About this quote

Inside an illusion, the illusion feels like plain fact, and only the jolt of waking exposes it. Assumptions about a job, a relationship, or ourselves can run for years unquestioned, seeming obviously true the whole time. The trouble is that the dreamer rarely suspects he is dreaming.

When to use it

• Believing a failing business is fine until the bank statement forces a reckoning.
• Assuming a friendship is solid until a crisis reveals it was one-sided.
• Sure a habit is harmless until a doctor's visit changes the whole picture.