Sanson Carrasco: You both turn your backs on life. Cervantes: We both select from life. Sanson Carrasco: A man has to come to terms with life as it is. Cervantes: Life as it is. I've lived for over 40 years and I've seen life as it is. Pain. Misery. Cruelty beyond belief. I've heard all the voices of God's noblest creature. Moans from bundles of filth in the street. I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them at the last moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning "Why?" I do not think they were asking why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness; To surrender dreams this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! And maddest of all - to see life as it is and not as it should be!

- Man of La Mancha (1972 Movie)

quote icon Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however they may seem, uniquely determined by the external world. In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears its ticking, but he has no way to open the case. If he is ingenious he may form some picture of a mechanism which could be responsible for all of the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture is the only one which could explain his observations. He will never be able to compare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the possibility or the meaning of such a comparison. But he certainly believes that, as his knowledge increases, his picture of reality will become simpler and simpler and will explain a wider and wider range of his sensuous impressions. He may also believe in the existence of the ideal limit of knowledge and that it is approached by the human mind. He may call this ideal limit the objective truth.

- Albert Einstein

quote icon How can it be that mathematics, being, after all, a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality? Is human reason, then, without experience, merely by taking thought, able to fathom the properties of real things?

- Albert Einstein

quote icon In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears its ticking, but he has no way of opening the case. If he is ingenious he may form some picture of a mechanism which could be responsible for all the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture is the only one which could explain his observations.

- Albert Einstein

quote icon comfort is no reason to ignore reality.

- celeste

quote icon Supplying children with illusions in felicitous stories and myths may have the effect of an inoculation against illusion (following the principle of inoculation of inducing the disease in a mild form). As the child grows up, he sheds the illusions one by one, or in bunches. The legends, stories, and myths may provide him invaluable points of reference for the discernment of reality. He knows, from them, what sort of things belong to the real world and what sort to illusion. Those who do not have some embodied illusions as points of reference may have much greater difficulty in separating illusion from reality, or, to put it another way, may succumb much more readily to the illusory.

- Clarence B. Carson

quote icon If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are. In essence, he encourages us to think and act as if we were in our premortal, unembodied state. And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes. Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication.

- David A. Bednar

quote icon Being optimistic or pessimistic isn’t helpful in any way. If you’re optimistic, you think everything is going to be fine and end up doing little to change things. If you’re pessimistic, you feel nothing you do is going to make a difference. Either way, you end up doing nothing. I’m not optimistic or pessimistic. I simply have to fight for good.

- Dennis Prager

quote icon To those who believe anything or everything could be true, the declaration of objective, fixed, and universal truth feels like coercion—“I shouldn’t be forced to believe something is true that I don’t like.” But that does not change reality.

- D. Todd Christofferson

quote icon Resenting the law of gravity won’t keep a person from falling if he steps off a cliff. The same is true for eternal law and justice. Freedom comes not from resisting it but from applying it. That is fundamental to God’s own power. If it were not for the reality of fixed and immutable truths, the gift of agency would be meaningless since we would never be able to foresee and intend the consequences of our actions.

- D. Todd Christofferson

quote icon His commandments are the voice of reality and our protection against self-inflicted pain.

- D. Todd Christofferson

quote icon The pessimists left Germany, the optimists ended up in Auschwitz. The lesson from the Holocaust is to be on your guard. We always need a Plan B, even today.

- Gary Fybel

quote icon People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted. People are bad. People are evil. People are axe murderers and monsters and worse. I don't buy it. Evil is a make-believe concept we've invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own—it's easier to dismiss an opinion as abhorrent than strive to understand it. Badness exists, sure, but even that's quite rare. By and large, humans are kind. Self-interested sometimes, myopic sometimes, but kind. Generous and wonderful and kind. No greater revelation has come from our journey than this.

- Jay Austin

quote icon There is a huge difference between a dog that is going to eat you in your mind and an actual dog that's going to eat you.

- Jim Carrey

quote icon The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it, into which a young gentleman should be enter'd by degrees, as he can bear it; and the earlier the better, so he be in safe and skillful hands to guide him.

- John Locke

quote icon The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it...

- John Locke

quote icon It is important to understand that natural laws were not determined on the basis of popularity. They were established and rest on the rock of reality.

- Kenneth Johnson

quote icon No one can think or perceive for another man. If reality, without your help, does not convince a person of the self-evident, he has abdicated reason and cannot be dealt with any further.

- Leonard Peikoff

quote icon The thinker who accepts the absolutism of the metaphysically given recognizes that it is his responsibility to conform to the universe, not the other way around.

- Leonard Peikoff

quote icon Whenever men expect reality to conform to their wish simply because it is their wish, they are doomed to metaphysical disappointment.

- Leonard Peikoff

quote icon Nature is existence regarded as a system of interconnected entities governed by law; it is the universe of entities acting and interacting in accordance with their identities.

- Leonard Peikoff

quote icon Alma’s imagery reflects the sobering reality that at some point the full, excruciating guilt of every sin we commit must be felt. Justice demands it, and God Himself cannot change it.

- Matthew S. Holland

quote icon In order for two sides to come to an understanding, both must basically acknowledge that reality exists and is knowable.

- Matt Walsh

quote icon We must not approach God as if He were somehow constrained by finite knowledge and by time. A useful and illustrative episode is the one involving the prophet Elisha and his young manservant. The prophet could see that a surrounded Israel need not fear. (2 Kings 6:15-17.) The alarmed younger man had to have his eyes opened, however, so he too could see that while the mountain was hostilely compassed about with horses and chariots of the enemy, it was also filled with horses and chariots of fire. Thus, even though the prophet said to the young man, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them," he was still puzzled and doubting. Only when his eyes were opened could he see the reassuring reality. Often, so it is with us. We see dimly, or, as Paul said, "through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians Such is the relevance of seers. Such is the role of faith. In a very real sense, all we need to know is that God knows all!

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon Therefore, in order for us to develop trust in God to see us through all these things, we must have a measure of understanding about His nature, including His omniscience. The Prophet Joseph Smith said it was the first principle of real religion to know the true nature of God. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345.)

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon Jesus' tutoring but disapproving response was: "Ye know not what ye ask." (Matthew 20:22.) Clearly, when our prayers are uninspired, we petition for things we should not ask for, even though we do so innocently. This is, in effect, what we do when we pray and "ask amiss." (James 4:3.) When we ask amiss, God, being perfect, must reject our petitions: "And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Nephi 18:20. Italics added.) The task is to draw close enough to the Lord that we progress to the point where we petition Him according to His will, not ours. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us." (1 John 5:14.) In modern revelations the Lord has declared His willingness to grant us the requests contained in our petitions if what we ask for is expedient for us. (D&C 88:64-65.) When we become sufficiently purified and cleansed from sin, we can ask what we will in the name of Jesus "and it shall be done." (D&C 50:29.) The Lord even promises us that when one reaches a certain spiritual condition, "it shall be given you what you shall ask." (D&C 50:30.)

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon When we pray, we are not conveying any information to God that He does not already have. Nor, when we confess our sins before Him, is it news to Him that we have misbehaved. It is vital, therefore, that we open our souls to Him and tell Him what our concerns are now, as well as acknowledge what we now are, for this is a part of the process of aligning ourselves with His will. We cannot, for the purposes of real prayer, hurriedly dress our words and attitudes in tuxedos when our shabby life is in rags. More than we realize, being honest with God in our prayers helps us to be more honest with ourselves. Furthermore, some of us actually feel we are too good for a petitionary prayer, especially when life is going reasonably well. It is part of our childish resentment of our dependency on God. We are also sometimes too proud to pray over small things, and thus we get out of practice. Then the moment of agony comes.

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon As to the questions asked—even by faithful Saints—such as, "If what is going to happen is 'all set,' why pray?," the answer is that God foresees, but He does not compromise our agency. All the outcomes are not, for our purposes, "all set." True, God's foreseeing includes our prayers, our fasting, our faith, and the results that will thereby be achieved. But until our mortal actions occur and our decisions are made, things are not "all set." The Father foresaw the Atonement, but the Atonement was not wrought until the very moment of Christ's death when He gave up His spirit, which He had the power to retain.

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon The time will come when we will thank Him for saying no to us with regard to some of our petitions. Happily, God in His omniscience can distinguish between our surface needs (over which we often pray most fervently) and our deep and eternal needs. He can distinguish what we ask for today and place it in relationship to what we need for all eternity. He will bless us, according to our everlasting good, if we are righteous.

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon It is through true prayer that we can refine and adjust our desires to those of the Lord's so that we do not "ask amiss." In prayer we can actually learn more than we imagine about His will for us. In prayer we can learn more how to seek the Spirit, so that even our very prayers will be inspired.

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon God’s counsel aligns us and conjoins us with the great realities of the universe;

- Neal A. Maxwell

quote icon it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it.

- Patrick Henry

quote icon If you learn what this world is, how it works, you automatically start getting miracles, what will be called miracles. But of course nothing is miraculous. Learn what the magician knows and it's not magic anymore.

- Richard Bach

quote icon Reality is divinely indifferent...

- Richard Bach

quote icon Science is an ethic that promotes a set of best practices that have been shown to explicate the world using a bunch of tools that have worked so far...Scientists believe there's some reality we are trying to capture, and we want to find that reality...I believe science is the most powerful method ever invented for finding truth about the material world.

- Stephen L. Peck

quote icon Lightly seared on the reality grill.

- The Economist

quote icon Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality.

- Walt Disney

quote icon Our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally, could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.

- Albert Einstein

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quote icon Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving

- Albert Einstein

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quote icon hy does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day's work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations. … It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.

- Albert Einstein

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quote icon One may say "the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

- Albert Einstein

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quote icon There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.

- Frank underwood

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quote icon I've always loathed the necessity of sleep. Like death, it puts even the most powerful men on their backs.

- Frank underwood

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quote icon For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted.

- Frank underwood

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quote icon All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.

- Joker

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quote icon “MEMORY'S SO TREACHEROUS. ONE MOMENT YOU'RE LOST IN A CARNIVAL OF DELIGHTS, WITH POIGNANT CHILDHOOD AROMAS , THE FLASHING NEON OF PUBERTY, ALL THAT SENTIMENTAL CANDY-FLOSS ... THE NEXT , IT LEADS YOU SOMEWHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO... ...SOMEWHERE DARK AND COLD, FILLED WITH THE DAMP, AMBIGUOUS SHAPES OF THINKS YOU'D HOPED WERE FORGOTTEN. MEMORIES CAN BE VILE, REPULSIVE LITTLE BRUTES. LIKE CHILDREN, I SUPPOSE. HAHA. BUT CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT THEM? MEMORIES ARE WHAT OUR REASON IS BASED UPON. IF WE CAN'T FACE THEM, WE DENY REASON ITSELF! ALGHOUGH, WHY NOT? WE AREN'T CONTRACTUALLY TIED DOWN TO RATIONALITY! THERE IS NO SANITY CLAUSE! SO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF LOCKED ONTO AN UNPLEASANT TRAIN OF THOUGHT, HEADING FOR THE PLACES IN YOUR PAST WHERE THE SCREAMING IS UNBEARABLE, REMEMBER THERE'S ALWAYS MADNESS. MADNESS IS THE EMERGENCY EXIT... YOU CAN JUST STEP OUTSIDE, AND CLOSE THE DOOR ON ALL THOSE DREADFUL THINGS THAT HAPPENED. YOU CAN LOCK THEM AWAY... FOREVER.”

- Joker

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quote icon I've proved my point. I've demonstrated there's no difference between me and everyone else! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up as a flying rat? You had a bad day, and it drove you as crazy as everybody else... Only you won't admit it! You have to keep pretending that life makes sense, that there's some point to all this struggling! God you make me want to puke. I mean, what is it with you? What made you what you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob, maybe? Brother carved up by some mugger? Something like that, I bet. Something like that... Something like that happened to me, you know. I... I'm not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! Ha ha ha! But my point is... My point is, I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can't you? I mean, you're not unintelligent! You must see the reality of the situation. Do you know how many times we've come close to world war three over a flock of geese on a computer screen? Do you know what triggered the last world war? An argument over how many telegraph poles Germany owed its war debt creditors! Telegraph poles! Ha ha ha ha HA! It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?”

- Joker

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quote icon Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away…forever.

- Joker

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quote icon Success breeds success and failure breeds failure and its not necessary linear. I noticed that it is similar to joker's theory that one good day can lift you to heavens and one bad day will crush to the ground. The chance is such a big factor with a capability to change order into chaos. You can never be certain of unknown variables and good enough is the basic peak that you can achieve.

- Jordan Peterson

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quote icon Most of the time we are good because we are living in comfortable lives but when desperate time struck you, you are compelled to go the wrong way. If you are well off, chances are tat you will try to be good but struggles you into a cynical person and that is where, the greatest test of morality will come or if you are willing enough to upheld your principles. This is something I am not proud to say that i am enduring now but this shall pass too, attitude might help me to survive. How will you overcome the suffering of life.By being better than the yesterday.

- Jordan Peterson

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quote icon Fear of the unknown and unexplored territory or you hit a failure then you freeze. then your next option s to come back to a comfortable zone by any means. I am trying to reach there.

- Jordan Peterson

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quote icon People defend their beliefs so they don't have to venture into the unknown which will bring anxiety and hyper stress ad they need to defend to keep their mental balance.

- Jordan Peterson

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quote icon I write about myself so that my emotions don't get stuck in the past. In the future, you will feel like a part of your soul is stuck in the past and that makes it tough to move on. It also helps me to explain myself that what is my true persona or if i am lying to myself. Who i am depends upon how deep i dig and what entanglements have been lingering inside my mind.

- Jordan Peterson

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quote icon After all we are nothing more or less than we choose to be reveal.

- Unknown

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quote icon What is the face of a coward? The back of his head when he runs from the battle.

- Unknown

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quote icon I will make that hypocrisy hurt.

- Unknown

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quote icon Decisions based on emotion aren't decisions, at all. They're instincts. Which can be of value. The rational and the irrational complement each other. Individually they're far less powerful.

- Unknown

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quote icon When you've been in the wasteland as long as I have, you become immune to flattery.

- Unknown

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quote icon There is no sacred ground for the conquered.

- Unknown

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quote icon You wanna know what takes courage? Keeping your mouth shut, no matter what you may be feeling. Holding it all together when the stakes are this high.

- Unknown

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quote icon Saying nothing says a lot sometimes.

- Unknown

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quote icon We don't submit to terror. We obliterate the terror.

- Unknown

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quote icon One should never mistake their own ignorance of something for an indication there is something “wrong”.

- Unknown

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quote icon : "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."

- Unknown

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quote icon If I were of a philosophical frame of mind I might wonder to what extent any one of us is in control of our own destiny, or if indeed we can ever predict the far-reaching consequences of actions which, at the time, may seem entirely trivial.

- Unknown

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quote icon Being domesticated creatures, we do not enjoy the thought of seperation.

- Unknown

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quote icon States and civilizations form by swimming through rivers of blood. Those who don’t want to believe let them be fodder for the rivers.

- Unknown

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quote icon People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, assuage their fears, justify their failures, confirm their suspicions, and throw rocks at their enemies.

- Unknown

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quote icon ‘Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love’

- W.B yeats

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quote icon The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.

- William Hazlitt

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