--- title: "3 Real people Quotes By Philip Roth" description: "3 Real people quotes by Philip Roth. Plus more from Philip Roth and more Real people sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/philip-roth-681_business_t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-il_1439928.jpg" --- > [ “…\[T\]he whole thing is really a dazzling illusion empty of all perception, an astonishing farce of misperception. And yet what are we… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-illusion-empty-of-all/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/philip-roth-681_business_t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-il_1439928.jpg) > [“Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/is-everyone-to-go-off-and-lock-the-door-and-sit-secluded-like-the/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95b/philip-roth-681_every-day_is-everyone-to-go-off-and-lock-the-door_1470002.jpg) > [“You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-fight-your-superficiality-your-shallowness-so-as-to-try-to-come-2/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c54/philip-roth-681_along-for-the-ride_you-fight-your-superficiality-your-shall_1754861.jpg) ## Other authors on Real people ## More by Philip Roth > [“The old intergenerational give-and-take of the country-that-used-to-be, when everyone knew his role and took the rules dead seriously, the acculturating back-and-forth that all of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-old-intergenerational-give-and-take-of-the-country-that-used-to/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-be-greater-than-your-feelings-i-don-t-demand-this-of-you-life/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/nothing-bad-can-happen-to-a-writer-everything-is-material/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [The only way to have a funeral is to invite everyone who ever knew the person and just wait for the accident to happen-somebody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-only-way-to-have-a-funeral-is-to-invite-everyone-who-ever-knew/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/to-become-a-celebrity-is-to-become-a-brand-name-there-is-ivory-soap/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/there-are-no-reasons-she-is-obliged-to-be-as-she-is-we-all-are/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/as-far-as-i-can-see-there-is-no-conquering-or-exorcising-the-past/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [The book really comes to life in the rewriting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-book-really-comes-to-life-in-the-rewriting/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/what-is-astonishing-is-that-we-who-had-no-idea-how-anything-was-going/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“Good Christ, a Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/good-christ-a-jewish-man-with-parents-alive-is-a-fifteen-year-old-boy/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off – the sticky evidence is everywhere!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/i-am-the-raskolnikov-of-jerking-off-the-sticky-evidence-is-everywhere/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“Better for real things to be uncontrollable, better for one's life to be undecipherable and intellectually impenetrable than to attempt to make casual sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/better-for-real-things-to-be-uncontrollable-better-for-one-s-life-to/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [“Doctor Spielvogel, it alleviates nothing fixing the blame - blaming is still ailing, of course, of course - but nonetheless, what was it with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/doctor-spielvogel-it-alleviates-nothing-fixing-the-blame-blaming-is/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/my-god-the-english-language-is-a-form-of-communication-conversation/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-asked-if-i-thought-my-fiction-had-changed-anything-in-the-culture/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-people/philip-roth/#itemlist", "name": "3 Real people Quotes By Philip Roth", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“…[T]he whole thing is really a dazzling illusion empty of all perception, an astonishing farce of misperception. And yet what are we to do about this terribly significant business of other people, which gets bled of the significance we think it has and takes on instead a significance that is ludicrous, so ill-equipped are we all to envision one another’s interior workings and invisible aims? Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Roth" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-illusion-empty-of-all/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/philip-roth-681_business_t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-il_1439928.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/philip-roth-681_business_t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-il_1439928.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d7/philip-roth-681_business_t-he-whole-thing-is-really-a-dazzling-il_1439928.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“…[T]he whole thing is really a dazzling illusion empty of all perception, an astonishing farce of…” — Philip Roth", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day? The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. 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You might as well have the brain of a tank. You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion empty of all perception, an astonishing farce of misperception. And yet what are we to do about this terribly significant business of \"other people,\" which gets bled of the significance we think it has and takes on instead a significance that is ludicrous, so ill-equipped are we all to envision one another's interior workings and invisible aims? Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day? The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. 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