Illusion Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old illusion quotes, illusion sayings, and illusion proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion. Arthur Koestler
Illusion is the first of all pleasures. Voltaire
Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within. Arthur Erickson
Illusion is an anodyne, bred by the gap between wish and reality. Herman Wouk
With true beauty, there is no illusion. James Philip Head
The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages. Horace Greeley
The one person who has more illusions than the dreamer is the man of action. Oscar Wilde
It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it. W. Somerset Maugham
All illusion comes and goes, but the soul remains unchanged. Meher Baba
Animation is about creating the illusion of life. And you can't create it if you don't have one. Brad Bird
Illusion begets and sustains the world; we do not destroy one without destroying the other. Emil Cioran
There's no point in clinging to illusions. Eva Heller
Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces. Sigmund Freud
We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy. Cyril Connolly
A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality. Christian Nevell Bovee
Illusion is no longer possible, because the real is no longer possible. Jean Baudrillard
Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion. Michael Jordan
One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion. Voltaire
Nothing except a positive illusion can possibly have a future, Northrop Frye
There are two kinds of illusion, the negative illusion which merely fails to be a reality, and the illusion which exists as a potentiality or model in the mind, as a fiction which does not yet exist but may be brought into existence or realized by a creative mind. Northrop Frye
If the human race were to destroy both itself and the planet it lives on, that would be the final triumph of illusion. Northrop Frye
Surely, living in an illusion is the greatest of torments, and becoming disillusioned ought to feel like being let out of jail. Northrop Frye
The mystic finds, at the heart of the illusion of space, a real presence. Northrop Frye
You too must not count overmuch on your reality as you feel it today, since, like that of yesterday, it may prove an illusion for you tomorrow. Luigi Pirandello
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. Aesop
Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race comes to an end. Joseph Conrad
Illusion is always based on reality, for its strength depends upon its fit with the desires, fears and experiences of countless humans. John P. Grier
Rob the average man of his illusion and you rob him of his happiness at one stroke. Henrik Ibsen
A man loses his illusions first, his teeth second, and his follies last. Helen Rowland
The notion that as a man grows older, his illusions leave him is not quite true. What is true is that his early illusions are supplanted by new, and to him, equally convincing illusions. George Jean Nathan
The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing. Publilius Syrus
It isn't safe to sit in judgment upon another person's illusion when you are not on the inside. While you are thinking it is a dream, he maybe knowing it is a planet. Mark Twain
No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability. Samuel Johnson
It appears to me that almost every man may, like the spider, spin from his own inwards his own airy citadel. John Keats
For what we call illusions are often, in truth, a wider vision of past and present realities—a willing movement of a man's soul with the larger sweep of the world's forces—a movement towards a more assured end than the chances of a single life. George Eliot
The key, during both life and death, is to recognize illusions as illusions, projections as projections, and fantasies as fantasies. In this way we become free. Lama Thubten Yeshe
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. Orson Welles
More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood. Thomas Boswell
The American Dream became America's god; wealth and abundance have become the measure of America's success. But—as recent events have shown— we have been living an illusion. Billy Graham
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw
Certainly generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man. Oliver Wendell Holmes
We live in the illusion that we are all separate 'I ams.' When the fog finally clears, we shall know there is only One. Barbara Brown Taylor
Some seem as alive, / But seem as died, / Some seem as died, / But seem have lives, / It can not realize, / By an ordinary eye. Mazloom Gill
Now freedom in the world / Just as like as illusion / Modern slavery called freedom / No one can claim it / No one can have it. Mazloom Gill
Only the Knower knows / That music cannot be written / How can then be the notes / Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion. Kabir
Since I am a poet / I express it in exact words, / Which illustrate a truth / And reality / However, it can be an illusion, / Far from the facts / But the direct narration / With a direct figure / It verifies the truth and reality. Ehsan Sehgal
It wasn't love, it wasn't love / It was a perfect illusion (perfect illusion) / Mistaken for love, it wasn't love / It was a perfect illusion (perfect illusion) / You were a perfect illusion. Stefani J. Germanotta
No baby this is not an illusion / I've really got my heart out on my sleeve / Oh baby this is not an illusion / There's magic between you and me / No baby this is not an illusion / You really got me lifted off 'my feet / So tell me you believe in love / 'Cause it's not an illusion to me. Liam Payne