IDEALISM QUOTES II

quotations about idealism

Idealism quote

An age deficient in idealism has ever been one of immorality and superficial attainment, since without the sense of ideas, nobility of character becomes of rare attainment, if possible.

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT

Table Talk

Tags: Amos Bronson Alcott


Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than the basement.

AUSTIN O'MALLEY

Keystones of Thought

Tags: Austin O'Malley


The great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived (which must mean over-lived), but by not being lived enough.

G. K. CHESTERTON

What's Wrong with the World

Tags: G. K. Chesterton


Idealism is required to reclaim our freedom, for at the end of it all, it is our freedom that gives us the possibility to more fully live our lives.

PETER BLOCK

The Answer to How Is Yes


Ideals are great in theory ... but they don't work too well in real life.

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

Narcissus in Chains

Tags: Laurell K. Hamilton


The grounds on which idealism is advocated are generally grounds derived from the theory of knowledge, that is to say, from a discussion of the conditions which things must satisfy in order that we may be able to know them. The first serious attempt to establish idealism on such grounds was that of Bishop Berkeley. He proved first, by arguments which were largely valid, that our sense-data cannot be supposed to have an existence independent of us, but must be, in part at least, 'in' the mind, in the sense that their existence would not continue if there were no seeing or hearing or touching or smelling or tasting. So far, his contention was almost certainly valid, even if some of his arguments were not so. But he went on to argue that sense-data were the only things of whose existence our perceptions could assure us; and that to be known is to be 'in' a mind, and therefore to be mental. Hence he concluded that nothing can ever be known except what is in some mind, and that whatever is known without being in my mind must be in some other mind.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

"Idealism", The Problems of Philosophy

Tags: Bertrand Russell


There is no special difficulty connected with being an idealist in the imagination; but to exist as an idealist is an extremely strenuous task, because existence itself constitutes a hindrance and an objection.

SOREN KIERKEGAARD

Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments

Tags: Soren Kierkegaard


The idealists give us much on which to feed, but if it were not for the utilitarians, they would starve us all.

LEWIS F. KORNS

Thoughts

Tags: Lewis F. Korns


An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.

HENRY FORD

remarks in court, July 1919

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Idealism is a state of innocence that has the potential to bring together our larger purpose with our day-to-day doing.

PETER BLOCK

The Answer to How Is Yes


I'm not ready to let the youthful part of myself go yet. If maturity means becoming a cynic, if you have to kill the part of yourself that is naive and romantic and idealistic -- the part of you that you treasure most -- to claim maturity, is it not better to die young but with your humanity intact?

KENNETH CAIN

Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures


Whether true or false, idealism is not to be dismissed as obviously absurd.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

"Idealism", The Problems of Philosophy

Tags: Bertrand Russell


Idealists are on a lifelong quest to know themselves and to express themselves authentically in the world.

SCOTT CAMPBELL

Quick Guide to the Four Temperaments and Peack Performance


Idealists are the people who are focused on the big picture and on the characteristics that bring people together, not on the things that separate them.

LINDA BRANHAM

Your Emotional Boat


That glorious vision of doing good is so often the sanguine mirage of so many good minds.

CHARLES DICKENS

A Tale of Two Cities

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If ideals mean nothing ... then we are just animals.

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

Narcissus in Chains

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It took years of wear and tear before idealism crumbled like so much bric-a-brac.

JAMES SIEGEL

Detour

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Idealists are often seen as creative because they like to express their unique identity. They are also able to integrate things that seem to be entirely different. They look for universals and are gifted at using metaphors to bridge different perspectives.

ALICE & LISA FAIRHURST

Effective Teaching, Effective Learning


Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American.

WOODROW WILSON

address supporting the League of Nations, September 8, 1919

Tags: Woodrow Wilson


If we wish to build a skyscraper it may be necessary to pull down several old buildings. Just so it is with matters governmental, social and economic. It may be necessary to tear down and weed out a lot of old traditions that do not fit into the present time. We all know that there has been during the past 100 years the greatest advance in art, science, invention, of any period in history, but it anyone makes a specific suggestion to do something that would better the conditions of individual man, woman or society as a whole, he is called an idealist, as if that was the worst thing that could be said.

WALTER MATTHEWS

"Idealism", Human Life from Many Angles