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Reality is not always probable, or likely.
Jorge Luis Borges
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the distinction between reality and probability, suggesting that reality can often defy expectations.

Jorge Luis Borges' quote highlights the complexity of reality, pointing out that our perceptions of what is probable or likely do not always align with the actual nature of existence. It challenges the reader to consider the unpredictable and often incomprehensible facets of life that transcend ordinary reasoning and expectations.

Themes

RealityProbabilityExistencePerceptionPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the nature of existence, this quote can be used to illustrate that people often underestimate the complexity of what is real.

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This felicitous supposition declared that there is only one Individual, and that this indivisible Individual is every one of the separate beings in the universe, and that these beings are the instruments and masks of divinity itself.
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A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
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Let neither tear nor reproach besmirch this declaration of the mastery of God who, with magnificent irony, granted me both the gift of books and the night.
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Quote by Jorge Luis Borges | QuoteProject