Francis Herbert Hedge Quotes

Utopianism is all well and good if it proceeds from a courageous appreciation of the world as it actually exists

Facts are better than dreams.

We must see conditions as they really are, not as we want them to be.

On Pragmatism: It's all very well in theory but it doesn't work in practice

They [philosophers] conceive of men, not as they are, but as they themselves would like them to be

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.

It makes sense to work towards a better world, but it doesn't make any sense to have illusions about what the real world is.

Many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation.

There is no realism without an element of idealism.

Europe, in legend, has always been the home of subtle philosophical discussion; America was the land of grubby pragmatism.

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

The idealist walks on tiptoe, the materialist on his heels.

In the long run, it is better to understand the way the world really is rather than how we would like it to be.

The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities.

You can't be idealistic in this world and not be crazy.

The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.

I'm a realist.

Since Plato, we have been considering the nature of knowledge, the meaning of meaning and the status of the physical world.

We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.

What man needs is not just the persistent posing of ultimate questions, but the sense of what is feasible, what is possible, what is correct, here and now.

My philosophy is that you do what you have to do.

I consider myself a realist.

Idealism leads to realism if it is strictly thought out.

Idealism and realism meet in the actual.

You have to look life straight in the eye. De-mystify your world. Can you really afford to believe magic is for real? Not when time is concerned.