Delusion gives you more happiness than truth gives to me. For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavour of them may last longer.
How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?
The doctor will persist in laboring under the delusion that patients want common sense instead of magic.
Sometimes a happy delusion is better than grim reality.
The fundamental delusion of human beings is the belief that we exist separately and independently from the rest of the universe.
Realization is to get rid of the delusion that you have not realized.
Maybe science is just magic with delusions of lack of grandeur.
A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and truth in front of patriotic passion.
To sustain a career in show business, you have to have a certain amount of delusion, because it's such an insane way to make a living. The idea that you're going to say, "Oh, I think I deserve to be paid attention to, and people should listen to what I have to say, and everybody should look at me," that's a little bit delusional in a way.
It's hard to differentiate between a vision and a delusion - both cause you to see things that no one else sees.
The delusion that one's sexual pattern is The Only Right Way To Be is probably the single most common sexual-psychosis syndrome of this era, and it is virtually almost always the victim's fault. You cannot acquire this delusion by observing reality.
Objectivity is the delusion that observations could be made without an observer.
With my writing, I generally just pretend that no one's reading it. I allow myself that delusion so that I can write the things that I write.
An industrial system predicated on the delusion of limitless expansion will, in time, consume its own basis of support.
Delusion and weakness produce not one mischief the less, because they are universal.
When all else fails there's always delusion.
It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
The illusion that we are separate from one another is an optical delusion of our consciousness.
As long as humankind recklessly proceeds in the fateful delusion of being biologically fated for triumph, nothing essential will change.
Keeping kids safe is sometimes a delusion. The world is a perilous place. Sometimes the kitchen is a perilous place.