“The happiness consists in realizing that it is all a great strange dream.”
Lonesome Traveler (1960)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Jack Kerouac 266
American writer 1922–1969Related quotes

Source: The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang-Tzu
Context: How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home? Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears. How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life? One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.


“It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.”
The third and fourth sentences are a paraphrase of a sentence by G. K. Chesterton: "I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act." Generally Speaking, "On Holland' (1928).
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), First Inaugural address (1981)
Context: It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.

Liu Xiaobo's dream should be China's dream: Taiwan's Tsai, Focus Taiwan, 1, July 13, 2017, 14 July 2017 http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201707130028.aspx,

The Song of Seventy.
A Thousand Lines (1846)

“Because when everyone dreams, but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all.”
Source: Veronika Decides to Die

Canadian Press (October 27, 2006) "More than just the next superstar - Ovechkin's zest for life contagious with Capitals", The Record (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada), p. D2.