Idealist Quotes - Page 3

• The impatient idealist says: 'Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.' But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.

  Chinua Achebe

  Moving, Giving, Black History

  FaceBook post by Chinua Achebe from Jan 17, 2017

  94 Copy quote

  Show source

• To say that a man is an idealist is merely to say that he is a man.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Life, Men

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.221, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The idealist regards facts as provisional.

  Mason Cooley

  Facts, Idealism, Regard

  5 Copy quote

• Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Idealism

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.89, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• A man given to vice is always an idealist.

  Georges Bernanos

  Men, Vices, Given

  Georges Bernanos (2000). “Monsieur Ouine”, p.61, U of Nebraska Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Teachers are by nature idealists, and they believe anything can be learned.

  Susan Wiggs

  Teacher, Believe

  4 Copy quote

• Questioning growth is deemed to be the act of lunatics, idealists and revolutionaries. But question it we must.

  Tim Jackson

  Growth, Revolutionary, Questioning

  "Politics Without Creativity Is Not Political". "The European" Interview, www.theeuropean-magazine.com. April 07, 2011.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The collegiate idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Fun, College, Earth Day

  "Parliament of Whores". Book by P. J. O'Rourke, 1991.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Children are great idealists, until the stupidity of their elders puts out the fires of the aspirations.

  Nellie L. McClung

  Children, Fire, Stupidity

  25 Copy quote

• The idealist and dreamer will stubbornly go down with the ship. The serial innovator grabs the rudder and changes course.

  Larry Osborne

  Dreamer, Ships, Rudders

  9 Copy quote

• Neither idealists nor materialists are right; we must take both idea and expression.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Expression, Ideas, Materialism

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.3116, Manonmani Publishers

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The opposite of an idealist is too often a man without love.

  Albert Camus

  Life, Men, Opposites

  Albert Camus (2012). “Happy Death”, p.133, Vintage

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every great man of business has got somewhere a touch of the idealist in him.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Business, Men, Commerce

  Woodrow Wilson (1972). “The Papers of Woodrow Wilson”

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• The only option for a pure idealist is to commit suicide.

  Wu Guoguang

  Suicide, Suicidal, Commit

  "The Gate of Heavenly Peace". Frontline (TV Series), www.imdb.com. 1995.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• There aren't many idealists in politics.

  Evelyn Anthony

  Politics

  Evelyn Anthony (2015). “The Avenue of the Dead”, p.53, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Living with a dog is easy- like living with an idealist.

  H. L. Mencken

  Dog, Easy, Canine

  9 Copy quote

• I would agree that President Carter didn't live up to the expectation we all had when he came in 1976. My husband and I were young idealists who worked on his campaign.

  Michele Bachmann

  Husband, Expectations, President

  "The Shuttle: Rep. Michele Bachmann". Interview with Daniel Libit, www.politico.com. June 13, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It isn't a circle--it is simply a long line--as in geometry, you know, one that reaches into infinity. And because we cannot see the end--we also cannot see how it changes. And it is very odd by those who see the changes--who dream, who will not give up--are called idealists...and those who see only the circle we call them the "realists"!

  Lorraine Hansberry

  Dream, Giving Up, Circles

  Lorraine Hansberry (2011). “A Raisin in the Sun”, p.116, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The universalists, the idealists, the Utopians all aim too high. They give promises of an unattainable paradise, and by doing so they deceive mankind. Whatever label they wear, whether they call themselves Christians, Communists, humanitarians, whether they are merely sincere but stupid or wire-pullers and cynics, they are all makers of slaves. I myself have always kept my eye fixed on a paradise which, in the nature of things, lies well within our reach. I mean an improvement in the lot of the German people. (21st February 1945)

  Adolf Hitler

  Christian, Lying, Stupid

  40 Copy quote

• War in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.

  Chris Hedges

  Peace, Betrayal, War

  Chris Hedges (2005). “Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America”, p.96, Simon and Schuster

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am an absurd idealist. But I believe that all that must come true. For, unless it comes true, the world will be laid desolate. And I believe that it can come true.

  Leslie Charteris

  Laughter, Believe, Fighting

  "The Last Hero".

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Steps, Road To Serfdom, Fanatics

  "The Road to Serfdom". Book by Friedrich Hayek. Chapter 4: "The 'Inevitability' of Planning", 1944.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Finally, the president added, 'The American people are idealists, but they also want their leaders to be realistic...'

  Bob Woodward

  People, Leader, President

  Bob Woodward (2010). “Obama's Wars”, p.307, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Up until then it had only been himself. Up to then it had been a private wrestle between him and himself. Nobody else much entered into it. After the people came into it he was, of course, a different man. Everything had changed then and he was no longer the virgin, with the virgin's right to insist upon platonic love. Life, in time, takes every maidenhead, even if it has to dry it up; it does not matter how the owner wants to keep it. Up to then he had been the young idealist. But he could not stay there. Not after the other people entered into it.

  James Jones

  Love Life, Men, People

  6 Copy quote

• Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.

  Alain de Botton

  High Standards, Standards

  Twitter post from Mar 14, 2015

  6 Copy quote

  Show source