Illusion is an anodyne, bred by the gap between wish and reality.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Illusions comfort us by smoothing over the distance between what we want and what is true.
- In plain terms
- We create false hopes to ease the pain of unmet desires.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize when comfort comes from denial.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do you use illusions to cope?
- Is comfort worth the cost of truth?
Another view
Sometimes illusion provides necessary temporary relief from overwhelming truth.
More from Herman Wouk
I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans.
Permalink to quote #8 Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
Permalink to quote #10 Deep in the heart of both critical Christian and alienated Jew, there is : a feeling, not even a feeling, a shadow of a notion, nothing more substantial than t…
Permalink to quote #7
Related quotes
Utter confusion/ Live on in your illusion/ That won't wear out
Charles MansonCharles Manson quote #16 It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation.
Leonard CohenLeonard Cohen quote #5 Ex umbris et imaginibus in vertitatem!
John Henry Cardinal NewmanJohn Henry Cardinal Newman quote #9