Idealism Quotes

• Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

  Bertrand Russell

  Power, Hatred, Idealism And Realism

  Bertrand Russell (1992). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”, p.478, Psychology Press

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• Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  War, Sunset, Victory And Defeat

  Mahatma Gandhi (1965). “Collected Works”

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• An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Love, Inspirational, Running

  Sydney J. Harris (1985). “Pieces of Eight Pa”, Mariner Books

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• An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.

  Henry Ford

  Inspirational, Helping Others, People

  "Thesaurus of Epigrams: A New Classified Collection of Witty Remarks, Bon Mots and Toasts". Book by Edmund Fuller, 1948.

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• Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

  William F. Buckley, Jr.

  Reality, Cost, Idealism And Realism

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• Contemplate the choice between going after money or ideals. There is so much pressure to go for money, idealism gets little airplay. Do something that means something to you.

  Shere Hite

  Mean, Choices, Littles

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• Our salvation is in striving to achieve what we know we'll never achieve.

  Ryszard Kapuscinski

  Strive, Achieve, Salvation

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• A man gazing at the stars is proverbially at the mercy of the puddles in the road.

  Alexander Smith

  Wisdom, Stars, Science

  Alexander Smith (1863). “Dreamthorp: A Book of Essays Written in the Country”, p.146

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• The actual well seen is ideal.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Wells, Ideals

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• The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still.

  Phillips Brooks

  Blood, Life Is, Ideal Life

  Phillips Brooks (1838). “Sermons”, p.35

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• We have to live and let live in order to create what we are.

  Albert Camus

  Order, Live And Let Live, Ideals

  ALBERT CAMUS (1971). “NOBEL PRIZE LIBRARY”

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• You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very exciting. It's very real. It's very strong.

  Bono

  Dream, Strong, Real

  "My wish: Three actions for Africa". TED Talk, www.ted.com. February 2005.

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• I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.

  Carl Sandburg

  Funny, Life, Motivational

  Incidentals (1907) p. 8

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• No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Military, Law

  Sir Winston Churchill, Jack Fishman (1974). “If I lived my life again”, W.H. Allen

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• Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Cynical, Cynicism, Idealist

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• It seems to be the fate of idealists to obtain what they have struggled for in a form which destroys their ideals.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fate, Form, Idealist

  Marriage and Morals ch. 7 (1929)

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• Idealists foolish enough to throw caution to the winds have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.

  Emma Goldman

  Wind, World, Foolish

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• There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Patriotic, Force, Democratic

  Calvin Coolidge (2001). “The Price of Freedom: Speeches and Addresses”, p.5, The Minerva Group, Inc.

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• It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Vision, World

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• An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

  H. L. Mencken

  Life, Food, Vegetables

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.617, Vintage

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• By the artificial separation of soul and body men have invented a Realism that is vulgar and an Idealism that is void.

  Oscar Wilde

  Men, Soul And Body, Void

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• Idealism and science continue to function in separate compartments; and yet 'the happiness of man on earth' depends upon their combination.

  Lewis Mumford

  Men, Earth, Combination

  Lewis Mumford (2013). “The Story of Utopias”, p.181, Read Books Ltd

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• If you want to accomplish something in the world, idealism is not enough - you need to choose a method that works to achieve the goal.

  Richard Stallman

  Goal, Needs, World

  Richard Stallman (2002). “Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman”, p.75, Lulu.com

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• Nearly all the Escapists in the long past have managed their own budget and their social relations so unsuccessfully that I wouldn't want them for my landlords, or my bankers, or my neighbors. They were valuable, like powerful stimulants, only when they were left out of the social and industrial routine.

  Willa Cather

  Powerful, Past, Long

  Willa Cather (1992). “Stories, Poems, and Other Writings”

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• The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel, the realist sees a train entering the tunnel, the pessimist sees a train speeding at him, hell for leather, and the machinist sees three idiots sitting on the rail track. "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."

  James Branch Cabell

  Tunnels, Light, Track

  The Silver Stallion bk. 4, ch. 26 (1926) See Leibniz 3; Voltaire 7; Voltaire 8

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