Raymond Aron Quotes

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.

It was my delusion and naivety that brought me here.

Pray look better, Sir... those things yonder are no giants, but windmills.

Stupidity is active in every direction, and can dress up in all the clothes of truth. Truth, on the other hand, has for every occasion only one dress and one path, and is always at a disadvantage.

The world only goes round by misunderstanding.

A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.

Characters are often revealed by the ways they misapprehend others.

The light at the end of the tunnel is just the light of an oncoming train.

An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains.

Great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.

It seems important to find ways of reminding ourselves that most 'familiarity' is meditated and delusive.

But what if our intelligence is wrong?

There is a tendency to overestimate the positive things in our lives and underestimate the possibility of negative things

One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.

It's easy to trick yourself into thinking something's funnier than it is.

Anyone who thinks my life is cupcakes is all wrong.

Stupidity is a talent for misconception.

I guess a little bit of delusion can go a long way.

It takes certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just stupidity, to know things will end and still hope otherwise.

An error is simply a failure to adjust immediately from a preconception to an actuality.

Error is certainty's constant companion. Error is the corollary of evidence. And anything said about truth may equally well be said about error: the delusion will be no greater.

I think people have a warped sense of who I am.

People will hear one thing and just run with it.

There have been occasions when some people have taken me very seriously.

Not to harp on too much about Ma, but it's a misconception that she is formidable. She calls herself a patsy.