Although it was over 50 years ago, I have not forgotten the moment when, after exploring the maze of Indian metaphysics, I reached its central Thought. I read that if we go deeper and deeper into the self we can arrive at last at the recognition of Atman, the essential self; and that if we go deeper into the not-self, the world that seems so solid and real, pulling aside veil after veil of illusion, we shall find Brahman, the ultimate reality; and that Atman and Brahman are identical.

One of the delights beyond the grasp of youth is that of Not Going. Not to have an invitation for the dance, the party, the picnic, the excursion is to be diminished. To have an invitation and then not to be able to go — oh cursed spite! Now I do not care the rottenest fig whether I receive an invitation or not. After years of illusion, I finally decided I was missing nothing by Not Going. I no longer care whether I am missing anything or not.

By poetry we mean the art of employing of words in such a manner as to produce an illusion on the imagination; the art of doing by means of words, what the painter does by means of colors

Confidence is the illusion born of accidental success

Breaking away from the illusion of market objectivity is the first step towards understanding capitalism.

Breaking away from the illusion of market objectivity is the first step towards understanding capitalism.

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

It is easy to remove the mind from harping on the lost illusion of immortality. The disciplined intellect fears nothing and craves no sugar-plum at the day’s end, but is content to accept life and serve society as best it may.

The center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth.

That which we call substance and reality is shadow and illusion, and that which we call shadow and illusion is substance and reality.

Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false Self. We are not very good at recognizing illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves.

I’ve learned that fear is simply an illusion based on past experiences that we project into the present and onto the future.

We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness

Today, when I saw you, I realized that what is between us is nothing more than an illusion.

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.

It was either Voltaire or Charlie Sheen who said, ‘We are born alone. We live alone. We die alone. And anything in between that can give us the illusion that we’re not, we cling to.’

For you who no longer possess it, freedom is everything, for us who do, it is merely an illusion.

In the beginning there was faith – which is childish; trust – which is vain; and illusion – which is dangerous.

You need to create the illusion of success for people to pay attention.

Pressure is an illusion, but I like that illusion of pressure.

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Illusion I will be, for I’ve never been a sinner.

Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich-something for nothing.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone.

My advice to those who think they have to take off their clothes to be a star is, once you’re boned, what’s left to create the illusion? Let em wonder. I never believed in giving them too much of me.

You have the illusion of free will, but, in fact, that illusion comes about because you don’t know the future. Because you are a prisoner of the present, forever locked in transition, between the past and the future.

Human life is thus only an endless illusion. Men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does when we are gone. Society is based on mutual hypocrisy.

In any city with lots of skyscrapers, lots of skyline, the moon seems bigger than it is. It’s called the moon illusion.

Either Christianity is true or it’s false. If you bet that it’s true, and you believe in God and submit to Him, then if it IS true, you’ve gained God, heaven, and everything else. If it’s false, you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve had a good life marked by peace and the illusion that ultimately, everything makes sense. If you bet that Christianity is not true, and it’s false, you’ve lost nothing. But if you bet that it’s false, and it turns out to be true, you’ve lost everything and you get to spend eternity in hell.

If only we can give them faith that mountains can be moved, they will accept the illusion that mountains are moveable, and thus an illusion may become reality.

Democratic regimes may be defined as those in which, every now and then, the people are given the illusion of being sovereign, while the true sovereignty in actual fact resides in other forces which are sometimes irresponsible and secret.

Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear is an illusion. If you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die anyway; it’s not something to fear, fear is not gonna help.

Barack and I were both raised by families who didn’t have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable – their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves.

Never say never. Because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

One day, you might look up and see me playing the game at 50. Don’t laugh. Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder next time.