Idealism Quotes
More Idealism Quotes
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.
— Gautama Buddha, in Dhammapada, as translated by T. Byrom (1993)
You are not controlling the storm , and you are not lost in it. You are the storm.
— Sam Harris, in Free Will (2012)
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.
— Sidney Justin Harris, in "Thoughts at Large", Chicago Sun-Times; reprinted in Ann Landers's column, The Washington Post (November 12, 1979), p. B7
A doctrine which, because of its little-circumspect idealism, offends not just faith, but reason itself.
— Attributed to Immanuel Kant in Luigi Ferrarese (1838) Memorie Risguardanti la Dottrina Frenologica ("Thoughts Regarding the Doctrine of Phrenology", p. 16
America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way.
— Ronald Reagan, during the signing the Bill Providing Restitution for the Wartime Internment of Japanese-American Civilians (10 August 1988)
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
buckley, william f., jr.— Attributed by Jonathon Green, The Cynics' Lexicon: A Dictionary of Amoral Advice (1984) , p. 34.
I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
Anne Frank
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is also more nourishing.
— H. L. Mencken, A Little Book in C Major (1916), p. 19; later altered to "concludes that it will also make better soup", in A Book of Burlesques (1924), p. 205 and A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949), p. 617
