Amos Bronson Alcott
Philosopher, Educator
"Our ideals are our better selves."
Idealism quotes
Idealism
54 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Poet, Novelist
"Wishes are recollections coming from the future."
Joyce Carol Oates
Author, Poet
"Ultimately, we measure ourselves against our own ideas of idealism and perfection, and we don't always come very close to them."
Robert Anton Wilson
Author, Philosopher
"Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves."
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosopher
"Idealism leads to realism if it is strictly thought out."
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Topics related to Idealism
Browse quotes that often appear alongside idealism — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Idealism quotes (page 1 of 3)
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"There is no force so democratic as the force of an ideal."
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"We have to live and let live in order to create what we are."
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"It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us."
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"It seems to be the fate of idealists to obtain what they have struggled for in a form which destroys their ideals."
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"In the revolt against idealism, the ambiguities of the word experience have been perceived, with the result that realists have more and more avoided the word."
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"Happiness too is inevitable."
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"The actual well seen is ideal."
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"Idealism is the death of the body and the imagination. All but freedom, utter freedom, is death"
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"The single most amazing phenomenon is the discrediting of idealism."
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"My idealism has not abated, but I have witnessed it withering away nationwide, to the point where at least among the young, to have ideals is akin to being blinkered and oldfashioned."
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"Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist."
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"It is curious that Christianity, which is idealism, is sturdily defended by the brokers, and steadily attacked by the idealists."
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"My belief is that no human being or society composed of human beings ever did or ever will come to much unless their conduct was governed and guided by the love of some ethical ideal."
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"It is very important that you express your idealism actively, to what ever extent you can, for this increases your sense of worth and power."
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"Without a vision the people perish."
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"All idealism is falsehood in the face of necessity."
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