Quotessence
Home / Topics / Idealism Quotes

Idealism Quotes

Browse 595 quotes about Idealism.

Related topics

IdealsPeopleIdealism And RealismMenWorldIfsWayThinkingCynicismDoeHumansKnowsArtBelieveIdeasRealismRealitySelfHas BeensImportantSeemsCountryLooksNeedsTryingWantYoungHeartIdealisticMeanPoliticalActionAmericaFormKindMoralWellsArtistCharacterCynicDreamEndsFactsMindPhilosophyRealShouldTermVisionWholeAchieveBeliefBodyCultureDesireDoneImaginationLongMaySoulSpiritStillsWar

Idealism Quotes

“A political convention is after all not a meeting of a corporation's board of directors; it is a fiesta, a carnival, a pig-rooting, horse-snorting, band-playing, voice-screaming medieval get-together of greed, practical lust, compromised idealism, career-advancement, meeting, feud, vendetta, conciliation, of rabble-rousers, fist fights (as it used to be), embraces, drunks (again as it used to be) and collective rivers of animal sweat.”

TogetherPoliticalUsedFightingFearVoiceAnimalCareersAtheismBandDirectorsRiversHorseEmbraceMeetingsGreedRageLustPracticalsUsed To BeCorporationsBoardsCollectivesSweatConventionsPigsIdealismFistsAdvancementMedievalGet TogetherBoard Of DirectorsCarnivalsVendettaFeudsFiesta
Book:The idol and the octopus: political writings, on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations
Create image

“If there is anything I have learned about men and women, it is that there is a deeper spirit of altruism than is ever evident. Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to the underground streams, so, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released.”

PeopleIfsMenHeartSpiritCompassionMen And WomenRiversDeeperStreamsVisibleMinorsI Have LearnedAltruismIdealismEvident
Author:Albert Schweitzer
Create image

“There are no idealists in the plant world and no compassion. The rose and the morning glory know no mercy. Bindweed, the morning glory, will quickly choke its competitors to death, and the fencerow rose will just as quietly crowd out any other plant that tried to share its roothold. Idealism and mercy are human terms and human concepts.”

KnowsWorldHumansTermNatureCompassionMorningShareGloryConceptsMercyRosePlantCrowdsIdealismCompetitorsChokeIdealistNo CompassionMorning Glory
Author:Hal Borland
Create image

“I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.”

WorldDoeWarDoneEnoughHateUniverseEvilPeaceLove IsExistenceCuttingExpressionReturnCivilizationSurvivalAbsolutesConvincedPracticalsChainsDreamerRealismIdealismPiousUtopian
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Create image

“Due to his own original special nature, the Jew cannot possess a religious institution, if for no other reason because he lacks idealism in any form, and hence belief in a hereafter is absolutely foreign to him. And a religion in the Aryan sense cannot be imagined which lacks the conviction of survival after death in some form. Indeed, the Talmud is not a book to prepare a man for the hereafter, but only for a practical and profitable life in this world.”

IfsMenWorldBookReasonFormBeliefReligiousSpecialThis WorldSurvivalOriginalsInstitutionsJewConvictionDuesPracticalsCatholicismIdealismProfitableAfter DeathHereafterMein Kampf
Book:Mein Kampf
Create image

“One of the fundamental reasons why so many doctors become cynical and disillusioned is precisely because, when the abstract idealism has worn thin, they are uncertain about the value of the actual lives of the patients they are treating. This is not because they are callous or personally inhuman: it is because they live in and accept a society which is incapable of knowing what a human life is worth.”

LifeHumansReasonLife IsValuesAcceptingKnowingDoctorsFundamentalsPatientMedicalHuman LifeReason WhyAbstractCynicalWornUncertainIncapableIdealismInhumanDisillusionedCallousActual Life
Author:John Berger
Create image

“Nothing matters more to the future of this Nation than insuring that our young men and women learn to believe in themselves and believe in their dreams, and that they develop this capacitythat you develop this capacity, so that you keep it all of your lives. I believe one of Americas most priceless assets is the idealism which motivates the young people of America. My generation has invested all that it has, not only its love but its hope and faith, in yours.”

PeopleMenLoveBelieveMatterDreamAmericaYoungBeliefI BelieveNationsGenerationsMen And WomenCapacityYoung ManAssetsIdealismPricelessMy GenerationHope And FaithNothing Matters
Author:Richard M. Nixon
Create image

“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.”

PeopleMenMeanCountryGovernmentFormWishEconomyPolicyHe ManBearsCostWasteMen And WomenDollarsSpendingFavorsPracticalsIdealismToilSaving MoneySave MeGovernment Spending
Author:Calvin Coolidge
Create image

“Vietnam was an exercise in mistaken idealism Iraq in cynical money-making. And there's no optimism or idealism now -- Americans are tired of knowledge. Our leaders, the C-students from Yale, know this. We're proud of being ignorant that leaves virtue at our core. We aren't frazzled by knowledge like foreigners, so we can be trusted.”

KnowsLeaderVirtueStudentsProudExerciseOptimismTiredIraqCoreIgnorantMaking MoneyVietnamCynicalTrustedIdealismMistakenForeignersVietnam WarYaleBeing Ignorant
Author:Kurt Vonnegut
Create image

“I realize that idealism is out of sync with the cynicism of our age. Skepticism has come to be synonymous with sophistication, and glibness is mistaken for intelligence. In such an atmosphere, why bother aiming high? Far too many people don't. I just want to reassure people to have the courage to persevere, to keep following their hearts even when others scoff. Don't be beaten down by naysayers. Don't let the odds scare you from even trying.”

PeopleWantTryingHeartAgeRealizingCourageFollowingAtmosphereBotherScareCynicismOddsSkepticismIdealismBeatenMistakenPersevereSophisticationSyncWhy BotherNaysayers
Author:Howard Schultz
Create image

“Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts. . . . It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forebearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that-being what it is-it falls so short of in fact and in deed.”

HumansFactsRomanceLyingFallSocialCreativeHuman NatureSpeechEgoIncreaseDeedsContactFacultyIdealismNobilityFrictionWholeheartedly
Author:Clare Boothe Luce
Create image

“Idealists are people who believe in the potential of human nature for transformation. . . . The most essential attribute of human nature is its mutability and freedom from instinct . . . it is always within our power to change our nature. So it is actually the idealists who are on the mark and the realists who are off base.”

PeopleBelieveHumansHuman NatureEssentialsMarkTransformationInstinctAttributesIdealismRealistIdealistPower To ChangeMutability
Book:People of the Lie
Create image

“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."”

WorldEndsLightThreeHellSittingTrainTrackIdiotCynicismIdealismOptimistEnteringTunnelsLeatherPessimistRealistRailSpeedingLight At The End Of The TunnelEnd Of The Tunnel
Author:James Branch Cabell
Create image

“There's no reason to assume that my idea of what's better would really be better. I resent it when other people try to inflict their ideas of betterness on me. I don't think they know. And I can't see any authority on the horizon that's got any answers that seem worthwhile. Most of the things that are suggested are probably detrimental to your mental health.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsTryingI CanIdeasReasonSeemsAnswersAuthorityMental HealthAssumingNo ReasonHorizonWorthwhileCynicismIdealismResentDetrimental
Author:Frank Zappa
Create image

“I think utopianism and eschatology are really two sides of the same coin. They both assume that some massively transformative event is going to happen that's going to completely change the nature of society. They only disagree on whether we get a happy ending or all die horribly. And so utopianism is on the wane right now because at the moment most of the plausible candidates for huge historical transformation look like they're going to kill us.”

ThinkingLooksTwoMomentsHappensDiesSidesEventsHugeRight NowTransformationAssumingHistoricalCandidatesDisagreeCynicismIdealismCoinsHappy EndingsTwo SidesPlausibleEschatology
Author:Phillip Sandifer
Create image

“The sublimated idealism of the Enlightenment, the spirit of the League of Nations and of the United Nations Charter have not proved strong enough to control the aggressive dynamism of nationalism.”

EnoughSpiritLiteratureStrongNationsUnitedEnlightenmentLeagueNationalismAggressiveIdealismUnited NationsStrong EnoughCharterDynamismLeague Of Nations
Book:The Crisis of Western Education (The Works of Christopher Dawson)
Create image

“As I have pointed out, it is the Christian tradition that is the most fundamental element in Western culture. It lies at the base not only of Western religion, but also of Western morals and Western social idealism.”

ChristianLyingCultureLiteratureSocialMoralElementsTraditionFundamentalsWesternIdealismWestern CultureIdealism And Realism
Book:Christianity and European Culture (Selections from the Work of Christopher Dawson)
Create image

“We have a system which, though far from perfect, is strong with idealism. It gives elbow room for men of all races and all beliefs. It is vital and dynamic. And it works. We have the means of shaping the world in our pattern. If we do, freedom will be assured for all men. The decision is in the hands of this generation. It is a challenge to our political competence. For Western civilization it is the greatest challenge of all time.”

IfsMenWorldGivingMeanHandsPoliticalBeliefStrongChallengesDecisionPerfectRoomsRaceGenerationsCivilizationWesternPatternsAll TimeIdealismAssuredCompetenceElbowsWestern CivilizationThis Generation
Author:William O. Douglas
Create image