Quotes About Pragmatism

Politics is the art of the possible.

An overly pragmatic attitude is not productive on the long run.

An idealist believes that the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. —Sydney J. Harris

It is often preferable to settle for a satisfactory solution, rather than pursue an optimal solution.

The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.

No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.

unfortunately we have to make war as we must and not as we should like to.

ideology itself the perpetual enemy of realism.

We may be tainted with pragmatism, but it only needs a clash of personalities to remind us of our principles.

In the Great Hall of the Linz Library are the busts of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the greatest of our thinkers, in comparison with whom the British, the French and the Americans have nothing to offer...It is on the foundation of Kant's theory of knowledge that Schopenhauer…conquered the pragmatism of GWF Hegel. I carried Schopenhauer's works with me throughout the whole of the First World War. Schopenhauer...has been far surpassed by Nietzsche.

The pluralist understands that truth is various and the pragmatist that it is tentative. The pragmatist gains knowledge not by explaining the universe with a single belief system but by seeking exceptions to one's beliefs and keeping an open mind. As in science, experience expands knowledge without ever revealing truth in its entirety.

The Citizen's Petition reflects Vermont's spirit of pragmatism and across-the-board cooperation. I applaud the 'Campaign to Fix the Debt' for calling attention to one of the country's most pressing problems, our ballooning national debt, and for urging policymakers to find practical solutions.

Whoever claimed honesty is the best policy, or even a good one, clearly had very limited experience with the real world.

Economists should be modest and be aware that they are part of the broader social science community. We need to be pragmatic about the methods we use. When we need to do history, we should do history. When we need to study political science, we should study political science.

I'm optimistic but I'm also not stupid.

Better an imperfect dome in Florence than cathedrals in the clouds.

I'll never cease to admire the skill if not the pragmatism of historians & mythographers who manage to blend a number of small truths & probabilities into one large lie. Which hungry hero worshippers swallow whole, without the reservation of a doubt.

It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling...

I want to succeed. And I want to succeed in the best way possible, without caring whether people call my actions leftist or rightist.

I do the best with what exists.

You can't run a business or anything else on a theory.

You have to shelf your excitement and be realistic about your internal and external strengths and weaknesses. (p.70)

Since NTs are naturally disinterested in tradition and custom, it should be no surprise that they readily abandon the customary for the workable.

it caused one of Douglass's most challenging psychic dilemmas. He repeatedly faced the question of how uncompromising radicalism could mix with a learned pragmatism to try to influence real power, to determine how to condemn the princes and their laws but also influence and eventually join them.