“Intellect is neither practical nor impractical; it is extra-practical.”
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian
Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1974), p. 30
1950s, Loving Your Enemies (Christmas 1957)
“Intellect is neither practical nor impractical; it is extra-practical.”
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian
Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1974), p. 30
“Those impractical dreamers are entitled to ask their critics what is so practical about war.”
Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist
UN Address (1999)
Context: For how many thousands of years now have we humans been what we insist on calling "civilized?" And yet, in total contradiction, we also persist in the savage belief that we must occasionally, at least, settle our arguments by killing one another.
While we spend much of our time and a great deal of our treasure in preparing for war, we see no comparable effort to establish a lasting peace. Meanwhile, emphasizing the sloth in this regard, those advocates who work for world peace by urging a system of world government are called impractical dreamers. Those impractical dreamers are entitled to ask their critics what is so practical about war.
William Feller (1906–1970) Croatian-American mathematician
Introduction, The Nature of Probability Theory, p. 6.
An Introduction To Probability Theory And Its Applications (Third Edition)
Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) Chinese physician, politician and revolutionary
Chung-shan Ch'üan-shu (Zhongshan Quanshu), vol. II (1936)
“We should always be practical, realistic and optimistic.”
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (1949) Emirati politician
Quotes on Life and its challenges, http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ab878960a5a11310VgnVCM1000004d64a8c0RCRD&appInstanceName=default, sheikhmohammed.ae.
Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer
Your Thought and Mine
Context: Your thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, and truth. No matter how long the tyrant endures, he will be the loser at the end. Your thought differentiates between pragmatist and idealist, between the part and the whole, between the mystic and materialist. Mine realizes that life is one and its weights, measures and tables do not coincide with your weights, measures and tables. He whom you suppose an idealist may be a practical man.
Leslie Weatherhead (1893–1976) English theologian
Source: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.287
Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) American birth control activist, educator and nurse
One Minute News (1947), interview with British Pathé's John Parsons
Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Pt. 3 : Right Understanding, "Naturalness"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)