Quotes about Idealism

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

I was taught when I was young that if people would only love one another, all would be well with the world. This seemed simple and very nice; but I found when I tried to put it in practice not only that other people were seldom lovable, but that I was not very lovable myself.

Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.

All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in. [Conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth, PBS NewsHour , March 9, 1998]

I'm an idealist who has outgrown my idealism I have nothing to do the rest of my life but do it and the rest of my life to do it

I'm an idealist who has outgrown my idealism I have nothing to do the rest of my life but do it and the rest of my life to do it

Personal, inner change without a change in circumstances and structures is an idealist illusion, as though man were only a soul and not a body as well.

There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation.

Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?

I realized that for all the power inherent in the seat I now occupied, there would always be a chasm between what I knew should be done to achieve a better world and what in a day, week, or year I found myself actually able to accomplish.

Will part of this nation rejoice at seeing the rest oppressed, and reward a leader who has cunningly manipulated its fears and prejudices? Or will a majority of voters insist on a leader . . . who will appeal to their birthright of idealism and their love of justice, instead of to their heritage of racism and special privilege?

Love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism.