Walter Isaacson Quotes

An ideologue believes that what is right will work. A pragmatist believes that what works is right.

I'd describe myself as a pragmatist tinged with idealism.

I'm a pragmatist.

I'm just not a purist. You set goals and you have to work with everyone to figure out how to get what you can.

Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

Theoretical principals must sometimes give way for the sake of practical advantages.

It is best to live however one can be.

What is right and what is practicable are two different things.

That is what all of us must learn to do in the United States; to limit objectives, to get ourselves away from the absolute, to find out what is within our powers.

I learned over time that you do not go for the perfect solution….You do what is doable and then you want to try and do a little bit more.

Americans are very practical folks. Accustomed to hard choices in their own lives, they are willing to give us in intelligence a lot of slack as we make the hard choices our profession demands.

Intuitive versus analytical? That's a foolish choice. It's foolish, just like trying to choose between being realistic or idealistic. You need both in life.

What I've learned is that life is a balance between idealism and realism.

The common belief is that you are either a dreamer or a realist. But idealism and pragmatism aren't as far apart as one might think.

That has been my entire life story. Running against the current and running with the current. Sometimes running with the current is underestimated. The acceptance of certain realities doesn’t preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.

Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose.

Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles.

In practice, such trifles as contradictions in principle are easily set aside; the faculty of ignoring them makes the practical man.

If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.

You must not try to be too pure, you must fly closer to the sea.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

We have to learn how to work within the limits that are possible, not what is desirable.

You can cooperate and not compromise your core values. But I'm a realist with the philosophy that sometimes you've got to take bites out of the apple instead of the whole apple.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

Romanticism is not just about being in a fixed state of endless beauty, because you can't live like that or live on that, that's what I've learnt.