
“Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better.”
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan
The Uncertain Midnight (1958)
“Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better.”
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan
Julian in Nicomedia http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=106&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
Context: Things impolitic and dangerous:
praise for Greek ideals,
supernatural magic, visits to pagan temples.
Enthusiasm for the ancient gods
Source: Speech at Kansas State University (11 March 1996)
Day of Affirmation Address (1966)
Context: The second danger is that of expediency: of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs — that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief — forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
101 Ways to Make Every Second Count: Time Management Tips and Techniques for More Success With Less Stress (1999)
Speech opening the Passmore Edwards Settlement (12 February 1898), quoted in 'Mr. Morley On Social Settlements', The Times (14 February 1898), p. 12.
“Man with the great M is only an ideal, the species only something thought of.”
Dover 2005, p. 182
The Ego and Its Own (1845)