see through a glass darkly—(the Bible) is used to say that humans have a fundamentally clouded, fractured, and limited perception of reality (also: see in a mirror, dimly):
- Here is another key principle of all history-writing: The historian, by force of his human limitations, sees through a glass darkly.
see through rose-colored glasses—said of an unduly cheerful or optimistic view of things:
- Depressed people are the most realistic, they have lost most of their ability to see through rose-colored glasses.