"Life presents itself as a continual deception, in small matters as well as in great. If it has promised, it does not keep its word, unless to show how little desirable the desired object was; hence we are deluded now by hope, now by what was hoped for. If it has given, it did so in order to take. The enchantment of distance shows us paradises that vanish like optical illusions, when we have allowed ourselves to be fooled by them. Accordingly, happiness lies always in the future, or else in the past, and the present may be compared to a small dark cloud driven by the wind over the sunny plain; in front of and behind the cloud everything is bright, only it itself always casts a shadow. Consequently, the present is always inadequate, but the future is uncertain, and the past irrecoverable."

Reality, Life, Deception, Happiness, Hope

5

Create Your Own Wallpaper

Standard

Customized

"Life presents itself as a continual deception, in small matters as well as in great. If it has promised, it does not keep its word, unless to show how little desirable the desired object was; hence we are deluded now by hope, now by what was hoped for. If it has given, it did so in order to take. The enchantment of distance shows us paradises that vanish like optical illusions, when we have allowed ourselves to be fooled by them. Accordingly, happiness lies always in the future, or else in the past, and the present may be compared to a small dark cloud driven by the wind over the sunny plain; in front of and behind the cloud everything is bright, only it itself always casts a shadow. Consequently, the present is always inadequate, but the future is uncertain, and the past irrecoverable."

Exlpore more Reality quotes

"To change reality, change your thoughts and perceptions."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Reality, Change, Perception, Mindset

"It is so sad that too many individuals spend their entire lives trying to impress people who are mostly clueless about their true purpose on earth."

Edmond Mbiaka, American Author

Reality, Sadness, Life, Purpose, Truth

"Real? Real depends upon your perspective, Annabelle. People never see life exactly the same way. The world is what you think it is."

Richelle E. Goodrich, American Poet

Reality, Truth, Perspective, Power, Wisdom

"Belief has nothing to do with facts,especially for the unbelievable facts."

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Reality, Belief, Truth, Power, Wisdom

"If I'm surprised at where I'm at, it's probably because I'm not listening to the reality that listening to the voices that I've listened to have put me here. So, maybe I should be less surprised and more disappointed."

Craig D. Lounsbrough, American Author

Reality, Truth, Wisdom, Regret

"Faeces by any other name would smell as gross."

Mokokoma Mokhonoana, South African Philosopher

Reality, Language, Truth, Disgust, Perception

"In this universe, all we perceive is a virtual reality created by the neurons."

Abhijit Naskar, Indian Author

Reality, Truth, Wisdom, Future, Inspirational

"Reality is perceptual misinterpretation. To change reality, change your perception."

Debasish Mridha, American Author

Reality, Perception, Change, Truth

"Many people still feel so scared about spirit or ghost, not yet realizing that there are so many unidentified living creatures on this planet earth which might be even more dreadful."

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Reality, Fear, Truth, Wisdom, Power

"Little girls grow up thinking that knights in shining armor actually exist. But they don't. And if those valiant heroes ever did bless this world with their chivalrous deeds, I imagine, just like Christ's apostles, they were destroyed by envy on the battlefront."

Richelle E. Goodrich, American Poet

Reality, Truth, Power, Regret, Inspirational

Explore more quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

"Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them."

Time,

"Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies."

Nature, Men, Women, Enemies

"If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him."

Relationship, Effect, First, Opinion, Sight

"Writers may be classified as meteors, planets, and fixed stars. They belong not to one system, one nation only, but to the universe. And just because they are so very far away, it is usually many years before their light is visible to the inhabitants of this earth."

Literature, Fame, Legacy, Universe, Light

"Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right."

Nation, Nations, Right

"With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy."

Talent, People, Honesty, Ability

"Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money."

Happiness, Money

"We seldom think of what we have but always of what we lack."

Gratitude, Desire, Values, Focus

"Every society requires mutual accommodation and mutually agreeable temper; hence the larger it is, the duller."

Society, Agreement, Humanity, Diversity

"Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly."

History, Newspapers