November 23, 2025

You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing.

Sidney J. Harris (1917–1986), American journalist, The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.93

When was this last true of you—when in the name of “realism” did you do something of which you were secretly ashamed?

This is not true when everyone else is caught up in some bogus perception of the facts and needs to receive—from a genuine realist—the verbal equivalent of a few slaps across the face while being told “Snap out of it!”