You know I saw this phrase today in "Flight Magazine" and its not the first time I have heard this phrase. I bring this up because in today's world this phrase is not easily attainable. I am thinking the phrase should be more like "Stop dreaming and fly if you have the money". One of the main reasons why I stopped flying is because of the price increase for flying! I just cant afford it anymore! In today's world flying at my club in a C-152 you are looking at $127 an hour including instructor fees. This is just outrageous! So as you can see, the whole "stop dreaming and start flying" phrase probably shouldn't be the selling point in flying anymore...

I feel for you, grunt, but let's face it- complaining about the ever-increasing cost of flying is like complaining about the weather (another thing many pilots do, LOL). And here in the US, we are still very, very lucky compared to pilots elsewhere... the fuel prices and fees, not to mention the restrictions, are mind-boggling in Europe, etc.

It's more productive to ignore the magazines and do the legwork necessary to find savings wherever you can.

Even with today's nasty fuel prices, if you're paying $127/hr
for dual in a 152 as a club member, you're getting ripped off, IMHO. You'd probably pay less as a 50% partner in a 152, even with a maintenance fund, etc.
  But there are still affordable clubs out there... look for those which are registered nonprofit companies, with member-instructors, and aircraft rented by "wet" tach time.

Then there's soaring- I would have had to stop flying altogether if it weren't for the fact that I had a small affordable glider club near me. I've done plenty of power flying, including some actual traveling, and soaring, to me, anyway, is equally rewarding (in different ways). It's "real flying", believe me, even though it's considered a sport.
And I get enough free stick time in other members' power planes to not feel like I've given up on that altogether. How does it compare to renting beat-up 152s these days? $1K to join (which buys a share of the gliders and provides a maintenance fund), $400 a year dues (to cover SSA membership and insurance for the whole club), and per tow it's ten bucks plus a dollar for every 100 feet before release (to pay for tow plane fuel). Even in the trainer, on a decent day you can stay aloft for two or three hours on a $40 tow.

I may be in a unique situation, but here'show I've been getting my flight time lately. I'm an A&P mechanic who is working on getting experience, I do that by working mostly for free at a little airport where a lot of flight instructing goes on. My boss is a mechanic and a flight instructor, so once in a while I get an hour of dual for free. The neat thing is, I get to fly on all of the test flights, so I've been able to fly a few different aircraft.

Admittedly, I'm taking the hard road, I could go work for Mesaba Airlines and make $30K per year, but Mesaba doesn't fly Cessna's, Aeronca's, or Taylorcraft's.

I digress. You don't necessarily have to be an A&P to get this kind of deal. You could be a line-boy or wash airplanes in exchange for flying time. That is if you find a place that is willing to work that kind of thing out with you. I know it sounds crazy, but it can be done.

P.S. I do get a little commission pay on big jobs. Also I have just over a year of experience now.