Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
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 (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
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
Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
Nearly all the Escapists in the long past have managed their own budget and their social relations so unsuccessfully that I wouldn’t want them for my landlords, or my bankers, or my neighbors. They were valuable, like powerful stimulants, only when they were left out of the social and industrial routine.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
Every dogma has its day, but ideals are eternal.
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) English Playwright, Novelist, Zionist Activist
When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality the cost becomes prohibitive.
—William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925–2008) American TV Personality, Author
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
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
There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of the circumstances.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is born to act. To act is to affirm the worth of an end, and to persist in affirming the worth of an end is to make an ideal.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
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
Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.
—Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) American Film Producer, Director
Our ideals, like pictures, are made from lights and shadows.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
All higher motives, ideals, conceptions, sentiments in a man are of no account if they do not come forward to strengthen him for the better discharge of the duties which devolve upon him in the ordinary affairs of life.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Some people never have anything except ideals.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
I looked for great men, but all I found were the apes of their ideals.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
We for a certainty are not the first have sat in taverns while the tempest hurled their hopeful plans to emptiness, and cursed whatever brute and blackguard made the world.
—A. E. Housman (1859–1936) English Poet, Classical Scholar
Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it.
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–80) French Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
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
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
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.
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Instead of killing and dying in order to produce the being that we are not, we have to live and let live in order to create what we are.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist; it is by the ideal that we live.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
What we need most, is not so much to realize the ideal as to idealize the real.
—Frederic Henry Hedge
All genuine ideals have one thing in common: they express the desire for something which is not yet accomplished but which is desirable for the purpose of the growth and happiness of the individual.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
The image is made to order, tailored to us. An ideal, on the hand, has a claim on us. It does not serve us, we serve it. If we have trouble striding toward it, we assume the matter is with us, and not the ideal.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
I recognize thart even you, yourself, will change. Your ideals will change, your tastes will change, your desires will change. Your whole understandings of who you are had better change, because if it doesn’t change, you’ve become a very static personality over a great many years, and nothing would displease me more. And so I recognize that the process of evolution will produce changes in you.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Ideals are the world’s masters.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Some day the soft Ideal that we wooed confronts us fiercely, foe-beset, pursued, and cries reproachful: “Was it then my praise, and not myself was loved? Prove now thy truth; I claim of thee the promise of thy youth.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Our salvation is in striving to achieve what we know we’ll never achieve.
—Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist
From my experience, not one in twenty marries the first love; we build statues of snow, and weep to see them melt.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
An ideal cannot wait for its realization to prove its validity.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Idealists are foolish enough to throw caution to the winds. They have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Our ideals, like the gods of old, are constantly demanding human sacrifices.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The danger to America is not in the direction of the failure to maintain its economic position, but in the direction of the failure to maintain its ideals.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
When ideas fail, words come in very handy.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
Idealist: a cynic in the making.
—Irving Layton (1912–2006) Romanian-born Canadian Poet, Lecturer