Nothing is so easy to fake as the inner vision.
—Robertson Davies, 1985Quotes
To blow and to swallow at the same time is not easy; I cannot at the same time be here and also there.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCNothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe.
—Demosthenes, 349 BCDisbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
—Tom Robbins, 1976In the past, men created witches; now they create mental patients.
—Thomas Szasz, 1970All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
—Plotinus, c. 255Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a centaur, a leopard, a wolf, or a bull?
—Aristophanes, 423 BCIn the society of men, the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.
—R.D. Laing, 1967Nothing from nothing ever yet was born.
—Lucretius, c. 58 BCCurses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.
—Robert Southey, 1809Appearances often are deceiving.
—Aesop, c. 550 BCMany are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.
—Sophocles, c. 441 BCAny serious attempt to do anything worthwhile is ritualistic.
—Derek Walcott, 1986