{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions", "heading": "Quotes about illusions", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions.md", "quotes_count": 96, "authors_count": 59, "parent": null, "children": [], "quotes": [ { "id": "fbe183c5-a1c5-493e-8ac8-1078883dc6d8", "slug": "a-lifelong-habit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/majestrum/a-lifelong-habit", "text": "A lifelong habit of being right also had the effect of diminishing one’s social appeal, especially among those who prefer to keep the bubble of their various illusions a safe distance from a needle-sharp and probing intelligence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Matt Hughes", "slug": "matt-hughes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes" }, "book": { "title": "Majestrum", "slug": "majestrum", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/majestrum" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 76, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Hughes_(writer)#Majestrum_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:53" }, { "id": "9aded2ca-995d-4120-b2e5-55b7fec1da5f", "slug": "we-all-use", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant/we-all-use", "text": "“We all use the world, and are used by it,” he said, after a moment. “Some of us are more aware than others of using and being used. It is our fortune to have fewer illusions.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Matt Hughes", "slug": "matt-hughes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes" }, "book": { "title": "Fools Errant", "slug": "fools-errant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 136, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Hughes_(writer)#Fools_Errant_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:53" }, { "id": "4b2a8173-3006-4d7b-b7e5-f00c69fe3346", "slug": "we-have-constructed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/we-have-constructed", "text": "We have constructed an artifice, a Potemkin village of an ecosystem where we perpetrate the illusion that the things we consume have just fallen off the back of Santa's sleigh, not been ripped from the earth. The illusion enables us to imagine that the only choices we have are between brands.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 199, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "consumerism", "slug": "consumerism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:31" }, { "id": "384e4057-4c79-4779-bcfd-4512192f9bc5", "slug": "when-you-die", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids/when-you-die", "text": "When you die, the first thing you lose is your life. The next thing is your illusions. (p. 58)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Pyramids", "slug": "pyramids", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pyramids_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" }, { "id": "385e8205-61fb-4fac-85b4-8a32199d168b", "slug": "secret-services-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/secret-services-and", "text": "“Secret services and their customers are like anyone else, I'm afraid. They value most what costs most, and Merlin costs a fortune. Ever bought a fake picture?”\n\n“I sold a couple once,” said Toby with a flashy, nervous smile, but no one laughed.\n\n“The more you pay for it, the less inclined you are to doubt it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John le Carré", "slug": "john-le-carre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre" }, "book": { "title": "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", "slug": "tinker-tailor-soldier-spy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(novel)#Part_Three", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:51" }, { "id": "dee05f6b-afbd-4004-9298-1d8c08b978c3", "slug": "sometimes-its-a-mighty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/the-shepherds-hut/sometimes-its-a-mighty", "text": "\"Sometimes it's a mighty struggle to know what's real and what's just . . . a mirage. You understand?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" I said.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "The Shepherd's Hut", "slug": "the-shepherds-hut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/the-shepherds-hut" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 132, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#The_Shepherd's_Hut_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:48" }, { "id": "bfe8a374-e984-48b2-8397-54662ce6725f", "slug": "another-man-an-american", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/dirt-music/another-man-an-american", "text": "Another man, an American, had once told her in a high, laughing moment his theory of love. It was magic, he said. \"The magic ain't real, darlin, but when it's gone it's over.\"\n\nGeorgie didn't want to believe in such thin stuff, that all devotion was fuelled by delusion, that you needed some spurious myth to keep you going in love or work or service. Yet she'd felt romance evaporate often enough to make her wonder.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "Dirt Music", "slug": "dirt-music", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/dirt-music" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Dirt_Music_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:48" }, { "id": "a28b0cab-499e-4730-9216-5a91e62b0b98", "slug": "the-years-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin/the-awakening/the-years-that", "text": "\"The years that are gone seem like dreams -if one might go on sleeping and dreaming- but to wake up and find -oh! well! perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all ones life.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kate Chopin", "slug": "kate-chopin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin" }, "book": { "title": "The Awakening", "slug": "the-awakening", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kate-chopin/the-awakening" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin#The_Awakening_(1899)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:47" }, { "id": "0a1d2ff9-2d40-4732-8227-8d0fae929819", "slug": "in-his-view", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity/in-his-view", "text": "In his view, the true deep human fantasy was the conviction of safety. Men believed their women were devoted; wives felt that their men were dependable. Both ignored contrary evidence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Beyond Infinity", "slug": "beyond-infinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 36, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "marriage", "slug": "marriage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/marriage" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "safety", "slug": "safety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/safety" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Beyond_Infinity_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:25" }, { "id": "a1ed59cb-e351-44d7-8565-f6395d45bba3", "slug": "it-appears-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miles-franklin/my-brilliant-career/it-appears-that", "text": "It appears that we all labour under delusions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miles Franklin", "slug": "miles-franklin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miles-franklin" }, "book": { "title": "My Brilliant Career", "slug": "my-brilliant-career", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miles-franklin/my-brilliant-career" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miles_Franklin#My_Brilliant_Career_(1901)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:53" }, { "id": "d596848e-7405-451d-a9e8-fb7433dc1c69", "slug": "perhaps-our-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-durrell/clea/perhaps-our-only", "text": "Perhaps our only sickness is to desire a truth which we cannot bear rather than to rest content with the fictions we manufacture out of each other.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lawrence Durrell", "slug": "lawrence-durrell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-durrell" }, "book": { "title": "Clea", "slug": "clea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lawrence-durrell/clea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Durrell#Clea_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:30" }, { "id": "cc1d85d4-249e-41b0-8463-d91e61708379", "slug": "the-causes-of-illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/the-causes-of-illusions", "text": "\"The causes of illusions are not pretty to discover. They’re either vicious or tragic.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 332, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_II_(_Ellsworth_M._Toohey_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "583d13e6-c33c-4dd1-b0fe-1dbcca76a2f9", "slug": "all-the-mystery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/tales-from-earthsea/all-the-mystery", "text": "All the mystery and wisdom of the Masters, when it’s out in the daylight, doesn’t amount to so much, you know. Tricks of the trade—wonderful illusions. But people don’t want to know that. They want the illusions, the mysteries. Who can blame them? There’s so little in life that’s beautiful or worthy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "Tales from Earthsea", "slug": "tales-from-earthsea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/tales-from-earthsea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 199, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#Tales_from_Earthsea_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:58" }, { "id": "0b19edd7-6ab3-4b1d-99d2-81e3be54d36a", "slug": "summon-up-a-supper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-tombs-of-atuan/summon-up-a-supper", "text": "“Summon up a supper,” he said. “Oh, I could. On golden plates, if you like. But that’s illusion, and when you eat illusions you end up hungrier than before.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Tombs of Atuan", "slug": "the-tombs-of-atuan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-tombs-of-atuan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Tombs_of_Atuan_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:56" }, { "id": "c5edaecb-60a2-41ca-a3f4-98c3044848aa", "slug": "youre-going-up-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/survivor/youre-going-up-and", "text": "You're going up and up and up and not getting anywhere. It's the illusion of progress. What you want to think is your salvation. What people forget is a journey to nowhere starts with a single step, too.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Survivor", "slug": "survivor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/survivor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Survivor_(Palahniuk_novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:19" }, { "id": "be08dfad-9106-4e6a-9a41-15d98ee008ee", "slug": "he-had-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace/he-had-one", "text": "He had one illusion — France; and one disillusion — mankind, including Frenchmen, and his colleagues not least.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Maynard Keynes", "slug": "john-maynard-keynes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes" }, "book": { "title": "The Economic Consequences of the Peace", "slug": "the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 32, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "disappointment", "slug": "disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes#The_Economic_Consequences_of_the_Peace_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:53" }, { "id": "bdf6f92c-8f7c-447c-9732-3ff34ba0b2cc", "slug": "most-people-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/night/most-people-thought", "text": "Most people thought we would remain in the ghetto until the end of the war, until the arrival of the Red Army. Afterward everything would be as before. The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Elie Wiesel", "slug": "elie-wiesel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel" }, "book": { "title": "Night", "slug": "night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/elie-wiesel/night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel#Night_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:20" }, { "id": "bdf11b65-2bd8-4a25-bebd-856bbcb58bf9", "slug": "illusions-comes-from", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/illusions-comes-from", "text": "Illusions comes from heaven and mistakes come from us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:08" }, { "id": "a12bdce8-7c99-4345-99b8-54982c6431de", "slug": "one-must-be-an-illusionary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-must-be-an-illusionary", "text": "One must be an illusionary rather than a visionary.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:08" }, { "id": "8f5894e6-fc4d-43a9-b3f9-ec6ecf10b288", "slug": "most-people-live", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights/most-people-live", "text": "Most people live in a half-dream all their lives and call it reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights", "slug": "the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Acts_of_King_Arthur_and_His_Noble_Knights_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:05" }, { "id": "d7dc2326-660d-42f7-8512-ff4c590684e6", "slug": "if-you-search", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-de-mello/the-way-to-love/if-you-search", "text": "If you search within your heart, you will find something there that will make it possible for you to understand: a spark of disenchantment and discontent, which if fanned into flame will become a raging forest fire that will burn up the whole of the illusory world you are living in, thereby unveiling to your wondering eyes the kingdom that you have always lived in unsuspectingly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony De Mello", "slug": "anthony-de-mello", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-de-mello" }, "book": { "title": "The Way to Love", "slug": "the-way-to-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-de-mello/the-way-to-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "spirituality", "slug": "spirituality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/spirituality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_de_Mello#The_Way_to_Love_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:48" }, { "id": "9d790cc4-9540-49f6-b7d7-042facbc44a8", "slug": "once-upon-a-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars/once-upon-a-time", "text": "Once upon a time she had suffered under the illusion that if she only exerted herself hard enough, the world would change. Now she knew better.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kim Stanley Robinson", "slug": "kim-stanley-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Mars", "slug": "blue-mars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kim-stanley-robinson/blue-mars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 616, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson#Blue_Mars_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:46" }, { "id": "0c00b166-d37e-4883-a3c0-967db23e30bd", "slug": "they-have-founded", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man/they-have-founded", "text": "They have founded the whole structure of their happiness on these very illusions, which ought to be combated and dissipated by the light of knowledge, and they would think they were paying too dearly for a truth which begins by robbing them of all that has value in their sight. It would be necessary that they should be already sages to love wisdom: a truth that was felt at once by him to whom philosophy owes its name.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Friedrich Schiller", "slug": "friedrich-schiller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller" }, "book": { "title": "On the Aesthetic Education of Man", "slug": "on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller#On_the_Aesthetic_Education_of_Man_(1794)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:35" }, { "id": "0e2823cf-7a24-472e-8483-9e25fcfd4c3c", "slug": "to-be-cynical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy/to-be-cynical", "text": "To be cynical is not the same as avoiding illusion, for cynicism is just another kind of illusion. All formulas for meeting life -- even many philosophies -- are illusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Deptford Trilogy", "slug": "the-deptford-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "cynicism", "slug": "cynicism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cynicism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Deptford_Trilogy#(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:14" }, { "id": "989f147a-102e-4d3c-bd87-576ad58f3ffa", "slug": "action-is-consolatory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/nostromo/action-is-consolatory", "text": "Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Nostromo", "slug": "nostromo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/nostromo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "taking action", "slug": "taking-action", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad#Nostromo_(1904)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:11" }, { "id": "7c9bf7a8-5e84-47a5-84d2-4dd50902bcca", "slug": "we-must-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image/we-must-first", "text": "We must first awake before we can walk in the right direction. We must discover our illusions before we can even realize that we have been sleepwalking. The least and the most we can hope for is that each of us may penetrate the unknown jungle of images in which we live our daily lives. That we may discover anew where dreams end and where illusions begin. This is enough. Then we may know where we are, and each of us may decide for himself where he wants to go.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel J. Boorstin", "slug": "daniel-j-boorstin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin" }, "book": { "title": "The Image", "slug": "the-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 261, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin#The_Image:_A_Guide_to_Pseudo-Events_in_America_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:07" }, { "id": "581b154c-41a5-4342-8c9c-f8138d2cf370", "slug": "by-a-diabolical", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image/by-a-diabolical", "text": "By a diabolical irony the very facsimiles of the world which we make on purpose to bring it within our grasp, to make it less elusive, have transported us into a new world of blurs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel J. Boorstin", "slug": "daniel-j-boorstin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin" }, "book": { "title": "The Image", "slug": "the-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 213, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin#The_Image:_A_Guide_to_Pseudo-Events_in_America_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:07" }, { "id": "42c54ea5-19da-4894-9591-4ef5206f5e55", "slug": "pseudo-events-do-of-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image/pseudo-events-do-of-course", "text": "Pseudo‑events do, of course, increase our illusion of grasp on the world, what some have called the American illusion of omnipotence. Perhaps, we come to think, the world’s problems can really be settled by “statements,” by “Summit” meetings, by a competition of “prestige,” by overshadowing images, and by political quiz shows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel J. Boorstin", "slug": "daniel-j-boorstin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin" }, "book": { "title": "The Image", "slug": "the-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 44, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "media", "slug": "media", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin#The_Image:_A_Guide_to_Pseudo-Events_in_America_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:07" }, { "id": "eb07a98b-d808-4e37-b8b5-748a4d5b84ae", "slug": "we-suffer-primarily", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image/we-suffer-primarily", "text": "We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel J. Boorstin", "slug": "daniel-j-boorstin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin" }, "book": { "title": "The Image", "slug": "the-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin#The_Image:_A_Guide_to_Pseudo-Events_in_America_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:06" }, { "id": "80a4a9f2-1db4-4ef3-9cb6-592f1f0b79d3", "slug": "the-american-citizen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image/the-american-citizen", "text": "The American citizen thus lives in a world where fantasy is more real than reality, where the image has more dignity than its original. We hardly dare face our bewilderment, because our ambiguous experience is so pleasantly iridescent, and the solace of belief in contrived reality is so thoroughly real. We have become eager accessories to the great hoaxes of the age. These are the hoaxes we play on ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel J. Boorstin", "slug": "daniel-j-boorstin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin" }, "book": { "title": "The Image", "slug": "the-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-j-boorstin/the-image" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 37, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Boorstin#The_Image:_A_Guide_to_Pseudo-Events_in_America_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:06" }, { "id": "62a090b0-c22d-45f5-b16e-8e99ad50e509", "slug": "credulity-is-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-mackay/extraordinary-popular-delusions-and-the-madness-of-crowds/credulity-is-always", "text": "Credulity is always greatest in times of calamity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Mackay", "slug": "charles-mackay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-mackay" }, "book": { "title": "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", "slug": "extraordinary-popular-delusions-and-the-madness-of-crowds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-mackay/extraordinary-popular-delusions-and-the-madness-of-crowds" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay_(author)#Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds_(1841)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:06" }, { "id": "b38eb8e4-c2cd-4c6e-ab87-294d0c02cfa0", "slug": "he-saw-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/he-saw-that", "text": "He saw that he had committed the prime sin against survival: He had indulged in wishful thinking.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 498, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:01" }, { "id": "26b903b4-78e7-4444-9e71-0bce38a95ba3", "slug": "how-can-i-possibly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow/how-can-i-possibly", "text": "How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "The Past Through Tomorrow", "slug": "the-past-through-tomorrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/the-past-through-tomorrow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#The_Past_Through_Tomorrow_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:55" }, { "id": "7fc691f3-be6e-4a92-990f-b1b6e9d510e3", "slug": "it-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-kenneth-galbraith/the-great-crash-1929/it-was-not", "text": "It was not hard to persuade people that the market was sound; as always in such times they asked only that the disturbing voices of doubt be muted and that there be tolerably frequent expressions of confidence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Kenneth Galbraith", "slug": "john-kenneth-galbraith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-kenneth-galbraith" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Crash 1929", "slug": "the-great-crash-1929", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-kenneth-galbraith/the-great-crash-1929" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith#The_Great_Crash,_1929_(1954_and_1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:54" }, { "id": "8a6fa328-616c-4b73-901c-72b9113a161a", "slug": "evil-men-could", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end/evil-men-could", "text": "Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "Childhood's End", "slug": "childhoods-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/childhoods-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Childhood's_End#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:52" }, { "id": "42bd69e6-9b67-4d3c-8108-31257196a68c", "slug": "religious-doctrines-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/religious-doctrines-are", "text": "Religious doctrines … are all illusions, they do not admit of proof, and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or to believe in them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:48" }, { "id": "2eec077f-95eb-4aa8-891e-1ede5c4bda43", "slug": "a-poor-girl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion/a-poor-girl", "text": "A poor girl may have an illusion that a prince will come and fetch her home. It is possible, some such cases have occurred. That the Messiah will come and found a golden age is much less probable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "The Future of an Illusion", "slug": "the-future-of-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/the-future-of-an-illusion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#The_Future_of_an_Illusion_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:48" }, { "id": "0c39d8c7-05ae-4894-a930-73de7061ad1d", "slug": "all-those-pathetically", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hunter-s-thompson/fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas/all-those-pathetically", "text": "All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours, too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped to create...a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody-or at least some force-is tending the Light at the end of the tunnel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hunter S. Thompson", "slug": "hunter-s-thompson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hunter-s-thompson" }, "book": { "title": "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "slug": "fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hunter-s-thompson/fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "drugs", "slug": "drugs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/drugs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fear_and_Loathing_in_Las_Vegas_(novel)#11._Fraud%3F_Larceny%3F_Rape%3F_A_Brutal_Connection_with_the_Alice_from_Linen_Service", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:09" }, { "id": "1c7ea5dc-1dd5-4ef4-a31b-3432910f6a53", "slug": "this-silly-playlet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano/this-silly-playlet", "text": "This silly playlet seemed to satisfy them completely as a picture of what they were doing, why they were doing it, and who was against them, and why some people were against them. It was a beautifully simple picture these procession leaders had. It was as though a navigator, in order to free his mind of worries, had erased all the reefs from his maps.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Player Piano", "slug": "player-piano", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 212, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Player_Piano_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:34" }, { "id": "c495f8bf-6948-4df5-963c-c00287e840b5", "slug": "this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile/this-is-the", "text": "This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing ...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "Antifragile", "slug": "antifragile", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 84, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#Antifragile:_Things_That_Gain_from_Disorder_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:33" }, { "id": "ddb6adca-c474-4a0d-b395-ec67926b22e6", "slug": "consider-that-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-black-swan/consider-that-the", "text": "Consider that the turkey's experience may have, rather than no value, a negative value. It learned from observation, as we are all advised to do (hey, after all, this is what is believed to be the scientific method). Its confidence increased as the number of friendly feedings grew, and it felt increasingly safe even though the slaughter was more and more imminent. Consider that the feeling of safety reached its maximum when the risk was at the highest!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Black Swan", "slug": "the-black-swan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-black-swan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 40, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "risk", "slug": "risk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/risk" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:31" }, { "id": "f211ad12-0638-483a-9cbd-eb321c613b3f", "slug": "in-spite-of-ferocious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell/in-spite-of-ferocious", "text": "In spite of ferocious differences of opinion about other moral issues, there seems to be something approaching consensus that it is cruel and malicious to interfere with the life-enhancing illusions of others —unless those illusions are themselves the cause of even greater ills. The disagreements come over what these greater ills might be- and this has led to the break down of the whole rationale. Keeping secrets from people for their own good can often be wise, but it takes only one person to give away a secret, and since there are disagreements about which cases warrant discretion, the result is an unsavory miasma of hypocrisy, lies, and frantic but fruitless attempts at distraction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Breaking the Spell", "slug": "breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "91ba5644-f077-4dab-a863-dc65697aee9d", "slug": "in-the-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-antonia/in-the-course", "text": "In the course of twenty crowded years one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "My Antonia", "slug": "my-antonia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/my-antonia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#My_Antonia_(1918)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "d6578e10-9d8d-4f1d-a8f6-9c871fb3173a", "slug": "sherlock-holmes-quoting", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes/sherlock-holmes-quoting", "text": "[Sherlock Holmes quoting:] \"There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Conan Doyle", "slug": "arthur-conan-doyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle" }, "book": { "title": "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "slug": "the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle/the-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes#A_Case_of_Identity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:40" }, { "id": "bacd5f77-fdfe-458d-b5f0-280c70d662e0", "slug": "on-the-throne", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian/on-the-throne", "text": "On the throne of the world, any delusion becomes fact.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "Julian", "slug": "julian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#Julian_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:18" }, { "id": "9f5216dc-ebda-4d52-9594-61ab6db450a8", "slug": "the-hostess-is-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/orlando/the-hostess-is-our", "text": "The hostess is our modern Sibyl. She is a witch who lays her guests under a spell. In this house they think themselves happy; in that witty; in a third profound. It is all an illusion (which is nothing against it, for illusions are the most valuable and necessary of all things, and she who can create one is among the world's greatest benefactors), but as it is notorious that illusions are shattered by conflict with reality, so no real happiness, no real wit, no real profundity are tolerated where the illusion prevails.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virginia Woolf", "slug": "virginia-woolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf" }, "book": { "title": "Orlando", "slug": "orlando", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/orlando" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#Orlando:_A_Biography_(1928)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:17" }, { "id": "a550a9ac-a034-4516-ba8d-26dae4976f91", "slug": "isnt-a-miserable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch/isnt-a-miserable", "text": "Isn’t a miserable reality better than the most interesting illusion? Or is it illusion, Barney? I don’t know anything about philosophy; you explain it to me because all I know is religious faith and that doesn’t equip me to understand this.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", "slug": "the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 143, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#The_Three_Stigmata_of_Palmer_Eldritch_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:05" }, { "id": "bdca32c3-52ad-4ea9-9680-ef6b4130f11e", "slug": "learning-a-language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/whipping-star/learning-a-language", "text": "Learning a language represents training in the delusions of that language.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Whipping Star", "slug": "whipping-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/whipping-star" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 111, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert#Whipping_Star_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:56" }, { "id": "af4103b5-73ba-4e95-8c68-e6afda108b59", "slug": "providence-and-manifest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/whipping-star/providence-and-manifest", "text": "Providence and Manifest Destiny are synonyms often invoked to support arguments based on wishful thinking.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Whipping Star", "slug": "whipping-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/whipping-star" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 136, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert#Whipping_Star_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:56" }, { "id": "61ef7e22-8517-4d37-9de0-0da92300266f", "slug": "for-me-it-is-far", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world/for-me-it-is-far", "text": "For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Demon-Haunted World", "slug": "the-demon-haunted-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-demon-haunted-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 12, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Demon-Haunted_World_:_Science_as_a_Candle_in_the_Dark_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:29" }, { "id": "69ed32a5-9192-4f25-bbcd-64e3e9717fa4", "slug": "if-a-marker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/if-a-marker", "text": "If a marker were to be erected today, it might read, in homage to his scientific courage: “He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 67, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "7c35a777-5771-4646-8f8f-3b0fe716bc93", "slug": "what-peculiar-privilege", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/what-peculiar-privilege", "text": "What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe? Our partiality in our own favour does indeed present it on all occasions; but sound philosophy ought carefully to guard against so natural an illusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "72025e9d-fa53-4aa6-bc6d-6f8689db7031", "slug": "this-deficiency-in-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/this-deficiency-in-our", "text": "This deficiency in our ideas is not, indeed, perceived in common life, nor are we sensible, that in the most usual conjunctions of cause and effect we are as ignorant of the ultimate principle, which binds them together, as in the most unusual and extraordinary. But this proceeds merely from an illusion of the imagination; and the question is, how far we ought to yield to these illusions. This question is very difficult, and reduces us to a very dangerous dilemma, whichever way we answer it. For if we assent to every trivial suggestion of the fancy; beside that these suggestions are often contrary to each other; they lead us into such errors, absurdities, and obscurities, that we must at last become asham'd of our credulity. Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers. Men of bright fancies may in this respect be compar'd to those angels, whom the scripture represents as covering their eyes with their wings. This has already appear'd in so many instances, that we may spare ourselves the trouble of enlarging upon it any farther.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "10e834f2-31c7-41e3-a8dd-d8970d0daf42", "slug": "love-has-a-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede/love-has-a-way", "text": "Love has a way of cheating itself consciously, like a child who plays at solitary hide-and-seek; it is pleased with assurances that it all the while disbelieves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Adam Bede", "slug": "adam-bede", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot#Adam_Bede_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:49" }, { "id": "4fa2290d-00d8-4c4b-962d-4a6f24d2557d", "slug": "ingenuity-was-apparently", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august/ingenuity-was-apparently", "text": "... ingenuity was apparently given man in order that he may supply himself in crisis with shapes and sounds with which to guard himself from truth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Faulkner", "slug": "william-faulkner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner" }, "book": { "title": "Light in August", "slug": "light-in-august", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner#Light_in_August_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:45" }, { "id": "08ad676a-a3b2-4e47-8f07-68b72ba41c1d", "slug": "when-the-shadow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/the-sound-and-the-fury/when-the-shadow", "text": "When the shadow of the sash appeared in the curtains it was between seven and eight oclock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said \"I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excrutiatingly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Faulkner", "slug": "william-faulkner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner" }, "book": { "title": "The Sound and the Fury", "slug": "the-sound-and-the-fury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/the-sound-and-the-fury" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "victory", "slug": "victory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/victory" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner#The_Sound_and_the_Fury_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:44" }, { "id": "50751f9c-8c7f-4088-98a8-acbea1098af0", "slug": "existence-would-be-a-quite", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/existence-would-be-a-quite", "text": "Existence would be a quite impracticable enterprise if we stopped granting importance to what has none.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:43" }, { "id": "f60a1b85-9ac9-4238-b0f8-539cbf7d7e7e", "slug": "self-knowledge-the-bitterest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/self-knowledge-the-bitterest", "text": "Self-knowledge — the bitterest knowledge of all and also the kind we cultivate least: what is the use of catching ourselves out, morning to night, in the act of illusion, pitilessly tracing each act back to its root, and losing case after case before our own tribunal?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:42" }, { "id": "e2358616-322b-4a66-9281-74b7b3b17302", "slug": "each-of-us-believes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/each-of-us-believes", "text": "Each of us believes, quite unconsciously of course, that we alone pursue the truth, which the rest are incapable of seeking out and unworthy of attaining. This madness is so deep-rooted and so useful that it is impossible to realize what would become of each of us if it were someday to disappear.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:42" }, { "id": "d62d1554-bd49-45f7-b713-31b5893883e7", "slug": "i-get-along", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/i-get-along", "text": "I get along quite well with someone only when he is at his lowest point and has neither the desire nor the strength to restore his habitual illusions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "relationships", "slug": "relationships", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:41" }, { "id": "b8b8b211-c3b5-4e09-8e8d-21e1e8ec05a2", "slug": "what-is-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/what-is-there", "text": "What is there to kindle the hearts of lovers for whom this perfection is nothing, for whom the loved one is merely the means to sensual pleasure? Nay, not thus is the heart kindled, not thus does it abandon itself to those sublime transports which form the rapture of lovers and the charm of love. Love is an illusion, I grant you, but its reality consists in the feelings it awakes, in the love of true beauty which it inspires. That beauty is not to be found in the object of our affections, it is the creation of our illusions. What matter! do we not still sacrifice all those baser feelings to the imaginary model? and we still feed our hearts on the virtues we attribute to the beloved, we still withdraw ourselves from the baseness of human nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:37" }, { "id": "e3f036db-e16e-4f82-9030-000abbbc6dca", "slug": "touched-with-compassion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/touched-with-compassion", "text": "Touched with compassion towards human weaknesses through the profound conviction of his own failings, he viewed all men as the victims of their own vices and those of others; he beheld the poor groaning under the tyranny of the rich, and the rich under the tyranny of their own prejudices. \"Believe me,\" said he, \"our illusions, far from concealing our woes, only increase them by giving value to what is in itself valueless, in making us aware of all sorts of fancied privations which we should not otherwise feel. Peace of heart consists in despising everything that might disturb that peace; the man who clings most closely to life is the man who can least enjoy it; and the man who most eagerly desires happiness is always most miserable.\" \"What gloomy ideas!\" I exclaimed bitterly. \"If we must deny ourselves everything, we might as well never have been born; and if we must despise even happiness itself who can be happy?\" \"I am,\" replied the priest one day, in a tone which made a great impression on me. \"You happy! So little favoured by fortune, so poor, an exile and persecuted, you are happy! How have you contrived to be happy?\" \"My child,\" he answered, \"I will gladly tell you.\" Thereupon he explained that, having heard my confessions, he would confess to me. \"I will open my whole heart to yours,\" he said, embracing me. \"You will see me, if not as I am, at least as I seem to myself. When you have heard my whole confession of faith, when you really know the condition of my heart, you will know why I think myself happy, and if you think as I do, you will know how to be happy too. But these explanations are not the affair of a moment, it will take time to show you all my ideas about the lot of man and the true value of life; let us choose a fitting time and a place where we may continue this conversation without interruption.\" I showed him how eager I was to hear him. The meeting was fixed for the very next morning. It was summer time; we rose at daybreak. He took me out of the town on to a high hill above the river Po, whose course we beheld as it flowed between its fertile banks; in the distance the landscape was crowned by the vast chain of the Alps; the beams of the rising sun already touched the plains and cast across the fields long shadows of trees, hillocks, and houses, and enriched with a thousand gleams of light the fairest picture which the human eye can see. You would have thought that nature was displaying all her splendour before our eyes to furnish a text for our conversation. After contemplating this scene for a space in silence, the man of peace spoke to me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "600e25c1-4f68-4746-9279-d980396d8f1c", "slug": "it-is-an-illusion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage/it-is-an-illusion", "text": "It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched, for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real they are bruised and wounded.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Of Human Bondage", "slug": "of-human-bondage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Of_Human_Bondage_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:25" }, { "id": "19ca3c08-4a83-466f-b06e-8c3550173cd9", "slug": "the-philosophy-of-bergson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-philosophy-of-bergson", "text": "The philosophy of Bergson, which is a spiritualist restoration, essentially mystical, medieval, Quixotesque, has been called a demi-mondaine philosophy. Leave out the demi; call it mondaine, mundane. Mundane — yes, a philosophy for the world and not for philosophers, just as chemistry ought to be not for chemists alone. The world desires illusion (mundus vult decipi) — either the illusion antecedent to reason, which is poetry, or the illusion subsequent to reason, which is religion. And Machiavelli has said that whosoever wishes to delude will always find someone willing to be deluded. Blessed are they who are easily befooled!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "d0e88492-fa05-47b7-b6d1-6033783ff7ec", "slug": "it-need-hardly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/it-need-hardly", "text": "It need hardly be said that the subtlest practitioners of DOUBLETHINK are those who invented DOUBLETHINK and know that it is a vast system of mental cheating. In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "self-deception", "slug": "self-deception", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-deception" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "cacde380-048f-4aa8-afd6-bdc9137aa1a4", "slug": "in-africa-a-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/true-at-first-light/in-africa-a-thing", "text": "In Africa a thing is true at first light and a lie by noon and you have no more respect for it than for the lovely, perfect wood-fringed lake you see across the sun-baked salt plain. You have walked across that plain in the morning and you know that no such lake is there. But now it is there absolutely true, beautiful and believable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "True At First Light", "slug": "true-at-first-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/true-at-first-light" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#True_at_First_Light_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:08" }, { "id": "210dac66-dc1f-4f7e-9b6c-eeb3efbbc047", "slug": "i-was-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-farewell-to-arms/i-was-always", "text": "I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "A Farewell to Arms", "slug": "a-farewell-to-arms", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-farewell-to-arms" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#A_Farewell_to_Arms_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:04" }, { "id": "0a73d4df-2b45-4365-a9b1-91f83a788880", "slug": "but-waiting-for", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/death-in-the-afternoon/but-waiting-for", "text": "But waiting for a messiah is a long business and you get many fake ones.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "Death in the Afternoon", "slug": "death-in-the-afternoon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/death-in-the-afternoon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#Death_in_the_Afternoon_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:04" }, { "id": "1816dfcf-ba26-4c02-8def-ab1d09a58954", "slug": "oh-jake-brett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/the-sun-also-rises/oh-jake-brett", "text": "'Oh, Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.'\n\nAhead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.\n\n'Yes,' I said. 'Isn't it pretty to think so?'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "The Sun Also Rises", "slug": "the-sun-also-rises", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/the-sun-also-rises" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "disappointment", "slug": "disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#The_Sun_Also_Rises_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:03" }, { "id": "713289ad-af3c-4748-9152-077c26296891", "slug": "the-hatefulness-of-a-hated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/the-hatefulness-of-a-hated", "text": "The hatefulness of a hated person is \"real\"—in hatred you see men as they are; you are disillusioned; but the loveliness of a loved person is merely a subjective haze concealing a \"real\" core of sexual appetite or economic association. Wars and poverty are \"really\" horrible; peace and plenty are mere physical facts about which men happen to have certain sentiments.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "C. S. Lewis", "slug": "c-s-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Screwtape Letters", "slug": "the-screwtape-letters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis#The_Screwtape_Letters_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:02" }, { "id": "7f3dbc85-0f3e-4464-92b7-f1ebce41860b", "slug": "there-is-wishful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/there-is-wishful", "text": "There is wishful thinking in Hell as well as on Earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "C. S. Lewis", "slug": "c-s-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Screwtape Letters", "slug": "the-screwtape-letters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis#The_Screwtape_Letters_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:01" }, { "id": "118c98a4-5026-449a-b731-89a35002114a", "slug": "romance-only-dies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/where-angels-fear-to-tread/romance-only-dies", "text": "Romance only dies with life. No pair of pincers will ever pull it out of us. But there is a spurious sentiment which cannot resist the unexpected and the incongruous and the grotesque. A touch will loosen it, and the sooner it goes from us the better.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "E.M. Forster", "slug": "em-forster", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster" }, "book": { "title": "Where Angels Fear to Tread", "slug": "where-angels-fear-to-tread", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/where-angels-fear-to-tread" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._M._Forster#Where_Angels_Fear_to_Tread_(1905)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:00" }, { "id": "70516b7d-4bcf-483c-b808-40e300dba3fa", "slug": "the-more-i-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man/the-more-i-thought", "text": "The more I thought it over, Kemp, the more I realised what a helpless absurdity an Invisible Man was—in a cold and dirty climate and a crowded civilised city. Before I made this mad experiment I had dreamt of a thousand advantages. That afternoon it seemed all disappointment. I went over the heads of the things a man reckons desirable. No doubt invisibility made it possible to get them, but it made it impossible to enjoy them when they are got. Ambition—what is the good of pride of place when you cannot appear there? What is the good of the love of woman when her name must needs be Delilah? I have no taste for politics, for the blackguardisms of fame, for philanthropy, for sport. What was I to do? And for this I had become a wrapped-up mystery, a swathed and bandaged caricature of a man!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Invisible Man", "slug": "the-invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" }, { "name": "disappointment", "slug": "disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Invisible_Man_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:57" }, { "id": "dbddebd6-c2e1-42bc-a99e-3d62ede0c6e3", "slug": "we-must-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice/we-must-not", "text": "\"We must not be so ready to fancy ourselves intentionally injured. We must not expect a lively young man to be always so guarded and circumspect. It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does.\"\n\n\"And men take care that they should.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Pride and Prejudice", "slug": "pride-and-prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice#Chapters_21-30", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:52" }, { "id": "720341cc-513f-4afb-b8de-dd722d87e9cd", "slug": "to-such-perseverance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice/to-such-perseverance", "text": "To such perseverance in wilful self-deception, Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and whose behaviour at least could not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Pride and Prejudice", "slug": "pride-and-prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice#Chapters_11-20", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:52" }, { "id": "fd53ec15-9c68-4d59-8dde-6d1766475c15", "slug": "innumerable-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/innumerable-are-the", "text": "Innumerable are the illusions and legerdemain-tricks of Custom: but of all these, perhaps the cleverest is her knack of persuading us that the Miraculous, by simple repetition, ceases to be Miraculous.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "c229892c-369b-41dc-a109-e35d6e0c0571", "slug": "but-deepest-of-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/but-deepest-of-all", "text": "But deepest of all illusory Appearances, for hiding Wonder, as for many other ends, are your two grand fundamental world-enveloping Appearances, SPACE and TIME. These, as spun and woven for us from before Birth itself, to clothe our celestial ME for dwelling here, and yet to blind it, — lie all-embracing, as the universal canvas, or warp and woof, whereby all minor Illusions, in this Phantasm Existence, weave and paint themselves. In vain, while here on Earth, shall you endeavor to strip them off; you can, at best, but rend them asunder for moments, and look through.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "59198d01-d29d-4083-aa3a-ab406b7d25a5", "slug": "it-is-difficult", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-is-difficult", "text": "It is difficult to attain a high ideal; consequently, it is almost impossible to persuade ourselves that we have attained it. But it is easy to attain a low ideal; consequently, it is easier still to persuade ourselves that we have attained it when we have done nothing of the kind. To take a random example. It might be called a high ambition to wish to be an archangel; the man who entertained such an ideal would very possibly exhibit asceticism, or even frenzy, but not, I think, delusion. He would not think he was an archangel, and go about flapping his hands under the impression that they were wings. But suppose that a sane man had a low ideal; suppose he wished to be a gentleman. Any one who knows the world knows that in nine weeks he would have persuaded himself that he was a gentleman; and this being manifestly not the case, the result will be very real and practical dislocations and calamities in social life. It is not the wild ideals which wreck the practical world; it is the tame ideals.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XVIII:_%22The_Fallacy_of_the_Young_Nation%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "99106f62-9d6c-4979-8afc-048deec8d8a9", "slug": "if-he-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/if-he-had", "text": "If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:33" }, { "id": "53eec288-2e4e-4bd4-bfcf-1b7e4376c9c7", "slug": "the-easiest-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-gods-themselves/the-easiest-way", "text": "The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "The Gods Themselves", "slug": "the-gods-themselves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-gods-themselves" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 236, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#The_Gods_Themselves_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:24" }, { "id": "80cd4d97-1c7e-4a96-bdd9-601a569a2cd9", "slug": "he-is-a-dreamer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation-and-empire/he-is-a-dreamer", "text": "He is a dreamer of ancient times, or rather, of the myths of what ancient times used to be. Such men are harmless in themselves, but their queer lack of realism makes them fools for others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "Foundation and Empire", "slug": "foundation-and-empire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation-and-empire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Foundation_and_Empire_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:21" }, { "id": "ac5cb222-b6f6-42cc-bb2b-548f2494e945", "slug": "i-tell-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel/i-tell-you", "text": "I tell you I know the type of people that become Medievalists. They’re soft, dreamy people who find life too hard for them here and get lost in an ideal world of the past that never really existed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "The Caves of Steel", "slug": "the-caves-of-steel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 141, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#The_Caves_of_Steel_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:19" }, { "id": "c7a18d4a-c02f-4482-8d97-bfa640244f28", "slug": "the-person-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/the-person-one", "text": "The person one loves never really exists, but is a projection focused through the lens of the mind onto whatever screen it fits with least distortion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 269, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Collected_Stories_of_Arthur_C._Clarke_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:16" }, { "id": "63bb3deb-dac0-41d5-8ae8-0b5dd6a2d8e9", "slug": "there-were-some", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/there-were-some", "text": "There were some things that only time could cure. Evil men could be destroyed but nothing could be done about good men who were deluded.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 220, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "time", "slug": "time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Collected_Stories_of_Arthur_C._Clarke_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:16" }, { "id": "97a9e6d0-b6de-45eb-9d60-6cc9dcc64a89", "slug": "even-though-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/even-though-you", "text": "Even though you were once a goddess, Kalidasa's heaven was only an illusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountains Of Paradise", "slug": "the-fountains-of-paradise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 67, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Fountains_of_Paradise_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:15" }, { "id": "8cefb24f-aa2b-422f-8b16-91e4e2d96f66", "slug": "after-a-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/therese-raquin/after-a-time", "text": "After a time, she believed in the reality of this comedy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emile Zola", "slug": "emile-zola", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola" }, "book": { "title": "Thérèse Raquin", "slug": "therese-raquin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/therese-raquin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola#Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Raquin_(1867%3B_1868)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:10" }, { "id": "764d8ad4-6dbc-4a1b-8e97-409b5fff6062", "slug": "she-would-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/therese-raquin/she-would-have", "text": "She would have cursed the Almighty had she been able to shout out a blasphemy. Providence had deceived her for over sixty years, by treating her as a gentle, good little girl, by amusing her with lying representations of tranquil joy. And she had remained a child, senselessly believing in a thousand silly things, and unable to see life as it really is, dragging along in the sanguinary filth of passions. Providence was bad; it should have told her the truth before, or have allowed her to continue in her innocence and blindness. Now, it only remained for her to die, denying love, denying friendship, denying devotedness. Nothing existed but murder and lust.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emile Zola", "slug": "emile-zola", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola" }, "book": { "title": "Thérèse Raquin", "slug": "therese-raquin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emile-zola/therese-raquin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola#Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Raquin_(1867%3B_1868)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:10" }, { "id": "be113f21-1792-4396-b48d-c958468f6bfd", "slug": "the-highfalutin-aims", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report/the-highfalutin-aims", "text": "The highfalutin aims of democracy, whether real or imaginary, are always assumed to be identical with its achievements. This, of course, is sheer hallucination. Not one of those aims, not even the aim of giving every adult a vote, has been realized. It has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "Minority Report", "slug": "minority-report", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/minority-report" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#Minority_Report_:_H.L._Mencken's_Notebooks_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:03" }, { "id": "924afa46-4ba7-4e66-8620-112123bcce2f", "slug": "love-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/love-is-the", "text": "Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:02" }, { "id": "8249f030-c016-432a-93ea-288b905654bb", "slug": "the-most-costly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/the-most-costly", "text": "The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:01" }, { "id": "74272657-43d1-4926-9a18-5630471df051", "slug": "an-idealist-is-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/an-idealist-is-one", "text": "An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.L. Mencken", "slug": "hl-mencken", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken" }, "book": { "title": "A Mencken Chrestomathy", "slug": "a-mencken-chrestomathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#A_Mencken_Chrestomathy_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:01" }, { "id": "292b7037-8c91-49f0-a8d1-f46266a3fb5d", "slug": "he-discovered-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death/he-discovered-the", "text": "He discovered the cruel paradox by which we always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love — first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "A Happy Death", "slug": "a-happy-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#A_Happy_Death_(written_1936-38_(published_in_1971,_over_11_years_after_the_author's_death))", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:55" }, { "id": "be546f02-cfab-4f01-ae46-6294f918a226", "slug": "quest-ce-quoptimisme-disait", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/quest-ce-quoptimisme-disait", "text": "Qu’est-ce qu’optimisme? disait Cacambo. — Hélas! dit Candide, c’est la rage de soutenir que tout est bien quand on est mal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Voltaire", "slug": "voltaire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire" }, "book": { "title": "Candide", "slug": "candide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Candide#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:54" }, { "id": "bd7d1f17-fc1f-461f-ba1f-a78b0a81c00b", "slug": "if-this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/if-this-is-the", "text": "If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Voltaire", "slug": "voltaire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire" }, "book": { "title": "Candide", "slug": "candide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Candide_(1759)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:54" }, { "id": "7b66e6e0-dcbc-471a-aa97-8dc270db9f4b", "slug": "optimism-said-cacambo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/optimism-said-cacambo", "text": "\"Optimism,\" said Cacambo, \"What is that?\" \"Alas!\" replied Candide, \"It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Voltaire", "slug": "voltaire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire" }, "book": { "title": "Candide", "slug": "candide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Candide_(1759)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:54" }, { "id": "c43ba313-d1c6-40c3-90bc-f0e7e84f4caa", "slug": "but-by-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/but-by-and", "text": "But by and large the animals enjoyed these celebrations. They found it comforting to be reminded that, after all, they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their own benefit. So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer's lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Animal Farm", "slug": "animal-farm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Animal_Farm#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:31" } ] }