Should we continue to look upwards? Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished? The ideal is terrifying to behold, lost as it is in the depths, small, isolated, a pin-point, brilliant but threatened on all sides by the dark forces that surround it nevertheless, no more in danger than a star in the jaws of the clouds.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Let us show, not merely in great crises, but in every day affairs of life, qualities of practical intelligence, of hardihood and endurance, and above all, the power of devotion to a lofty ideal.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Heads are wisest when they are cool, and hearts are strongest when they beat in response to noble ideals.
—Ralph Bunche (1903–71) American Political Scientist, Diplomat
An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
The true ideal is not opposed to the real but lies in it; and blessed are the eyes that find it.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
If you are going to build something in the air it is always better to build castles than houses of cards.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Idealism springs from deep feelings, but feelings are nothing without the formulated idea that keeps them whole.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) French-born American Historian, Philosophers
Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don’t over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
A large portion of human beings live not so much in themselves as in what they desire to be.—They create an ideal character the perfections of which compensate in some degree for imperfections of their own.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–86) American Literary Critic
An ideal cannot wait for its realization to prove its validity.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
I looked for great men, but all I found were the apes of their ideals.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Man can never come up to his ideal standard.—It is the nature of the immortal spirit to raise that standard higher and higher as it goes from strength to strength, still upward and onward.—The wisest and greatest men are ever the most modest.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
All human things do require to have an ideal in them; to have some soul in them.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
To live and let live, without clamor for distinction or recognition; to wait on divine Love; to write truth first on the tablet of one’s own heart—this is the sanity and perfection of living, and my human ideal.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
A Realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.
—Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar
Living up to ideals is like doing everyday work with your Sunday clothes on.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Why should we strive, with cynic frown, to knock their fairy castles down?
—Eliza Cook (1818–89) English Author, Poet
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals—that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Ideals do exist, the rest is just temporary interruption.
—Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American Novelist, Poet, Actress
The idealist is incorrigible: if he is thrown out of his heaven he makes an ideal of his hell.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
No period of history has ever been great or ever can be that does not act on some sort of high, idealistic motives, and idealism in our time has been shoved aside, and we are paying the penalty for it.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
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.
—William O. Douglas (1898–1980) American Judge
I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves – such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.
—Felix Adler (1851–1933) German-Born American Philosopher
Ideals are the world’s masters.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist