Idealism Quotes · Page 2

[in the]..curious way that my idealism has been mixed with my fatalism, so that I can possess the soul of a dreamer…

— Anais Nin

I reject all evidence that my fabulous beloved is an ordinary person who worries, watches TV, and has bouts of indigestion.

— Mason Cooley

The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country.

— Anonymous

Whatever men you take, keep the idea of man intact: let your soul wait whether your body does or not.

— D. H. Lawrence

“You had to been there, kid. Everybody thinks now the Eisenhower years were so quaint and cute and boring, but all that…

— Thomas Pynchon

There is no realism without an element of idealism.

— Henry A. Kissinger

“Being Jewish did not compromise the humanitarian and universalist ideals of my close relatives who, having experienced persecution close hand, were more…

— Daniel Waterman

“This world is filled with critics already; being an encourager is what we need to be.”

— The Idealist Merchant

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and…

— Joe Biden

In order to succeed we need leaders of inspired idealism, leaders to whom are granted great visions, who dream greatly and strive…

— Theodore Roosevelt

Instead of killing and dying in order to produce the being that we are not, we have to live and let live…

— Albert Camus

“Lincoln, considering a Cabinet nominee: "He is a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals.”

— Doris Kearns Goodwin

“As sometimes happens with men who wish to fight but do not or cannot, Reagan developed a romantic image of the military.”

— Scott Farris

“Discussing ideas can potentially increase the kinetic energy of ideas to a point where ideas turn into innovation.”

— Sukant Ratnakar

Idealism springs from deep feelings, but feelings are nothing without the formulated idea that keeps them whole.

— Jacques Barzun

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

— Ryszard Kapuscinski

Idealistic reformers are dangerous because their idealism has no roots in love, but is simply a hysterical and unbalanced rage for order…

— William Irwin Thompson

America is not a wily, sneaky nation. We don't think that way. We don't think much at all, thank God. Start thinking…

— P. J. O'Rourke

“a grin that wasn't natural, and that combined in a strange way affection and arrogance, the arrogance of the idealist who doesn't…

— Frank O'Connor

I think the most important thing is [to] restore a sense of idealism and end the cynicism in state government. Bring to…

— Rod Blagojevich

Quiet heroism or youthful idealism, or both? What do we know? That life without heroism and idealism is not worth living -…

— Erich Segal

There is an idealism associated with poetry I would not dispel but question. It doesn't change anything except within. It shifts your…

— C.D. Wright

I'm quite amused by the attempt to excuse not trying harder, by claiming that perfect is not possible; it may not be,…

— Laura Schlessinger

You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making…

— Bono

“Idealists and reformers all become executioners in their turn. The road to utopia ends with the steps of the scaffold, the endless…

— Grant Morrison