Idealism And Realism Quotes

• 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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• Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.

  Carl Jung

  Drinking, Recovery, Overcoming Addiction

  Memories, Dreams, Reflections ch. 12 (1962)

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

  William F. Buckley, Jr.

  Reality, Cost, Fine

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• Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.

  John Galsworthy

  Inspirational, Distance, Problem

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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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• Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and political realism.

  Claude McKay

  Reality, Air, Political

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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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• Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

  Herbert Hoover

  Silence, Presidential, Acting

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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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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• Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.

  Pearl S. Buck

  Hope, Empty, Idealism

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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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• Idealism and realism meet in the actual.

  Mary Parker Follett

  Realism, Idealism

  Mary Parker Follett, Pauline Graham (1996). “Mary Parker Follett--prophet of management: a celebration of writings from the 1920s”, Harvard Business Press

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• Let hope inspire you, but let not idealism blind you. Don't look back, you can never look back.

  Don Henley

  Moving, Inspire, Looks

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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

  Bertrand Russell

  Power, Hatred, Idealism

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

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• Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power.

  Aldous Huxley

  Inspirational, Political, Gentleman

  Quoted in his NewYork Herald Tribune obituary, 24 Nov 1963.

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• At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.

  Shirley Chisholm

  Country, Determination, Needs

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• The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.

  John Foster Dulles

  Peace, War, Sacrifice

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• Idealism loses to pragmatism when it comes to winning elections.

  Danny Strong

  Winning, Election, Pragmatism

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• Only through the conscious action of the working masses in city and country can it be brought to life, only through the people's highest intellectual maturity and inexhaustible idealism can it be brought safely through all storms and find its way to port.

  Rosa Luxemburg

  Country, Maturity, Cities

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• It has generally been assumed that of two opposing systems of philosophy, e.g., realism and idealism, one only can be true and one must be false; and so philosophers have been hopelessly divided on the question, which is the true one.

  Morris Raphael Cohen

  Philosophy, Two, Philosopher

  The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 7, p. 407, 1910.

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• Perhaps women have always been in closer contact with reality than men: it would seem to be the just recompense for being deprived of idealism.

  Germaine Greer

  Women, Reality, Deviousness

  Germaine Greer (1972). “The female eunuch”

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• In a weird kind of way, music has afforded me an idealism and perfectionism that I could never attain as me.

  Billy Corgan

  Way, Kind, Perfectionism

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• In brief, egoism in its modern interpretation, is the antithesis, not of altruism, but of idealism.

  John Buchanan Robinson

  Modern, Interpretation, Antithesis

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• I have always thought that foreign-policy idealism has to be tempered with realism.

  William Hague

  Foreign Policy, Realism, Idealism

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