--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Truth is too simple for us: we do not…" description: "\"Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.\" — Ralph Waldo Emerson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png" --- # Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who… ![“Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.” quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png) > “Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People reject truth that shatters comforting illusions. **In simple terms:** Truth challenges comfort. Key Takeaway Embrace uncomfortable truths. Themes truth illusion comfort society critique Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - personal decision - public discourse - education - media criticism Key Concepts philosophy psychology skepticism Questions to Reflect On - Why do we cling to illusions? - How to confront uncomfortable truths? A Different Perspective Truth can be socially destabilizing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) [Illusions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusions/) [Simplicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simplicity/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“Camilla: You, sir, should unmask. Stranger: Indeed? Cassilda: Indeed it’s time. We all have laid aside disguise but you. Stranger: I wear no mask.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-w-chambers/camilla-you-sir-should-unmask-stranger-indeed-cassilda-indeed-it-s/) [Robert W. Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-w-chambers/) > [We continually want to unmask our heroes as if there were more to be learned from their nakedness than from their choice of clothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/we-continually-want-to-unmask-our-heroes-as-if-there-were-more-to-be/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [My life's mission is to unmask the Jews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-streicher/my-life-s-mission-is-to-unmask-the-jews/) [Julius Streicher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-streicher/) > [Are you not aware that there comes a midnight hour when everyone must unmask...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/are-you-not-aware-that-there-comes-a-midnight-hour-when-everyone-must/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [You always want to unmask the person and find out who they are - that feeling of wanting what you can't have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-feuerzeig/you-always-want-to-unmask-the-person-and-find-out-who-they-are-that/) [Jeff Feuerzeig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-feuerzeig/) > [Men do not change, they unmask themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madame-de-stael/men-do-not-change-they-unmask-themselves/) [Madame de Stael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madame-de-stael/) > [In a world where everything is ridiculous, nothing can be ridiculed. You cannot unmask a mask.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/in-a-world-where-everything-is-ridiculous-nothing-can-be-ridiculed/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/one-of-the-illusions-of-life-is-that-the-present-hour-is-not-the-4/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Time is indeed the theater and seat of illusions; nothing is so ductile and elastic. The mind stretches an hour to a century, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/time-is-indeed-the-theater-and-seat-of-illusions-nothing-is-so/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“Truth is simple but difficult to explain… Loving is easy but difficult to express.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussain-rasheed/truth-is-simple-but-difficult-to-explain-loving-is-easy-but-difficult/) [Hussain Rasheed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussain-rasheed/) > [There are numerous layers to truth, and the simple and superficial statement of facts cannot satisfy the writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gao-xingjian/there-are-numerous-layers-to-truth-and-the-simple-and-superficial/) [Gao Xingjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gao-xingjian/) > [Truth is simple, requiring neither study nor art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ammianus-marcellinus/truth-is-simple-requiring-neither-study-nor-art/) [Ammianus Marcellinus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ammianus-marcellinus/) > [The words of truth are simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-words-of-truth-are-simple/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [“Science and Truth are simple phenomenon of nature, but it is the known that is preventing us from mastering the unknown.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chandrakanth-natekar/science-and-truth-are-simple-phenomenon-of-nature-but-it-is-the-known/) Chandrakanth Natekar > [Boiled down to its core, the truth is always a simple, solid thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-simon/boiled-down-to-its-core-the-truth-is-always-a-simple-solid-thing/) [David Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-simon/) ## More by Ralph Waldo Emerson > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Consideration is the soil in which wisdom may be expected to grow, and strength be given to every up-springing plant of duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/consideration-is-the-soil-in-which-wisdom-may-be-expected-to-grow-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/there-is-then-creative-reading-as-well-as-creative-writing-when-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The order of things consents to virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-order-of-things-consents-to-virtue/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Life only avails, not the having lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/life-only-avails-not-the-having-lived/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-child-reminds-us-that-playtime-is-an-essential-part-of-our-daily/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [No man can be criticised but by a greater than he. Do not, then, read the reviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/no-man-can-be-criticised-but-by-a-greater-than-he-do-not-then-read/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I am; therefore, I had nothing better to do than to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-am-therefore-i-had-nothing-better-to-do-than-to-think/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends, but they are imprisoned by an enchanter in these paper and leathern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-a-library-we-are-surrounded-by-many-hundreds-of-dear-friends-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Explore all 4,802 Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## More Illusion quotes > [A garden has a curious innocent way of consuming cash while all the time you are under the illusion that you are spending nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-meynell/a-garden-has-a-curious-innocent-way-of-consuming-cash-while-all-the/) [Esther Meynell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-meynell/) > [Even mud gives the illusion of depth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/even-mud-gives-the-illusion-of-depth/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Nirvana is a word that means enlightenment, being beyond the illusion of birth and death, the illusion of pain, the illusion of love, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/nirvana-is-a-word-that-means-enlightenment-being-beyond-the-illusion/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The fog of illusion, the fog of confusion is hanging all over the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-morrison/the-fog-of-illusion-the-fog-of-confusion-is-hanging-all-over-the-world/) [Van Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-morrison/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Without illusions. I love you because you are fallible and because your poor misguided testosterone-corrupted brain has you doing cartwheels trying not to be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-gerard/without-illusions-i-love-you-because-you-are-fallible-and-because/) [Cindy Gerard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-gerard/) > [Many of us rely on our own illusion of control. But when God makes it known to you that you're not the one steering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmin-mogahed/many-of-us-rely-on-our-own-illusion-of-control-but-when-god-makes-it/) [Yasmin Mogahed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmin-mogahed/) > [We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/we-are-eternal-all-this-pain-is-an-illusion/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [How could they say that they truly loved each other? They had simply grown up together, been children together, and the proximity of it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/how-could-they-say-that-they-truly-loved-each-other-they-had-simply/) [David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/) > [Life and death are illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/life-and-death-are-illusions-we-are-in-a-constant-state-of/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [Fortunately, the mind is restless; when it uncovers a layer of its own deception, gives up an illusion, exposes a lie, it does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-chernin/fortunately-the-mind-is-restless-when-it-uncovers-a-layer-of-its-own/) [Kim Chernin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-chernin/) > [I've always said that I benefit, as an actor, from not having the illusion of security.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-sparks/i-ve-always-said-that-i-benefit-as-an-actor-from-not-having-the/) [Hal Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-sparks/) > [Things aren't always as they appear. I've been believing things to be a certain way because I want them to be that way. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brett-dennen/things-aren-t-always-as-they-appear-i-ve-been-believing-things-to-be/) [Brett Dennen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brett-dennen/) > [Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/your-problem-is-how-you-are-going-to-spend-this-one-odd-and-precious/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) [Browse all 3,604 Illusion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Waldo Emerson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-like-those-who-unmask-our/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Illusion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-like-those-who-unmask-our/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53d/ralph-waldo-emerson-6_illusion_truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-lik_956248.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson", "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": "Ralph Waldo Emerson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Truth is too simple for us:...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-like-those-who-unmask-our/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/truth-is-too-simple-for-us-we-do-not-like-those-who-unmask-our/#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 } } ] } ```