Between things as they are and man's mental grasp of them stand
personal make-ups, dispositions, interest, and conditioning, as well as the
custom, traditions, and attitudes of a particular place and time. Granted
the operations of all these influences on the mind of man, how can we
ever be sure that we ever do see things as they are?
Michael De Montaigne 1533-1595

They said "you have a blue guitar.
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."
Wallace Stevens--1954