Disillusionment Quotes - Page 4

• She passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and it accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.

  Khaled Hosseini

  Life, Dream, Mistake

  Khaled Hosseini (2009). “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, p.161, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• In some deep place in her heart, Caroline had kept alive the silly romantic notion that somehow David Henry had once known her as no one else ever could. But it was not true. He had never even glimpsed her.

  Kim Edwards

  Father, Silly, Heart

  Kim Edwards (2006). “The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel”, p.237, Penguin

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• You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.

  Voltaire

  World, Harsh

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• There's nothing terribly wrong with feeling lost, so long as that feeling precedes some plan on your part to actually do something about it. Too often a person grows complacent with their disillusionment, perpetually wearing their "discomfort" like a favorite shirt.

  Jhonen Vasquez

  Loneliness, Being Alone, Long

  "Fictional character: Johnny". "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac". Comic book by Jhonen Vasquez, Volume 7, 1995 - 1997.

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• I expected so much from life and if I had not seen it so close, I would to this day be expecting something. What treasures I discovered in my own soul - where are they all? I have exchanged them for the world's coin, given my frankness, my first passion - and for what? For bitter disillusionment, for the knowledge that all is deception, all is brittle, that one can place trust neither in oneself nor in others - and I have come to fear both others and myself. I have not been able, along with this analysis, to accept the trifles of life and be content with them, as many others do.

  Ivan Goncharov

  Passion, Soul, Deception

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• If we want happiness, I think we should follow classic Greek wisdom and live with areté. The word directly translates as 'excellence' or 'virtue,' but has a deeper meaning — something closer to 'expressing the highest version of ourselves.' When we're showing up fully moment to moment, there's no room for regret/anxiety/disillusionment, just a whole lot of happiness. Here's to getting our areté on!

  Brian Johnson

  Regret, Thinking, Meaning Something

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• I'm English, and as such I crave disappointment. That's why I buy Kinder Surprise. Horrible chocolate; nasty little toy: a double-whammy of disillusionment! Sometimes I eat the toy out of sheer despair.

  Bill Bailey

  Disappointment, Chocolate, Despair

  "Bewilderness". Documentary, Comedy, 2001.

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• I... allowed my memory to journey back to the days when I was a boy of ten, full of health and optimism, when my wonder at the great game of living had yet to give way to disillusionment at its shabbiness.

  Ruskin Bond

  Memories, Boys, Journey

  Ruskin Bond (1988). “The Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories”, p.80, Penguin Books India

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• Celebration of Independence Day with great pomp and show was quite appropriate when we were fighting for independence which we had neither seen nor handled. Now we have handled it and we seem to be disillusioned. At least - I am, even if you are not. What are we celebrating today? Surely, not our disillusionment.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Fighting, Hypocrisy, Independence

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• Certainly, Gandhi is not inferior to Christ in goodness and sanctity, and he surpasses him in touching humility. Gandhi is the prophet of hope in this age of pessimism and disillusionment. He is a promise of sanity in the madness induced by our world's heedless drinking at the fount of war.

  Sudhir Kakar

  War, Drinking, Humility

  Sudhir Kakar (2008). “The Seeker: A Novel”, p.76, Shambhala Publications

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• Olive Ann describes Sanna as 'a perfectionist and a worrier.' She is obsessed with the idea of finding happiness, and for her, as Olive ann wrote in her notes for the novel, 'happiness means being first with somebody, having perfect, loving children...The theme of Sanna is disillusionment,' Olive Ann wrote. 'Her life is the pursuit of happiness and perfection, but she finds happiness and perfection impossible to obtain-her idea of happiness is constant joy, no changes.

  Olive Ann Burns

  Children, Mean, Pursuit Of Happiness

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• From the height of their disillusionment they look down upon those whom they despise as simple souls. For my part I have no sympathy with this outlook. All disenchantment is to me a malady, which, it is true, certain circumstances may render inevitable, but which none the less, when it occurs, is to be cured as soon as possible, not to be regarded as a higher form of wisdom.

  Bertrand Russell

  Simple, Soul, May

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• Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.

  Marilyn Monroe

  Inspiring, Dream, Disappointment

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• In Europe life retreats out of the cold, and exquisite fireside myths have resulted—Balder, Persephone—but [in India] the retreat is from the source of life, the treacherous sun, and no poetry adorns it because disillusionment cannot be beautiful. Men yearn for poetry though they may not confess it; they desire that joy shall be graceful and sorrow august and infinity have a form, and India fails to accommodate them.

  E. M. Forster

  Beautiful, Men, August

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• In middle age we are apt to reach the horrifying conclusion that all sorrow, all pain, all passionate regret and loss and bitter disillusionment are self-made

  Kathleen Norris

  Pain, Regret, Loss

  Kathleen Thompson Norris (1931). “Hands Full of Living: Talks with American Women”

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• Nagging questions remain: Where is the line between making the most of one's potential and reaching for the unattainable? Where is the line between education as a tool and education as a kind of magic? The line is blurred and that is why when education fails, disillusionment is so bitter.

  Henry Anatole Grunwald

  Education, Teaching, Failure

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• We spoke of ourselves as "emancipated" when we got the vote. Yet we are still slaves to the superficial and the superfluous. We are concerned with the length of our skirts, with the latest lipstick, with the newest thrill in hats. We are impressed by advertisements that insist we must be alluring; we must adopt a time-consuming coiffure, we must spend hours with the "beautician," we must attend fashion shows. As long as women are preoccupied with nonessentials we shall be afflicted with infantilism, passivity, and the eventual disillusionment that results from trivial, unproductive lives.

  Mary Barnett Gilson

  Fashion, Long, Thrill

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• Orwell was dealing with communism and his disillusionment with communism in Russia and what he saw the communists do in Spain. His novel was a response to those political situations. Whereas I was interested in more things than the political atmosphere. I was considering the whole social atmosphere: the impact of TV and radio and the lack of education. I could see the coming event of schoolteachers not teaching reading anymore. The less they taught, the more you wouldn't need books.

  Ray Bradbury

  Book, Teaching, Reading

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• The McGovern/McCarthy type candidacies have disappointed too many people, because of a disillusionment with the candidates themselves.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  People, Type, Disappointed

  Source: www.rollingstone.com

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• The book [ A Passage to India ] shows signs of fatigue and disillusionment; but it has chapters of clear and triumphant beauty, and above all it makes us wonder, what will he write next?

  E. M. Forster

  Book, Writing, India

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• I think Santa Claus is, by and large, quite beneficial, for when the child is finally allowed -- or forced -- to recognize the nonexistence of Santa Claus, then the child is able to go through the vital intellectual process of reconstructing reality in light of new evidence, complete with back-forming new stories to account for past events. This prepares the child for many other disillusionments and gives her vital and well-supported experience in maintaining her grip on reality independent of the stories told to her at any given time.

  Orson Scott Card

  Children, Independent, Past

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• The process of illusion & disillusionment is part of life and goes on endlessly.

  Nelson Mandela

  Life, Goes On, Illusion

  Nelson Mandela (2011). “Conversations With Myself”, p.43, Pan Macmillan

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• We remain in the Romantic cycle initiated by Rousseau: liberal idealism canceled by violence, barbarism, disillusionment and cynicism.

  Camille Paglia

  Violence, Cynicism, Barbarism

  Camille Paglia (1990). “Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson”, Vintage

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• We live in a very special time right now. At no other time in history has there been such mass disillusionment in terms of reliance on governing functions. Most people don’t want to come to terms with that. It’s been proven over and over again that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes, but most people don’t like to look at naked emperors. In the process of turning around to avert their eyes, they saw the discotheques and a few other things and latched onto them.

  Frank Zappa

  Eye, Clothes, People

  Oui interview, 1979.

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• Disillusionment is not truth.

  Mason Cooley

  Truth

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