Hallucination Quotes (4 quotes)
… certain conditions under which the observable thing is perceived are tacitly assumed ... for the possibility that we deal with hallucinations or a dream can never be excluded.
In The Language of Modern Physics (1956).
A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.
The Monist (Apr 1914), 24:2, 173.
Chemically induced hallucinations, delusions and raptures may be frightening or wonderfully gratifying; in either case they are in the nature of confidence tricks played on one’s own nervous system.
In 'Return Trip to Nirvana', Sunday Telegraph (12 Mar 1961), as collected in Kaleidoscope: Essays from Drinkers of Infinity, and The Heel of Achilles and Later Pieces and Stories (1981), 80 (source cited on p.72, footnote).
The difference between a vision and a hallucination is how many people you can get to believe they see it, too.
From 'Quotable Spaf' on his faculty webpage at purdue.com with note that it is his own original aphorism.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
