The isolationists are preparing again to play somewhat the same role they played at the end of World War I. They are idealists, but they do not want to pay the price of practical idealism or of peace for the world. They still believe that the United States can prosper all alone, can have peace all alone, can be a little island apart from the rest of the world.
Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism.
I'd describe myself as a pragmatist tinged with idealism.
The true idealist pursues what his heart says is right in a way that his head says will work.
America has to be not just an idea but a living, breathing thing.
Communists should set an example in being practical as well as far-sighted. For only by being practical can they fulfil the appointed tasks, and only far-sightedness can prevent them from losing their bearings in the march forward.
The Venus Project is neither Utopian nor Orwellian, nor does it reflect the dreams of impractical idealists. Instead, it presents attainable goals requiring only the intelligent application of what we already know. The only limitations are those which we impose upon ourselves.
Revolutionary realism tries to draw the maximum advantage from every situation - that is what makes it revolutionary - but at the same time it does not permit us to set ourselves fantastic aims - that is what makes it realistic.
The visionary is the only realist.
What Simone Weil said politics has meant all along, which means that you fight for 11 percent, 12 percent, 13 percent, that you avoid golden-age thinking and romantic melancholy and you just keep pushing.
Politics is not an obsession with me. It's something I'm doing now. I want to do good things, but if it doesn't work out for me, I'll go on to something else.
Utopianism is all well and good if it proceeds from a courageous appreciation of the world as it actually exists
I am a realist as well as an idealist, and I think that it is incumbent upon those of us in opposition to try to work within what are always arduous circumstances to stretch the limits of the possible.
We believe in a government strong enough to use words like "love" and "compassion" and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.
Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and political realism.
I'm still basically an idealist, which translates into getting real things done to make people's lives better.
The common problem, yours, mine, everyone's Is ? not to fancy what were fair in life Provided it could be ? but, finding first What may be, then find how to make it fair Up to our means.
True Americanism is practical idealism. Its aims, instead of being materialistic and mechanical, are idealistic to the point of being Utopian. In this way, the U.S. can provide and express ideals that strike a chord in humans everywhere - a declaration of independence on behalf of all the peoples of the world.
Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare
Dream in a pragmatic way.
