You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Perception is unreliable when imagination or mental focus is misaligned.
- In plain terms
- You cannot trust what you see if your imagination is not focused.
- What can you take from it?
- Focus and imagination influence how we perceive reality.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much of what you see is real?
- Does your mind color your vision?
Another view
The quote implies imagination always distorts sight which is not always true.
More from Mark Twain
If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. (Sometimes quoted as newspapers.)
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