nonexistent things

'As they watched the candle burn, they speculated as to whether light is found in the object or in our eye. Since stars may already have died out by the time their light reaches us, we may be admiring nonexistent things.'

'Gustave Flaubert, Bouvart et P'cuchet, 1881. Quoted in Optiques: the science of the eye and the birth of modern French fiction by Andrea Goulet, 2006.