--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But if there is a sense of reality, and…" description: "\"“But if there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt that it has its justification for existing, then there must also be something we can call a ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ae/robert-musil-2009_possibility_but-if-there-is-a-sense-of-reality-and-n_2793746.jpg" --- # But if there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt… ![“But if there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt that it has its justification for existing, then there must also be something we can call a sense of possibility. Whoever has it does not say, for instance: Here this or that has happened, will happen, must happen; but he invents: Here this…” quote by Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ae/robert-musil-2009_possibility_but-if-there-is-a-sense-of-reality-and-n_2793746.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ae/robert-musil-2009_possibility_but-if-there-is-a-sense-of-reality-and-n_2793746.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ae/robert-musil-2009_possibility_but-if-there-is-a-sense-of-reality-and-n_2793746.jpg) > ““But if there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt that it has its justification for existing, then there must also be something we can call a sense of possibility. Whoever has it does not say, for instance: Here this or that has happened, will happen, must happen; but he invents: Here this or that might, could, or ought to happen. If he is told that something is the way it is, he will think: Well, it could probably just as well be otherwise. \[...\] Such possibilists are said to inhabit a more delicate medium, a hazy medium of mist, fantasy, daydreams, and the subjunctive mood. Children who show this tendency are dealt with firmly and warned that such persons are cranks, dreamers, weaklings, know-it-alls, or troublemakers. Such fools are also called idealists by those who wish to praise them. But all this clearly applies only to their weak subspecies, those who cannot comprehend reality or who, in their melancholic condition, avoid it. These are people in whom the lack of a sense of reality is a real deficiency.”” [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage contrasts a rigid, factual view of reality with a flexible, imaginative sense of possibility, suggesting that embracing uncertainty and imagination is essential for growth. **In simple terms:** Reality vs. imagination; imagination is vital. Key Takeaway Allow imagination to challenge certainty. Themes reality imagination possibility creativity growth Mood reflective inquisitive critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - educational philosophy - creative writing - personal development - conflict resolution Key Concepts existentialism phenomenology psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance realism with imagination? - What value does uncertainty bring to decision making? A Different Perspective Idealists may be dismissed as impractical, limiting innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) ## Related quotes > [If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/if-there-is-a-sense-of-reality-there-must-also-be-a-sense-of/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [No matter how bad the lives have been, we people always always have the strength to hold on to a sense of possibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/no-matter-how-bad-the-lives-have-been-we-people-always-always-have/) Senoraroy > [The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/the-sense-of-possibility-so-necessary-for-success-comes-not-just-from/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [We can't, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it's all we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-keegan/we-can-t-we-must-not-lose-this-sense-of-possibility-because-in-the/) [Marina Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-keegan/) > [“We are, in a certain way, defined as much by our potential as by its expression. There is a great difference between an acorn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-naomi-remen/we-are-in-a-certain-way-defined-as-much-by-our-potential-as-by-its-2/) [Rachel Naomi Remen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-naomi-remen/) > [“Tugs had felt a sense of possibility today as she made that small speech, and there had to be a way to get that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ylvisaker/tugs-had-felt-a-sense-of-possibility-today-as-she-made-that-small/) [Anne Ylvisaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ylvisaker/) > [The economic sense of possibility was so great when I was growing up that my parents had no question that I could do anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/the-economic-sense-of-possibility-was-so-great-when-i-was-growing-up/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [“What I love about mornings is the sense of possibility”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-alexandra-vettese/what-i-love-about-mornings-is-the-sense-of-possibility/) Maria Alexandra Vettese > [“We're so young. We can't, we MUST not loose this sense of possibility because in the end, it's all we have.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-keegan/we-re-so-young-we-can-t-we-must-not-loose-this-sense-of-possibility/) [Marina Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-keegan/) > [What drives people to public service is a sense of possibility. If you haven't sensed that possibility you don't get started in the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hampton/what-drives-people-to-public-service-is-a-sense-of-possibility-if-you/) [Henry Hampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hampton/) > [Unless you are really grounded and have a true sense of reality, you can get lost in that and a lot of people do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morris-chestnut/unless-you-are-really-grounded-and-have-a-true-sense-of-reality-you/) [Morris Chestnut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morris-chestnut/) > [Even in the realest American cinema that I see, there's still not that sense that this is reality. There's still that sense that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-leonard/even-in-the-realest-american-cinema-that-i-see-there-s-still-not-that/) [Joshua Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-leonard/) > [“Women have been driven mad, "gaslighted," for centuries by the refutation of our experience and our instincts in a culture which validates only male…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/women-have-been-driven-mad-gaslighted-for-centuries-by-the-refutation/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [It's my parents' attitudes to situations that gives me a sense of reality about what's worth worrying about, and what's not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chloe-madeley/it-s-my-parents-attitudes-to-situations-that-gives-me-a-sense-of/) [Chloe Madeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chloe-madeley/) > [What constitutes - where are we when we sleep? What is our sense of reality at that moment? It's, you know, science now suggests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-milch/what-constitutes-where-are-we-when-we-sleep-what-is-our-sense-of/) [David Milch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-milch/) ## More by Robert Musil > [“Everything we feel and do is somehow oriented "lifeward," and the least deviation away from this direction toward something beyond is difficult or alarming.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/everything-we-feel-and-do-is-somehow-oriented-lifeward-and-the-least/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“He was in that familiar state - not that the occasion mattered to seriously to him -- of incoherent ideas spreading outward without a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/he-was-in-that-familiar-state-not-that-the-occasion-mattered-to/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [It is life that does the thinking all around us, forming with playful ease the connections our reason can only laboriously patch together piecemeal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/it-is-life-that-does-the-thinking-all-around-us-forming-with-playful/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“What is it you do, then? I'll tell you: You leave out whatever doesn't suit you. As the author himself has done before you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/what-is-it-you-do-then-i-ll-tell-you-you-leave-out-whatever-doesn-t/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [and while faith based on theological reasoning is today universally engaged in a bitter struggle with doubt and resistance from the prevailing brand of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/and-while-faith-based-on-theological-reasoning-is-today-universally/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [What is the use of good painting? We want a spell cast upon the optical part of our existence! We seldom really see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/what-is-the-use-of-good-painting-we-want-a-spell-cast-upon-the/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [That the will of the people can be established by voting for democrats is, of course, a delusion. Yet when considering a non-threatening system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/that-the-will-of-the-people-can-be-established-by-voting-for/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“Ein Mann, der die Wahrheit will, wird Gelehrter; ein Mann, der seine Subjektivität spielen lassen will, wird vielleicht Schriftsteller; was aber soll ein Mann…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/ein-mann-der-die-wahrheit-will-wird-gelehrter-ein-mann-der-seine/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“For a long time now a hint of aversion had lain on everything he did and experienced, a shadow of impotence and loneliness, an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/for-a-long-time-now-a-hint-of-aversion-had-lain-on-everything-he-did/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“All the knowledge that has led our species from wearing animal skins to people flying, complete with proofs, would fill a handful of reference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/all-the-knowledge-that-has-led-our-species-from-wearing-animal-skins/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [I also believe that few people remain completely untouched by the thought that instead of the life they lead there might also be another,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/i-also-believe-that-few-people-remain-completely-untouched-by-the/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“His appearance gives no clue to what his profession might be, and yet he doesn't look like a man without a profession either. Consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/his-appearance-gives-no-clue-to-what-his-profession-might-be-and-yet/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [Philosophers are people who do violence, but have no army at their disposal, and so subjugate the world by locking it into a system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/philosophers-are-people-who-do-violence-but-have-no-army-at-their/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“The drive of his own nature to keep developing prevents him from believing that anything is final and complete, yet everything he encounters behaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/the-drive-of-his-own-nature-to-keep-developing-prevents-him-from/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“And so the mind or spirit is the great opportunist, itself impossible to pin down, take hold of, anywhere; one is tempted to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/and-so-the-mind-or-spirit-is-the-great-opportunist-itself-impossible/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) [Explore all 139 Robert Musil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) ## More Possibility quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [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/) > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [I'm a vegetarian - I think there's a strong possibility, had I not become a vegetarian, I would not be working now. I became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-barker/i-m-a-vegetarian-i-think-there-s-a-strong-possibility-had-i-not/) [Bob Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-barker/) > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [If you take text and image and you put them together, the multiple readings that are possible in either poetry or in something visual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hell/if-you-take-text-and-image-and-you-put-them-together-the-multiple/) [Richard Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hell/) > [It's still possible to savor the remarkable foods that millennia of human ingenuity have teased from milk. A sip of milk itself or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-mcgee/it-s-still-possible-to-savor-the-remarkable-foods-that-millennia-of/) Harold McGee > [If you allow for the possibilities of something better, you move toward it instinctively.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-fox/if-you-allow-for-the-possibilities-of-something-better-you-move/) [Michael J. Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-fox/) > [Beware of the strong possibility that any state of a human, whether good or bad, might be the case of any other fellow human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/beware-of-the-strong-possibility-that-any-state-of-a-human-whether/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Without a vision there is no possibility of creating something larger than what al-ready exists. An entrepreneur has to be able to bring something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-robbins/without-a-vision-there-is-no-possibility-of-creating-something-larger/) [Tony Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-robbins/) > [The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/the-possibility-of-saying-anything-about-a-thing-rests-on-the/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [Unbounded awareness is the reservoir of possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/unbounded-awareness-is-the-reservoir-of-possibilities/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [This is the sacrifice: the endless possibility that is offered up on the altar of the form...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/this-is-the-sacrifice-the-endless-possibility-that-is-offered-up-on/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) [Browse all 4,723 Possibility quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But if there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt that it has its justification for existing, then there must also be something we can call a sense of possibility. 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