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Disillusionment Quotes

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Disillusionment Quotes

“From the ruins, lonely and inexplicable as the sphinx, rose the Empire State Building. And just as it had been tradition of mine to climb to the Plaza roof to take leave of the beautiful city extending as far as the eyes could see, so now I went to the roof of that last and most magnificent of towers. Then I understood. Everything was explained. I had discovered the crowning error of the city. Its Pandora's box. Full of vaunting pride, the New Yorker had climbed here, and seen with dismay what he had never suspected. That the city was not the endless sucession of canyons that he had supposed, but that it had limits, fading out into the country on all sides into an expanse of green and blue. That alone was limitless. And with the awful realization that New York was a city after all and not a universe, the whole shining ediface that he had reared in his mind came crashing down. That was the gift of Alfred Smith to the citizens of New York.”

New York CityDisillusionmentEmpire State BuildingFarewells
Book:My Lost City: Personal Essays 1920-40
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“And that is why they let us down so badly. For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress - to the future. We often made fun of them and played jokes on them, but in our hearts we trusted them. The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief. We had to recognize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs. They surpassed us only in phrases and in cleverness. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces.”

PtsdDisillusionmentLoss Of InnocenceCombat PtsdCognitive DistortionsWw I
Book:All quiet on the western front
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“In 1530 [H. C. Agrippa] published at Antwerp a book, On the Vanity of Sciences and Arts, a curious, nihilistic work, whose central thesis is that knowledge only brings man to disillusionment and recognition of how little he knows. It reads like an anticipation of Faust’s speech in Act I of Goethe’s play. The only worthwhile study, says Agrippa, is theology and scripture. He was undoubtedly sincere.”

KnowledgeDisillusionmentFaustGoetheAgrippaVanity Of Human Affairs
Book:The Occult
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“[T]he useful idiots, the leftists who are idealistically believing in the beauty of the Soviet socialist or Communist or whatever system, when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made the point: never bother with leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. [...] They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in the United States: all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders. They are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed any more. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninists come to power—obviously they get offended—they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.”

PoliticalPurposePoliticsBeautyEnemyKnowledgePowerUnited StatesWorstSocialismCivil RightsCommunismProfessorsJobSovietExecutionSocialistOffenseIdealismOffendedMarxismEnemiesNationDefendersDisillusionmentInstructorsDisillusionedKgbProstitutesCommunistsInstrumentalUseful IdiotsDestabilizationMarxists
Author:Yuri Bezmenov
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“Through the whole spiritual process, what we learn is to disillusion this false ego. The annihilation of this false ego is its disillusionment. When once it is disillusioned, then the true ego realizes its own merit. It is in this realization that the soul enters the kingdom of God. It is in this realization that the soul is born again, a birth which opens the doors of heaven.”

HeavenAwakeningSufi WisdomDisillusionmentSufi WayThe Heart Of SufismThe Kingdom Of GodThe True SelfHazrat Inaya Khan
Book:The Heart of Sufism: Essential Writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan
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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.”

NeedsBookWholePoliticalReadingSocialSituationNovelSawsTeachingEventsTaughtTvsImpactResponseRadioRussiaCommunismAtmosphereCommunistConsideringSpainDisillusionmentLack Of Education
Author:Ray Bradbury
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“The modern fairy tale ending is the reverse of the traditional one: A woman does not wait for Prince Charming to bring her happiness; she lives happily ever after only by refusing to wait for him -- or by actually rejecting him. It is those who persist in hoping for a Prince Charming who are setting themselves up for disillusionment and unhappiness.”

DoeWaitingModernSettingTalesTraditionalSettingsCharmFairyUnhappinessFairy TaleReversePersistCharmingHappily Ever AfterEver AfterDisillusionmentRejectingWait For Him
Author:Susan Faludi
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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.”

ThinkingGivingWellsChildrenStoriesRealityLightAblePastGivenProcessEventsIntellectualEvidenceAccountsIndependentMaintainingBeneficialSantaSanta ClausDisillusionmentPast EventsReconstructing
Author:Orson Scott Card
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“Conservatism, though a necessary element in any stable society, is not a social program; in its paternalistic, nationalistic and power adoring tendencies it is often closer to socialism than true liberalism; and with its traditionalistic, anti-intellectual, and often mystical propensities it will never, except in short periods of disillusionment, appeal to the young and all those others who believe that some changes are desirable if this world is to become a better place.”

IfsWorldBelieveYoungSocialThis WorldPeriodsElementsIntellectualProgramSocialismTendenciesAppealsLiberalismStableMysticalBetter PlaceDesirableConservatismDisillusionmentPropensityNationalisticSocial Programs
Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“The enemies of the Soviet state calculate that the heavy loss we have borne will lead to disorder and confusion in our ranks. But their expectations are in vain: bitter disillusionment awaits them. He who is not blind sees that our party, during its difficult days, is closing its ranks still more closely, that it is united and unshakable.”

StillsStatesDifficultLossUnitedPartyEnemyExpectationsBlindHeavyConfusionBitterVainDisorderSovietClosingDisillusionmentUnshakableDifficult Days
Author:Lavrentiy Beria
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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.”

PeopleWantLooksEyeProcessTermSawsSpecialRight NowClothesMassFunctionNakedProvenRelianceGoverningEmperorDisillusionmentAvertSpecial Times
Author:Frank Zappa
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“Occasionally there is a moment in a person's life when he takes a great stride forward in wisdom, humility, or disillusionment. For a split second he comes into a kind of cosmic understanding. For a trembling breath of time he knows all there is to know. He is loaned the gift the poet yearned for - seeing himself as others see him.”

KnowsKindPersonsMomentsWisdomUnderstandingSeeingHumilityPoetBreathsCosmicSplitsTremblingStrideDisillusionment
Author:Betty Smith
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“if there is one place in the United States where private styles make up for public images, it is San Francisco, where all lapsed lovers of America, even loyalists like me experiencing spasms of disillusionment, should be taken for refresher courses. The tides of all-American conformity beat vainly against the San Franciscan rock.”

IfsShouldStatesAmericaCoursesUnitedUnited StatesTakenRocksStyleLoversBeatsLike MeConformityTidesSan FranciscoDisillusionmentFranciscansPublic ImageLoyalists
Author:Jan Morris
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“Fitzgerald describes the social disillusionments and ballroom romanticism of the young people of the upper classes and the loneliness of Gatsby, who gives large parties and has an extensive social life; yet he is lonely, and his guests scarcely know him.... Hemingway's characters live in a tourist world, and one of their major problems is that of consuming time itself. It is interesting to observe that his works are written from the stand point of the spectator. His characters are usually people who are looking--looking at bullfights, scenery, and at one another across cafe tables.”

PeopleKnowsWorldGivingCharacterProblemYoungSocialInterestingPartyClassWrittenLonelinessMajorsLonelyTablesGuestsSpectatorsConsumingTouristsSocial LifeRomanticismSceneryDisillusionmentCafesUpper ClassBallroomMajor Problems
Author:James T. Farrell
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“I often used to think myself in the case of the fox-hunter, who, when he had toiled and sweated all day in the chase as if some unheard-of blessing was to crown his success, finds at last all he has got by his labor is a stinking nauseous animal. But my condition was yet worse than his; for he leaves the loathsome wretch to be torn by his hounds, whilst I was obliged to fondle mine, and meanly pretend him to be the object of my love.”

IfsThinkingLastsUsedAnimalMarriageCasesConditionsObjectsMinesBlessingLaborHuntingCrownsFoxesTornHuntersObligedDisillusionmentUnheardHounds
Author:Sarah Fielding
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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.”

LongStillsShowsHoursResultsFashionConcernedVoteSlaveHatsSpokesLengthNarcissismImpressedSuperficialThrillConsumingSkirtsLipstickAdvertisementsDisillusionmentSuperfluousPassivityAlluringTime ConsumingUnproductiveFashion ShowBeauticians
Author:Mary Barnett Gilson
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