#idealist

Isana stared at Gaius for a moment. Then she said, "How can you live with yourself?" The First Lord stared at her for a moment, his eyes cold. Then he spoke in a very quiet, precise, measured voice. "I look out my window each day. I look out my window at people who live and breathe. At people who have not been devoured by civil war. At people who have not been ravaged by disease. At people who have not starved to death, who have not been hacked apart by enemies of humanity, at people who are free to lie and steal and plot and complain and accuse and behave in all manner of repugnant ways because the Realm stands. Because law and order stands. Because something other than simple violence shapes the course of their lives. And I look, wife of my son, mother of my heir, at a very few decent people who have had the luxury of living their lives without being called upon to make hideous decisions I would not wish upon my worst enemies, and who consequently find such matters morally appalling when they consider them--because they have not had to be the ones who dealt with them." He took a short, hard swallow of wine. "Feh. Aquitaine thinks me his enemy. The fool. If I truly hated him, I'd give him the Crown. ↗

— Jim Butcher

#moral-decisions #death

It is interesting that we call something good a “dream,” but being called a “dreamer” is somewhat of a putdown. Without dreamers, no dream would ever be given reality, and we would live in a very small and shallow world. If you are a secret dreamer, it’s your time to announce yourself. ↗

— Vera Nazarian

#dreamers #idealist #idealists #reality #secret

Shahid was the free spirit of the Kamal family: a dreamer, an idealist, a wanderer on the face of the earth--or, as Ahmed would put it, a lazy fuckwit. ↗

— John Lanchester

#families #free-spirits #idealists #laziness #wanderers

Finally, the president added, 'The American people are idealists, but they also want their leaders to be realistic... ↗

— Bob Woodward

#bob-woodward #idealists #leadership #obama-s-wars #president

I have tried to be a man of letters in love with ideas in order to be a wiser and more loving person, hoping to leave the world just a little better than I found it. ↗

— Cornel West

#ideas #letters #love #wise #love

a grin that wasn't natural, and that combined in a strange way affection and arrogance, the arrogance of the idealist who doesn't realize how easily he can be fooled. ↗

— Frank O'Connor

#idealism #idealist #ireland #nature

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable. ↗

— Madeleine Albright

#always #force #good #i #i have learned

Idealist: a cynic in the making. ↗

— Irving Layton

#idealist #making

The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people. ↗

— Irving Babbitt

#democratic #faith #his #idealist #leadership

A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its practice. ↗

— Irving Babbitt

#conclude #democracy #feelings #forced #idealistic