--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The dreamer can know no truth, not even…" description: "\"The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png" --- # The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream… ![“The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png) > “The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.” [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Dreams lack absolute truth; only waking life provides reliable knowledge, urging awakening to reality. **In simple terms:** Dreams aren’t truth; wake up. Key Takeaway Seek truth in waking life. Themes philosophy dreams reality Mood contemplative philosophical Type inspirational reflective When to use this quote - personal reflection - psychology - spiritual practice - creative writing Key Concepts epistemology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How do dreams influence decisions? - Can waking life be fully trusted? A Different Perspective Dreams can hold personal insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreamer/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-am-a-dreamer-i-know-so-little-of-real-life-that-i-just-can-t-help/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We awake every day chose to live life, but it's disregarded as what we choose to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-clark/we-awake-every-day-chose-to-live-life-but-it-s-disregarded-as-what-we/) [Denise Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-clark/) > [“In a moment of unusual clarity, we eliminate suffering by not wishing for a different life. When we affirm every manifold of our life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/in-a-moment-of-unusual-clarity-we-eliminate-suffering-by-not-wishing/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) > [“I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can't help re-living such moments as these in my dreams,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/i-am-a-dreamer-i-know-so-little-of-real-life-that-i-just-can-t-help-2/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/i-am-a-dreamer-i-know-so-little-of-real-life-that-i-just-can-t-help-3/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [My hero, she's the last real dreamer I know. And I can tell you all about her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mayday-parade/my-hero-she-s-the-last-real-dreamer-i-know-and-i-can-tell-you-all/) Mayday Parade > [“The only duty of the dreamer is to tell the truth about the dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-yolen/the-only-duty-of-the-dreamer-is-to-tell-the-truth-about-the-dream/) [Jane Yolen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-yolen/) > [“What was she like?" I tell the truth. "She was my dream. She made me who I am, and holding her in my arms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/what-was-she-like-i-tell-the-truth-she-was-my-dream-she-made-me-who-i/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [One doubt, one voice, one war, one truth, one dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-gabriel/one-doubt-one-voice-one-war-one-truth-one-dream/) [Peter Gabriel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-gabriel/) > [Truth is more than a dream and a song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/truth-is-more-than-a-dream-and-a-song/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [“If my dream comes true,/Is truth then only a dream?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bignell/if-my-dream-comes-true-is-truth-then-only-a-dream/) [Rob Bignell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bignell/) > [“Words are too easy,” he says. He opens his book. “What looks like truth and sounds like truth might be nothing but a dream,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-almond/words-are-too-easy-he-says-he-opens-his-book-what-looks-like-truth/) [David Almond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-almond/) > [So vast, so limitless in capacity is man's imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/so-vast-so-limitless-in-capacity-is-man-s-imagination-to-disperse-and/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/an-artist-is-a-dreamer-consenting-to-dream-of-the-actual-world/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“Every discipline is a dream, every dream is service.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/every-discipline-is-a-dream-every-dream-is-service/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) ## More by George Santayana > [Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/perhaps-the-universe-is-nothing-but-an-equilibrium-of-idiocies/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The combative instinct is a savage prompting by which one man's good is found in another's evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-combative-instinct-is-a-savage-prompting-by-which-one-man-s-good/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Sanctity and genius are as rebellious as vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sanctity-and-genius-are-as-rebellious-as-vice/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/to-attempt-to-be-religious-without-practicing-a-specific-religion-is/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“The contemporary world has turned its back on the attempt and even on the desire to live reasonably.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-contemporary-world-has-turned-its-back-on-the-attempt-and-even-on/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The pride of the artisan in his art and its uses is pride in himself...It is in his skill and ability to make things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-pride-of-the-artisan-in-his-art-and-its-uses-is-pride-in-himself/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/if-pain-could-have-cured-us-we-should-long-ago-have-been-saved/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/towers-in-a-modern-town-are-a-frill-and-a-survival-they-seem-like-the/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/wealth-religion-military-victory-have-more-rhetorical-than/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Whoever it was who searched the heavens with a telescope and found no God would not have found the human mind if he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/whoever-it-was-who-searched-the-heavens-with-a-telescope-and-found-no/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/it-is-easier-to-make-a-saint-out-of-a-libertine-than-out-of-a-prig/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/experience-is-a-mere-whiff-or-rumble-produced-by-enormously-complex/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/miracles-are-propitious-accidents-the-natural-causes-of-which-are-too/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/memory-itself-is-an-internal-rumour-and-when-to-this-hearsay-within/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Familiarity breeds contempt only when it breeds inattention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/familiarity-breeds-contempt-only-when-it-breeds-inattention/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) [Explore all 530 George Santayana quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## More Awaking quotes > [We awake every day chose to live life, but it's disregarded as what we choose to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-clark/we-awake-every-day-chose-to-live-life-but-it-s-disregarded-as-what-we/) [Denise Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-clark/) > [“In a moment of unusual clarity, we eliminate suffering by not wishing for a different life. When we affirm every manifold of our life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/in-a-moment-of-unusual-clarity-we-eliminate-suffering-by-not-wishing/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) Browse all 3 Awaking quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-about-his-dream-except-by/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Awaking" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-about-his-dream-except-by/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a6/george-santayana-478_awaking_the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-a_1298293.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.” — George Santayana", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Santayana", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The dreamer can know no truth,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-about-his-dream-except-by/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-dreamer-can-know-no-truth-not-even-about-his-dream-except-by/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```