50 Delusional Quotes That Are Hard to Resist

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published December 19, 2022

No doubt, delusional quotes are hard to find but don’t worry, as we are here to help you.

Here, we have gathered some of the best delusional quotes and sayings you will love.

Most of these quotes are motivational and are worth sharing.

In addition to the quotes, we have also talked about delusion.

So, let’s dive in!

What is Delusion?

Delusion refers to a false belief and shows an abnormality associated with a person’s thoughts.

The notable feature of a delusion relates to the level at which an individual believes that the delusion is true.

Such a person would firmly hold to the delusion or belief irrespective of the evidence against it.

Types of Delusions

Here are the most prominent types of delusions.

Erotomanic
Persecutory
Jealous
Grandiose
Somatic

Erotomanic Delusions

Erotomanic delusions make a person believe falsely that other people are in love with him or her.

Usually, this type of delusion targets people of “higher status” (often celebrities).

On the contrary, the person having this delusion is an ordinary individual.

Persecutory Delusions

This is the most commonly observed delusion, causing a person to believe there is something or someone out there to get them.

Persecutory delusion is referred to as the extreme type of paranoia. The symptoms of this delusion are:

Sleep issues
Anxiety
Negative thoughts
Depression

Jealous Delusions

A person with jealous delusion falsely believes that his/her partner is unfaithful.

It is relatively different from the typical jealousy that we usually experience.

Jealous delusion forces a person continuously search for evidence of his/her partner’s infidelity.

Grandiose Delusions

People with grandiose delusions live with a false belief of their superiority to others.

This is a common type of delusion, which affects people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Here are a few examples of grandiose delusion:

Think they are “God”
Consider themselves popular
Believe they are wealthy

Somatic Delusions

An individual with somatic delusion has a false belief that his/her body is defective in one way or another.

These delusions are about serious diseases like cancer or organ failure.

They continue to undergo medical testing but don’t believe the results.

Top 10 Delusional Quotes

Let’s take a look at the top 10 delusional quotes listed below.

1. “Not creating delusions is enlightenment.” — Bodhidharma

2. “The worst deluded are the self-deluded.” — Christian Nestell

3. “Celebrity gives us delusion of self-importance.” — Al Goldstein

4. “Irrational beliefs are culturally accepted delusions.” — Robert Todd Carroll

5. “Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.” — H. L. Mencken

6. “Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.” — Jane Wagner

7. “Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.” — Don Marquis

8. “The disappointment of manhood succeeds the delusion of youth.” — Benjamin Disraeli

9. “You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity, and delusion.” — Gustav Mahler

10. “All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.” — Ambrose Bierce

Delusional Quotes for Motivation

If you are looking for motivational quotes about delusion, check out the following quotes.

11. “Truth may sometimes hurt, but delusion harms.” — Vanna Bonta

12. “The house of delusions is cheap to build but drafty to live in.” — A. E. Housman

13. “The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” — Edmund Burke

14. “Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.” — Ludwig Borne

15. “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” — Leo Tolstoy

16. “It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them.” — Rose Macaulay

17. “No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.” — Christian Nestell

18. “The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion.” — Bodhidharma

19. “There are a lot of people who are doing wonderful things, quietly, with no motive of greed, or hostility toward other people, or delusions of superiority.” — Charles Kuralt

20. “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” — George Bernard Shaw

Delusional Quotes About Relationships

These delusional quotes relate to the relationships and issues associated with people.

21. “Truth is always a delusion.” — Friedrich Durrenmatt

22. “Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.” — Edward Abbey

23. “Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.” — Guru Nanak

24. “Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false namings of real events.” — Adrienne Rich

25. “Practically all the relationships I know are based on a foundation of lies and mutually accepted delusion.” — Kim Cattrall

26. “One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.” — Horace

27. “Enlightenment after all is to overcome delusion, by way of sensitizing practitioners to complexities and problems of the human situation.” — Hee-jin

28. “The sense that my world is stable and stationary, that change will never come and that all will go on continuously as it is, is the nature of all delusion.” — Brenda Shoshanna

29. “The delusions of self-love cannot be prevented, but intellectual misconceptions as to the means of achieving success may be corrected.” — George Henry Lewes

30. “The only consistent hobby I’ve had is studying Spanish and French because of some delusion of grandeur to work around the world. I love sports but usually, I’m looking for the next job.” — William Sanderson

Inspirational Delusional Quotes

Most of the quotes listed below are inspirational. So let’s read and get inspired.

31. “When all else fails there’s always delusion.” — Conan O’Brien

32. “Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.” — Jim Rohn

33. “The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.” — Paul Watzlawick

34. “A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and the truth in front of patriotic passion.” — H. L. Mencken

35. “Prominence is cool, but when the delusion kicks in it can be a drag. Especially if you choose to surround yourself with friends and not acolytes.” — Barbara Kruger

36. “The concept of the “good ol’ days” must be one of our society’s biggest delusions, top reasons for depression, as well as most often used excuse for lack of success.” — Robert Foster Bennett

37. “The attempt to redefine the family as a purely voluntary arrangement grows out of the modern delusion that people can keep all their options open all the time.” — Christopher Lasch

38. “There is not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education, and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves.” — David Hume

39. “Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!” — Charles Dickens

40. “Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is the taking over of a rational and lucid mind by delusion and self-destruction. You lose yourself, you have no power over yourself, you can’t even think straight.” — Marilyn French

Thoughtful Delusional Quotes

These quotes have a message for the reader and are thought-provoking too.

41. “I keep working under the delusion that someday a library will ask for my manuscripts.” — Walter Wager

42. “If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.” — Ronald Reagan

43. “A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors.” — William Ralph Inge

44. “One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation.” — Thomas Reed

45. “It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” — Carl Sagan

46. “I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it’s no problem for me to believe that I’m somebody else.” — Daniel Day-Lewis

47. “No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.” — Thomas Huxley

48. “The delusion of entertainment is devoid of meaning. It may amuse us for a bit, but after the initial hit we are left with the dark feeling of desolation.” — Arthur Erickson

49. “I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties.” — Alexander Alekhine

50. “Great cataclysmic things can go by and neither the orchestra nor the conductor are under the delusion that whether they make this or that gesture is going to be the deciding factor in how it comes out.” — James Levine