Philip K. Dick Quotes — 20 Famous Quotes & Sayings | Lex

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.””

VALIS

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.””

I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon

“Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. . . If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others? What about the world of a schizophrenic? Maybe it's as real as our world. Maybe we cannot say that we are in touch with reality and he is not, but should instead say, His reality is so different from ours that he can't explain his to us, and we can't explain ours to him. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently, there occurs a breakdown in communication ... and there is the real illness.””

“I'm not much but I'm all I have.””

Martian Time-Slip

“The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give.””

“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.””

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“Today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups... So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing.””

“Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.””

“The problem with introspection is that it has no end.””

“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.””

“If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others.””

“There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.””

“Reality denied comes back to haunt.””

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

“Everything in life is just for a while.””

A Scanner Darkly

“When you are crazy you learn to keep quiet.””

VALIS

“There exists, for everyone, a sentence - a series of words - that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists, another series of words, that could heal you. If you're lucky you will get the second, but you can be certain of getting the first.””

VALIS

“A weird time in which we are alive. We can travel anywhere we want, even to other planets. And for what? To sit day after day, declining in morale and hope.””

The Man in the High Castle

“Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find.””

The Man in the High Castle

“The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher taught that the only things that are real are things which never change... and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher taught that everything changes. If you superimpose their two views, you get this result: Nothing is real.””

Quotes by Philip K. Dick