“Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths?”
Source: The House of Mirth
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Edith Wharton 103
American novelist, short story writer, designer 1862–1937Related quotes

“We cannot be rid of illusions. Illusion is our natural condition. Why not accept it?”
The Deception: The Ultimate Dream (p. 81)
Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals (2002)

Truth, ii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIX - Truth and Convenience

“the strange ideas we derive today will one day be our celebrated truths”
Source: The Lost Symbol
Quoted in: Abstract Art, Anna Moszynska, Thames and Hudson 1990, p. 147
Quote c. 1949, when Albers started his 'Homage to the Square' series of paintings

“We live, after all, in a world where illusions are sacred and truth profane.”
Commentary essay, "For one day only, I'm a Lib Dem: We must take the politics of the anti-war front into the electoral arena," The Guardian, March 26, 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1445964,00.html#article_continue.