I’m a realist,” I replied stubbornly, “not a romantic…

Sooner or later, many idealists transform themselves into disheartened realists who mistakenly believe that giving up is the same thing as being realistic.

— Seth Godin

I've never understood the division between so-called realists and so-called idealists.

— Hillary Clinton

Romantics value intensity over stability. Realists value security over passion. But both are often disappointed, for few people can live happily at either extreme.

— Esther Perel

“This is not to say that power and security are the sole or even the most important objectives of mankind; as a species we…

— Robert Gilpin

Women decide the larger questions of life correctly and quickly, not because they are lucky guessers, not because they are divinely inspired, not because…

— H. L. Mencken

The realists do not take the photograph for a 'copy' of reality, but for an emanation of past reality, a magic, not an art.

— Roland Barthes

men are not realists - only women are.

— Mae West

What reality was ever made by realists?

— Richard Flanagan

I believe that history is not made by cynics; it is made by realists who are not afraid to dream. Let us be these…

— Tzipi Livni

Realists are, as a rule, only men in the rut of routine who are incapable of transcending a narrow circle of antiquated notions.

— Theodor Herzl

Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists…

— George W. Bush

When I was starting out, science fiction was a little genre over there, which only a few people read. But now -- where are…

— Doris Lessing

For the first time in American history, men in authority are talking about an 'emergency' without a foreseeable end... such men as these are…

— C. Wright Mills

For what reason then do the realists show themselves so unfriendly toward philosophy? Because they misunderstand their own calling and with all their might…

— Max Stirner

Most people are optimists, although they may claim they are not. People who call themselves realists are often the biggest optimists of all.

— Stephen King