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Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a working definition from a writer whose fiction kept pulling the floor out from under reality, which is exactly why it lands: whatever the story, the thing that outlasts your belief is the real one. Fans quote it against conspiracy thinking, against marketing spin and as a dry rebuke to anyone arguing a fact out of existence. It is also the one-liner people reach for when Dick's name comes up.
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In context
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Philip K. Dick wrote it in the speech "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" (1978), later collected in I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. He tells his audience that after thirty novels and over a hundred stories he still could not say what was real, until a college student in Canada asked him for a one-sentence definition for a philosophy paper. He answered with this line, and dates the exchange to 1972. He adds that he has not improved on it since, and goes on to warn that governments, media and corporations now manufacture false realities.
Sources (2)
- Philip K. Dick, 'How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later' (1978), textopening section, the paragraph about the Canadian studentReference checked
- Wikiquote: Philip K. Dicksection for the 1978 speechReference checked
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