Top 100 Quotes About Delusions
#1. Negotiations with religious fanatics who have delusions of grandeur generally do not go well.
Peter L. Bergen
#2. Out of the doctrine of original sin grew the crimes and miseries of asceticism, celibacy and witchcraft; woman becoming the helpless victim of all these delusions.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
#3. No one I knew in Sydney was thinking about how they might come to America and become a movie star. That would be considered delusions of grandeur. My parents were supportive, though. They just told me to keep at it as long as I was having fun.
Luke Bracey
#4. As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
#5. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.
George Muller
#6. Dreams without movement are delusions, escapes, kid's play. You have to put your feet into your dreams if they're ever going to be reality. The dreamers we know and love today are the ones who worked the hardest
Paul Newman
#7. I don't have any delusions. I'm not a novelist - I'm a comedian who writes. I love doing the stand-up and the touring and the albums and all that, but it's pretty amazing to go into a library and see your book there.
Jim Gaffigan
#8. Neurotics, proceed with delusions of grandeur. Napoleon Bonaparte, take the lead. Jesus Christ, bring up the rear. Simulate severe depression. Non-communicative with repressed hostility.
Samuel R. Delany
#9. The greatest of all human delusions is that there is a tangible goal, and not just direction towards an ideal aim. The idea that a goal can be attained perpetually frustrates human beings, who are disappointed at never getting there, never being able to stop.
Stephen Spender
#10. "Chaunt in his ear delusions magical,
That he may fight the horses of the sea."
The Druids took them to their mystery,
And chaunted for three days.
William Butler Yeats
#11. Not creating delusions is enlightenment.
Bodhidharma
#13. I'm sure that you psychotic necro-wannabes with delusions of godhood are all about sharing with your fellow maniacs.
Jim Butcher
#14. Delusions are not harmful in themselves, they only hurt when one is alone in believing in them, when one cannot create an environment in which they can be sustained.
Alain De Botton
#15. Life being full of harsh realities, we seek relief from them in a variety of pleasing delusions.
Christian Nestell Bovee
#16. For whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, its feelings, even its delusions.
Henri Matisse
#17. It'll be all right, Clay. Really." "So you say, but you have a persecution complex and delusions of grandeur." "That's true," Tom said, "but they're balanced out by poor self-image and ego menstruation at roughly six week intervals ...
Stephen King
#18. A prophet's task is to reveal the fault lines hidden beneath the comfortable surface of the worlds we invent for ourselves, the national myths as well as the little lies and delusions of control and security that get us through the day. And Jeremiah does this better than anyone.
Kathleen Norris
#19. Weak and needy people finding their hope in Christ's grace are what mark a mature relationship. The most dangerous aspect of your relationships is not your weakness, but your delusions of strength.
Tim Lane And Paul Tripp
#21. The facile delusions which conceal from us our true situation all amount to this: that we are, or can be, wiser than the wisest men of the past. We are thus induced to play the part, not of attentive and docile listeners, but of impresarios and lion-tamers.
Leo Strauss
#22. You don't have to wait for something "meaningful" to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The "waiting to start living" syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.
Eckhart Tolle
#23. The spark of life is not gain. Nor is it luxury. The spark of life is movement. Color. Love. And furthermore ... if you really want to enjoy life, you must work quietly and humbly to realize your delusions of grandeur.
Mark Helprin
#24. It took the real thing to show you the size of your delusions.
Ann Brashares
#25. A man sufficiently gifted with humor is in small danger of succumbing to flattering delusions about himself, because he cannot help perceiving what a pompous ass he would become if he did.
Konrad Lorenz
#26. It's probable that doctors would tell me indulging Dad's delusions is not advisable, but what the hell.
Giselle Simlett
#27. I believe that the shocking toll of AIDS on gay men in the West was partly due to their Seventies delusions that a world without women was possible. All-male energies, unbalanced and ravenous, literally tore the body apart.
Camille Paglia
#28. One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.
Horace
#29. All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power
men who are not bound by the traditions of the past
men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries
young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.
John F. Kennedy
#30. It's quite possible that the delusions of today may be the proved scientific facts of tomorrow.
Agatha Christie
#31. We are all blinded by our beliefs. Never stop questioning and realize only respectful discussions can free us from our delusions.
Jim Steele
#32. One must have one's delusions to live. If you look at life too honestly and clearly, life becomes unbearable because it's a pretty grim enterprise, you will admit.
Woody Allen
#33. Delusions are often functional. A mother's opinions about her children's beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.
Robert A. Heinlein
#34. The delusions of self-love cannot be prevented, but intellectual misconceptions as to the means of achieving success may be corrected.
George Henry Lewes
#35. He's an undersized pissant with delusions of adequacy.
Lois Greiman
#36. Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right nor left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day, assured that the public approbation will in the end be with us.
Thomas Jefferson
#37. RATIONAL, adj. Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.
Ambrose Bierce
#38. Though many schizophrenics become curiously attached to their delusions, the fading of the nondelusional world puts them in loneliness beyond all reckoning, a fixed residence on a noxious private planet they can never leave, and where they can receive no visitors.
Andrew Solomon
#39. The religions of mankind must be classed among the mass-delusions of this kind. No one, needless to say, who shares a delusion ever recognizes it as such ...
Sigmund Freud
#40. A fanatic, either, religious or political, is the subject of strong delusions.
Richard Whately
#41. Doubt is the big machine. It grinds up the delusions of women and men.
Victor LaValle
#43. To express himself well, the artist should be hidden ... The trouble is that if an artist knows he has genius, he's done for. The only salvation is to work like a labourer, and not have delusions of grandeur.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
#44. All delusions begin in the mind. All delusions are based on various ways we're talking to ourselves and then believing what we are saying.
Adyashanti
#45. While liberals are leery of religious fundamentalism in general, they consistently imagine that all religions at their core teach the same thing and teach it equally well. This is one of the many delusions borne of political correctness.
Sam Harris
#46. A primary purpose of the police is to enforce the delusions of those with lots of green paper.
Derrick Jensen
#47. We should realize that our deadliest enemies are anger and other delusions. Since these delusions are deeply ingrained mental habits, working to overcome them is not always easy.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
#48. One of society's absurd delusions is that the spending of money can cure something.
Vernon Howard
#49. To know who you are without any delusions or sympathy is a moment of revelation that no one experiences unscathed
Christopher Paolini
#50. I've worked very hard to transform my fearful delusions into loving beliefs, and I am committed to maintaining this way of being.
Gabrielle Bernstein
#52. We're all mad, the whole damned race. We're wrapped in illusions, delusions, confusions about the penetrability of partitions, we're all mad and in solitary confinement.
William Golding
#53. Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.
Steve Martin
#54. I've never had any delusions about being a leading man, and it's not sour grapes to say that in the best films that I've always enjoyed, the cliched leading man type isn't a part of the picture.
John Hawkes
#55. Delusions are hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding insane people living in a backwards world.
Shannon L. Alder
#56. Delusions are states of mind which, when they arise within our mental continuum, leave us disturbed, confused and unhappy. Therefore, those states of mind which delude or afflict us are called 'delusions.'
Dalai Lama
#57. Life was briskly and efficiently stripping Quentin of his last delusions about himself, one by one, shucking them off in firm hard jerks like wet clothes, leaving him naked and shivering.
Lev Grossman
#58. How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?
Robert A. Heinlein
#59. Do not help the quick moneymakers who have delusions about taking possession of classics by smearing them with paint.
Frank Capra
#60. We can call the attempt to refute theism by displaying the continuity of belief in God with primitive delusions the method of Anthropological intimidation.
Edwyn Bevan
#61. This sounds so bleak when I say it, but we need some delusions to keep us going. And the people who successfully delude themselves seem happier than the people who can't.
Woody Allen
#62. If you're completely off your rocker and have delusions of grandeur in which your personal existence is of special significance to the rest of the world, all hope is not lost. Mix in enough charisma and you have what it takes to start a religion ... or become a serial killer.
Edward M. Wolfe
#63. Many do not have the courage to face the truth of life and instead dwell upon some delusions to escape it. Any such escapism is a major hurdle in spiritual development.
Thomas Vazhakunnathu
#65. At 15 I set my heart on learning; At 30 I firmly took my stand; At 40 I had no delusions; At 50 I knew the Mandate of Heaven; At 60 my ear was attuned; At 70 I followed my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of right.
Confucius
#66. Self-mortification, far from producing liberation from material things, is far more likely to cause either an unhinged mind, delusions or a masochistic taste for more suffering, experienced, of course, as joy.
Idries Shah
#67. No more lies and speeches of delusions out of the reality of our existence
Mazigh Buzakhar
#68. Even if I never get out of Clover, even if I never get into Northwestern or write for the New Yorker, even if these are just delusions occupying my time, thank God they are, because a life without meaning, without drive or focus, without dreams or goals, isn't life worth living.
Chris Colfer
#69. Learning a language represents training in the delusions of that language.
Frank Herbert
#70. The real enemy of happiness is the mind's fixations and delusions ... If you have the right mind, you can overcome anything - you can be happy, no matter what.
Dalai Lama
#71. Just a month from this day, on the twentieth of September, 1850, I shall be sitting in this chair, in this study, at ten o' clock at night, longing to die, weary of incessant insight and foresight, without delusions and without hope.
George Eliot
#72. If you're going to live your life based on delusions (and you are, because we all do), then why not at least select a delusion that is helpful?
Elizabeth Gilbert
#73. Healthy introspection, without undermining oneself; it is a rare gift to venture into the unexplored depths of the self, without delusions or fictions, but with an uncorrupted gaze.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#74. No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.
C.N. Bovee
#75. There was one man stood above the rest, surrounded and engulfed within his own delusions of grandeur.
As there always seems to be.
Ross Turner
#76. I'm not feisty. But when you're as small as I am and female if you don't stand up for your rights, you're sure to be pushed around by big, hairy, smelly men with delusions about male superiority.
Robert A. Heinlein
#77. When enough insane people scream in harmony that they really are healthy, they can actually start to believe themselves. Or put even more simply: people with overlapping delusions get along wonderfully.
Daniel Mackler
#78. To be young is to be powerless, but to have delusions of power. To believe that one can really change things, make the world better and simpler in good and simple ways. To grow old is to realize that nobody is ever good, nothing is ever simple. That truth is cruel at first, but finally comforting.
Frances Hardinge
#79. Chemistry, unlike other sciences, sprang originally from delusions and superstitions, and was at its commencement exactly on a par with magic and astrology.
Thomas Thomson
#81. When people start using science to argue for their specific beliefs and delusions, to try to claim that they're supported by science, then scientists at least have to speak up and say, You re welcome to your delusions, but don't say that they're supported by science.
Victor J. Stenger
#82. By the delusions of seeming good the people are often misled to desire their own ruin; and they are frequently influenced by great hopes and brave promises.
Niccolo Machiavelli
#83. The first-person viewpoint is more enjoyable to write, because it lets me meander more freely, and it can reveal more of the character's self-delusions. Really all the advantages are with first-person, so I'm sorry I don't get to pick and choose.
Anne Tyler
#84. We are squandering our wealth in many respects, to the extent that we persist in our imperial delusions, we're also going to squander our freedom.
Andrew Bacevich
#85. If he was indeed mad, his delusions were beautifully organized.
Arthur C. Clarke
#87. Minds festooned with error, barnacled with bias, swollen with delusions of godhead.
Fritz Leiber
#88. Force will not keep the empire together. Force has never kept anything together for the very long. The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers. You're a foolish man Governor. Foolish men often choke to death on their own delusions.
George Lucas
#89. If an election is simply a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions, then this is not a very noble form of government.
James Bovard
#90. I maintain that (as usual) many sides exist to this issue rather than only two. Two-sided issues (creationism vs darwinism, "choice" vs "pro-life," etc.) are all without exception delusions, spectacular lies.
Hakim Bey
#93. One of the most persistent of all delusions is the conviction that the source of our dissatisfaction lies outside ourselves.
B. Alan Wallace
#94. Live on berries in a hollowed-out comet lit by artificial suns long enough, and you start to have delusions about achieving enlightenment.
Hannu Rajaniemi
#95. As long as men will not be freed from their errors and delusions, humanity will not be able to go towards ("marcher vers", Fr.) the accomplishment of its true destinies.
African Spir
#96. You had to stay consistent to life's delusions. All you had was your perspective, so objective truth was meaningless. You had to choose a dream and stick with it. Everything else was a con.And once you had tasted truth and love in the same potent cocktail there had to be no more tricks.
Matt Haig
#97. That was the moment we understood that things can go terribly wrong in our world - not because life is unfair or moral progress impossible but because we have failed, generation after generation, to abolish the delusions and animosities of our ignorant ancestors.
Sam Harris
#98. I'm what you call a good, old-fashioned working actor who has had delusions of grandeur for my entire career and has known what I want to do, but there's a lot going on out there. There are a lot fewer films being made, and there's a lot of competition.
Chris Diamantopoulos
#99. Religious mysticism is intellectual garbage. It's a vestige of the old superstitious Dark Ages when nobody knew anything ... It is one of those delusions that isn't called insane only because there are so many people involved.
Robert M. Pirsig
#100. Victory gave us such insane delusions of grandeur that we helped start a world war we hadn't a chance of winning. But now that we are losing again, everything has taken a turn for the better, and we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated.
Joseph Heller
