Quotes about reality

“Tell me, Tengo, as a novelist, what is your definition of reality?”

“When you prick a person with a needle, red blood comes out—that’s the real world,” Tengo replied.

“It’s just that you’re about to do something out of the ordinary…

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Right. And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. But don’t let appearances fool you. There’s always only one reality.”

Nothing beats a long wait at a bus stop as a reality check.

“That’s assuming that the Singularity hasn’t already happened,” said Victor. “And we’re not sentient virtual personalities inhabiting a simulation of reality.”

“How would we know?” I said.

“I’m a magician, I am,” he said. “I can see things that are really there.”

None of this was real.

But I’ve learned that just because something isn’t real doesn’t mean it’s not important.

At that age, Alice had grasped the idea that some things in books were real, and others were not.

… In other words, it is always easier to deny reality than to allow our worldview to be shattered …

In any disagreement between what we want to be true and what is true, physical reality wins every time.

She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well and, if we so desire, it is legitimate to enhance it and color it to make our journey through life less trying. (p22)

When reality does not coincide with deeply held beliefs, human beings tend to phrase interpretations that force reality within the scope of these beliefs. They devise formulas to repress the unthinkable and to bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse.

Kallik’s explanation was neat, logical, and complete. Like most such explanations, it was, in Hans Rebka’s view, almost certainly wrong. That was not the way the real world operated.