So the sense of possibility could be defined outright as the ability to
conceive of everything there might be just as well, and to attach no
more importance to what is than to what is not. The consequences of so
creative a disposition can be remarkable, and may, regrettably, often
make what people admire seem wrong, and what is taboo permissible, or,
also, make both a matter of indifference. Such possibilists are said
to inhabit a more delicate medium, a hazy medium of mist, fantasy,
daydreams, and the subjunctive mood. Children who show this tendency
are dealt with firmly and warned that such persons are cranks,
dreamers, weaklings, know-it-alls, or troublemakers.
-- Robert Musil. The Man Without Qualities (1930-33),
vol. 1, page 11.
(tr. from the German by Sophie Wilkins, 1995)