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Anime and Manga
Touka: This is reality. Papa isn't here anymore. This is... This is the truth!
Rikka: ...Reality rejected. Synapses shattered. Be banished from... this... WORLD!!!
Rikka: ...Reality rejected. Synapses shattered. Be banished from... this... WORLD!!!
Comic Strips
Calvin: I say a day without denial is a day you've got to face. From now on, I'm not going to think about anything that's unpleasant.
Hobbes: Isn't that a pretty self-deceiving way to go through life?
[Beat]
Calvin: I'm not going to think about that.
Hobbes: Isn't that a pretty self-deceiving way to go through life?
[Beat]
Calvin: I'm not going to think about that.
Hobbes: Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?
Calvin: I'm pretty sure the assignment was optional.
Hobbes: Denial springs eternal.
Calvin: It's not denial. I'm just very selective about the reality I accept.
Calvin: I'm pretty sure the assignment was optional.
Hobbes: Denial springs eternal.
Calvin: It's not denial. I'm just very selective about the reality I accept.
Calvin: You know what I've noticed, Hobbes? Things don't bug you if you don't think about them. So from now on, I simply won't think about anything I don't like, and I'll be happy all the time!
Hobbes: Don't you think that's a pretty silly and irresponsible way to live?
Calvin: What a pretty afternoon.
Hobbes: Don't you think that's a pretty silly and irresponsible way to live?
Calvin: What a pretty afternoon.
Fan Works
"It's like you have this belief that if you say things enough times they suddenly become true."
— Naomi, All You Need Is Love
"SKEETER ISN’T BLUE! I refuse to believe it! I went to school for the first time today, and everyone was DIFFERENT! Nobody was beautifully colored anymore, NOBODY! Skeeter! He was blue, I swear it, or at least I swore it until I came home. I checked the photo album of pictures I took since we became friends, and even in those pictures, he ISN'T BLUE! They all are so bland and boring now, with very few colors. Mr. Dink isn't purple, Roger isn't green, and Skeeter isn't BLUE! I can’t take it anymore. I miss Porkchop doing more than pooping on the carpet and sleeping, I miss everyone’s beautiful colors. I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to believe this is how things really are. I have spent so long enjoying life as it was that now I feel I really am going crazy. Other people say I am more attentive, and I don't space out as much, but I do not even know what they are talking about! I just want things to return to normal, to the way I know they should be. Please!"
Hermione: It's not our fault we're not insane. No offense, Luna.
Luna: Why would I be offended? I've seen your version of sanity. It bores me.
Luna: Why would I be offended? I've seen your version of sanity. It bores me.
"This answer will be dutifully ignored on the basis that it wasn’t the one Chloé wanted to hear."
He just needed to push it all away. Mari committed suicide. Mari never molested him. Mari is the good sister that everybody loves.
Just need to push it all down...
[...]
In the dream world, Mari stuck to that ideal. She was Omori’s big sister who would never hurt him, who was the shining beacon to everyone in the group without the horrible interests lying underneath.
This was the version of Mari that Sunny would remember. Everything else became forgotten in his period of self-isolation.
Just need to push it all down...
[...]
In the dream world, Mari stuck to that ideal. She was Omori’s big sister who would never hurt him, who was the shining beacon to everyone in the group without the horrible interests lying underneath.
This was the version of Mari that Sunny would remember. Everything else became forgotten in his period of self-isolation.
Film — Live-Action
Anakin Skywalker: I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Anakin! Chancellor Palpatine is evil!
Anakin: From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!
Obi-Wan: Well then you are lost!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Anakin! Chancellor Palpatine is evil!
Anakin: From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!
Obi-Wan: Well then you are lost!
Literature
"When you're able to see only what you want to see, it's remarkably easy to live in a problem-free world."
— Greg Sestero, The Disaster Artist
"The mind imposes this framework which it calls "reality." That arbitrary framework has a tendency to be quite independent of what your senses report."
There was a definite suggestion that, deep inside, he knew this was not really happening. It could not be happening because this sort of thing did not happen. Any contradictory evidence could be safely ignored.
"The limiting factor on land-prawn increase is the weather. The eggs hatch underground and the immature prawns dig their way out in the spring. If there’s been a lot of rain, most of them drown in their holes or as soon as they emerge. According to growth rings on trees, last spring was the driest in the Beta Piedmont in centuries, so most of them survived, and as they’re parthenogenetic females, they all laid eggs. This spring, it was even drier, so now they have land prawns all over central Beta. And I don’t know that anything can be done about them."
"Well, did he think you were just guessing?"
He shook his head in exasperation. “I don’t know what he thinks. You’re the psychologist, you try to figure it. I sent him that report yesterday morning. He seemed quite satisfied with it at the time. Today, just after noon, he sent for me and told me it wouldn’t do at all. Tried to insist that the rainfall on Beta had been normal. That was silly; I referred him to his meteorologists and climatologists, where I’d gotten my information. He complained that the news services were after him for an explanation. I told him I’d given him the only explanation there was. He said he simply couldn’t use it. There had to be some other explanation."
"If you don’t like the facts, you ignore them, and if you need facts, dream up some you do like," she said. "That’s typical rejection of reality. Not psychotic, not even psychoneurotic. But certainly not sane."
"Well, did he think you were just guessing?"
He shook his head in exasperation. “I don’t know what he thinks. You’re the psychologist, you try to figure it. I sent him that report yesterday morning. He seemed quite satisfied with it at the time. Today, just after noon, he sent for me and told me it wouldn’t do at all. Tried to insist that the rainfall on Beta had been normal. That was silly; I referred him to his meteorologists and climatologists, where I’d gotten my information. He complained that the news services were after him for an explanation. I told him I’d given him the only explanation there was. He said he simply couldn’t use it. There had to be some other explanation."
"If you don’t like the facts, you ignore them, and if you need facts, dream up some you do like," she said. "That’s typical rejection of reality. Not psychotic, not even psychoneurotic. But certainly not sane."
Major Barkison had a sure method of foretelling weather, or anything else for that matter: He would, for instance, select a certain patch of sky and then slowly count to three; if, during that time, no sea gull crossed the patch of sky, the thing he wanted would come true. This method could be applied to everything and the Major had great faith in it.
He looked at a certain section of sky above a distant volcano. Slowly he counted. At the count of two a gull flew across his patch of sky. The Major frowned. He had a way, however, of dealing with this sort of thing. He would use the best two counts out of three. Quickly he counted. No gull appeared. The trip would not be bad.
He looked at a certain section of sky above a distant volcano. Slowly he counted. At the count of two a gull flew across his patch of sky. The Major frowned. He had a way, however, of dealing with this sort of thing. He would use the best two counts out of three. Quickly he counted. No gull appeared. The trip would not be bad.
— Gore Vidal, Williwaw
Live-Action TV
Sitnikov: I, uh... (clears throat) I walked around the exterior around Building 4. I think there's graphite on the ground in the rubble.
Dyatlov: You didn't see graphite.
Sitnikov: I did.
Dyatlov: You didn't... you DIDN'T!! Because it's not there!
Dyatlov: You didn't see graphite.
Sitnikov: I did.
Dyatlov: You didn't... you DIDN'T!! Because it's not there!
"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."
— The Doctor, Doctor Who, "The Face of Evil"
Inara: What did I say to you about barging into my shuttle?
Mal: That it was manly and impulsive?
Inara: Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was "Don't."
Mal: That it was manly and impulsive?
Inara: Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was "Don't."
— Firefly
"What you're opposing isn't Helheim or Yggdrasill. It's the iron rule that says the world demands sacrifice in exchange for hope. Destroy that rule itself. Destroy it and change the world."
— DJ Sagara, Kamen Rider Gaim
Music
He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere Man, can you see me at all?
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere Man, can you see me at all?
— The Beatles, "Nowhere Man"
You only see what your eyes want to see
— Madonna, "Frozen"
Video Games
"Rapture is coming back to life. Even now, can't you hear the breath returning to her lungs? The shops reopening, the schools humming with the thoughts of young minds?"
Andrew Ryan: White is not black, Doctor Lamb, down is not up, and straw is not gold. Look around you. Rapture is no miracle: it is a product of reason, impossible unless one and one are two, and A equates to A.
Sofia Lamb: And yet alone, each man is a prisoner to bias. Dream, delusion, or the pain of a phantom limb - to one man, they are as real as rain. Reality is consensus... and the people are losing faith. Take a walk, Andrew. It is raining in Rapture... and you have simply chosen not to notice.
Sofia Lamb: And yet alone, each man is a prisoner to bias. Dream, delusion, or the pain of a phantom limb - to one man, they are as real as rain. Reality is consensus... and the people are losing faith. Take a walk, Andrew. It is raining in Rapture... and you have simply chosen not to notice.
Dara Hubbell: We need to take control of the spaceship in the junkyard. I know it's a lot to ask, so I'm willing to give you one of Hubology's great treasures if we succeed.
The Sole Survivor: You do know it's not a real spaceship, right?
Dara Hubbell: Your mind is limited by neurodynes. If you had my expanded mental powers, you would see the truth about the spaceship.
The Sole Survivor: You do know it's not a real spaceship, right?
Dara Hubbell: Your mind is limited by neurodynes. If you had my expanded mental powers, you would see the truth about the spaceship.
— Fallout 4: Nuka-World
"It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him. And if the truth is undeniable... you create your own."
— John Konrad, Spec Ops: The Line
Webcomics
"That's not how I choose to remember it."
— Red Mage, after the White Mage team kills Chaos
Web Original
"It's like a blindfolded man sitting in broad daylight saying "I love the dark" and swatting anyone who tries to take the damned thing off."
Caller #1: Speak for yourself, I've seen Spidey protect this city!
Last Monday, I got jumped and mugged, trust me, they could've killed me!
When suddenly, this muscular stud in the tightest suit
Saved me first, gave me my purse and strung the thugs up by their boots!
J. Jonah Jameson: Well, now, that's a lovely story, but did you not deduce
That maybe Spider-Man and all those thugs are in cahoots?
Caller #1: Wait, did you just say "cahoots"?
Jameson: Yes, I did, and it's the truth!
With that Spider on our ceilings, violent crime is through the roof! Next!
Caller #2: Uh, hello, hi, is this the right number?
Of that blathering idiot, spitting, belittling heroes and making me wonder
That you see that bank heist? Spider-Man knocked out his lights!
I can't believe you have the nerve to mock who do what's right!
Jameson: Yes, the bank was already in trouble
Then the Spider shows up for the scuffle!
Might he have taken the fight OUTSIDE
'Stead of crushing the lobby to rubble?
Stopping a robbery?
Or was he just showing off at the costs of the jobs and the property?
Dropped all the concrete on top of the robber
And still didn't bother to finish him properly! Next!
Caller #3: Yeah, hi, I'm trying to find out
Why you're so riled up half of the time now?
Couldn't you present a better argument
If you were calm instead of getting farther
Into a belligerent position
In which refusing to listen to listeners'
Differing views is the thing that you're choosing to do
Even when they've just proven the truth, you just interrupt—
Jameson: Another caller tries to tell me how to do my job
When I holler, it's not out of anger! No, it's out of love!
For this city! For its people! But if you just think I'm ticked off
Turn over to that hero-loving Hellcat hosting Trish Talk!
Last Monday, I got jumped and mugged, trust me, they could've killed me!
When suddenly, this muscular stud in the tightest suit
Saved me first, gave me my purse and strung the thugs up by their boots!
J. Jonah Jameson: Well, now, that's a lovely story, but did you not deduce
That maybe Spider-Man and all those thugs are in cahoots?
Caller #1: Wait, did you just say "cahoots"?
Jameson: Yes, I did, and it's the truth!
With that Spider on our ceilings, violent crime is through the roof! Next!
Caller #2: Uh, hello, hi, is this the right number?
Of that blathering idiot, spitting, belittling heroes and making me wonder
That you see that bank heist? Spider-Man knocked out his lights!
I can't believe you have the nerve to mock who do what's right!
Jameson: Yes, the bank was already in trouble
Then the Spider shows up for the scuffle!
Might he have taken the fight OUTSIDE
'Stead of crushing the lobby to rubble?
Stopping a robbery?
Or was he just showing off at the costs of the jobs and the property?
Dropped all the concrete on top of the robber
And still didn't bother to finish him properly! Next!
Caller #3: Yeah, hi, I'm trying to find out
Why you're so riled up half of the time now?
Couldn't you present a better argument
If you were calm instead of getting farther
Into a belligerent position
In which refusing to listen to listeners'
Differing views is the thing that you're choosing to do
Even when they've just proven the truth, you just interrupt—
Jameson: Another caller tries to tell me how to do my job
When I holler, it's not out of anger! No, it's out of love!
For this city! For its people! But if you just think I'm ticked off
Turn over to that hero-loving Hellcat hosting Trish Talk!
Western Animation
Scorpia: Hey, so, I know you made a heat of the moment decision which I totally get, but, um, you didn't really want Entrapta to stay on Beast Island forever. Anyway, I was thinking we could go back and get her? I mean, she is our friend.
Catra: Entrapta betrayed us, and got what she deserved.
Scorpia: But... she didn't betray us. She wanted to save us from the portal. And she was right; if Adora hadn't shut it down-
[Catra punches the wall]
Catra: Entrapta betrayed Hordak. As for the portal, it left the Rebellion in shambles, and that means it worked. Got it?
Catra: Entrapta betrayed us, and got what she deserved.
Scorpia: But... she didn't betray us. She wanted to save us from the portal. And she was right; if Adora hadn't shut it down-
[Catra punches the wall]
Catra: Entrapta betrayed Hordak. As for the portal, it left the Rebellion in shambles, and that means it worked. Got it?
— She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, "The Coronation"
Ronaldo: But- But the truth...
Steven: Maybe the truth just isn't what you thought it was.
Ronaldo: Sure it is! Don't get hung up on these minor facts. Truth is about more than that, truth is a feeling in your gut that you know is true! Truth is searching for anything that proves you're right no matter how small, and holding on to that, no matter what.
Steven: That kinda sounds like the opposite of truth.
Steven: Maybe the truth just isn't what you thought it was.
Ronaldo: Sure it is! Don't get hung up on these minor facts. Truth is about more than that, truth is a feeling in your gut that you know is true! Truth is searching for anything that proves you're right no matter how small, and holding on to that, no matter what.
Steven: That kinda sounds like the opposite of truth.
— Steven Universe, "Keep Beach City Weird"
Real Life
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
— Aldous Huxley, "Note on Dogma"
"People don’t like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant."
— Helen Keller (attributed)
"The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind."
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
— Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche
"Reality is something the human race doesn't handle very well."
