Reality quotes

Reality

10.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

10.1K quotes

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Browse quotes that often appear alongside reality — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

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Reality quotes (page 40 of 507)

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Susan Sontag Essayist, Critic, Activist
Reality

"Any photograph has multiple meanings: indeed, to see something in the form of a photograph is to encounter a potential object of fascination. The ultimate wisdom of the photographic image is to say: “There is the surface. Now think – or rather feel, intuit – what is beyond it, what the reality must be like if it looks this way.’ Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy"

Thinking Reality Fascination
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Immanuel Wallerstein Sociologist
Reality

"What is different in capitalist civilization has been two things. First, the process of meritocracy has been proclaimed as an official virtue instead of being merely a de facto reality. The culture has been different. And secondly, the percentage of the world's population for whom such ascent was possible has gone up. But even though it has grown up, meritocratic ascent remains very much the attribute of a minority."

Two Reality Civilization
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Nhat Hanh Zen Master, Author
Reality

"To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is."

Reality Peace Truth
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Reality

"Wasn't it better if they kept this desire to see each other hidden within them, and never actually got together? That way, there would always be hope in their hearts. That hope would be a small, yet vital flame that warmed them to their core-- a tiny flame to cup one's hands around and protect from the wind, a flame that the violent winds of reality might easily extinguish."

Heart Reality Flames
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Margot Adler Author, Journalist
Reality

"The idea of polytheism is grounded in the view that reality (divine or otherwise) is multiple and diverse... Polytheism has allowed a multitude of distinct groups to exist more or less in harmony, despite great divergence in beliefs and practices."

Reality Views Practice
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George Orwell Writer, Journalist
Reality

"Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal."

Reality Party Mistake
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Leonardo DiCaprio Actor, Producer, Environmental Activist
Reality

"The good thing about acting is that it always keeps you on your toes... It's not like any other job where you can go in and do the same thing as yesterday."

Jobs Reality Yesterday
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James May Television presenter, journalist, and author
Reality

"The reality is that we do not have an air traffic control system that is smart enough and technologically capable enough to be able to handle that kind of demand."

Reality Air Smart
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Reality

"Characters who are absolutely sure about what they do, who plunge ahead without fear, are not that interesting. We don’t go through life that way. In reality, we have doubts just like everyone else. Bringing your Lead’s doubts to the surface in your plot pulls the reader deeper into the story, and this is an excellent way to coax the reader to lose himself in the story world you’re about to create."

Writing Character Reality
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Friedrich Nietzsche Philosopher, Writer
Reality

"When one speaks of humanity, the idea is fundamental that this is something which separates and distinguishes man from nature. In reality, however, there is no such separation: "natural" qualities and those called truly "human" are inseparably grown together. Man, in his highest and noblest capacities, is wholly nature and embodies its uncanny dual character. Those of his abilities which are terrifying and considered inhuman may even be the fertile soil out of which alone all humanity can grow in impulse, deed, and work."

Men Character Reality
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Khaled Mashal Political Leader
Reality

"As a Palestinian today I speak of a Palestinian and Arab demand for a state on 1967 borders. It is true that in reality there will be an entity or a state called Israel on the rest of Palestinian land. This is reality but I don’t deal with it from the point of view of recognizing or admitting it."

Reality Land Israel
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Jerry Garcia Musician
Reality

"If you can create a reality that is entirely fictitious, it doesn't owe anything to this stuff out here, but you interact with it on your own terms. I mean, if you took it to the point where finally you get, say, tactile feedback, so you were wired in in terms of the whole nervous system. The sensorium. You would have the ultimate art form. I mean, any painter would want it, any filmmaker would want access to it you know, any musician would want access to it. It would eliminate the need for the divisions between what we describe as the arts, converting the whole thing to experience."

Mean Art Reality
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Jose Saramago Writer
Reality

"The minds of human beings are not always entirely at one with the world in which they live, some people have trouble adjusting to reality, basically they're just weak, confused spirits who use words, sometimes very skillfully, to justify their cowardice."

People Reality Confused
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