70 Pragmatism Quotes
Following is our list of pragmatism quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about quotes related to pragmatism.
Famous Pragmatism Quotes
Pure pragmatism can't imagine a bold future. Pure idealism can't get anything done. It is the delicate blend of both that drives innovation. — Simon Sinek
The definition of definition is at bottom just what the maxim of pragmatism expresses. — Charles Sanders Peirce
The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness. — James A. Froude
We need realism to deal with reality. — Slick Rick
There is nothing so practical as a good theory. — Kurt Lewin
Rationality and reason should always prevail over ideology and dogma. — Bret Weinstein
Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral. — Richard M. Nixon
The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. — W. Somerset Maugham
Philosophy must never be divorced from action. Unless it is put into practice, philosophy is nothing more than an intellectual game. — Josei Toda
The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. — Theodore Roosevelt
The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes. — Paul Feyerabend
I've always believed that conservatism is the politics of reality, and that reality ultimately asserts itself in a reasonably free society, in behalf of the conservative position. — William F. Buckley, Jr.
In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage. — Napoleon Bonaparte
Practice has a logic which is not that of the logician. — Pierre Bourdieu
Relativism is neither a method of fighting, nor a method of creating, for both of these are uncompromising and at times even ruthless; rather, it is a method of cognition. — Karel Capek
Short Pragmatism Quotes
- It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. — Cesare Beccaria
- I'm the type of person who responds to facts. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- I have no Napoleonic dream. I'm just hard-working and pragmatic. — Roman Abramovich
- Dream in a pragmatic way. — Aldous Huxley
- In any architecture, there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function. — Michael Graves
- ...never let a passion for the perfect take precedence over pragmatism. — Walter Isaacson
- Pragmatism is an intellectually safe but ultimately sterile philosophy. — J. Robert Oppenheimer
- WIth both trepidation and relief, I abandoned pragmatism in favor of magnetism. — Tama J. Kieves
- Extremists on the left tend to be just as critical of pragmatism as extremists on the right. — Richard M. Nixon
- ..She had that brand of pragmatism that would find her the first brewing tea after Armageddon. — Clive Barker
People Writing About Pragmatism
More Pragmatism Quotes
I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity. — I. M. Pei
I see graphic design as the organization of information that is semantically correct, syntactically consistent and pragmatically understandable. — Massimo Vignelli
Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality, or religion. — John Amos Comenius
You see, idealism detached from action is just a dream. But idealism allied with pragmatism, with rolling up your sleeves and making the world bend a bit, is very exciting. It's very real. It's very strong. — Bono
At their best, I think, the left prioritizes compassion & idealism, and the right prioritizes truth & pragmatism. Both sides are valuable in society. Unfortunately, both are too often captured by the extremes, and so we're rarely seeing the left or the right at their best. — Lex Fridman
In a world where we are so pragmatic and materialistic, fear is the only emotion that allows even a sophisticated person to believe in something beyond. — Guillermo del Toro
The task of universal pragmatics is to identify and reconstruct universal conditions of possible mutual understanding. — Jurgen Habermas
When I went to the moon I was a pragmatic test pilot. But when I saw the planet Earth floating in the vastness of space the presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident. — Edgar Mitchell
You read the pragmatists and all you know is: not Descartes, not Kant, not Plato. It's like aspirin. You can't use aspirin to give yourself power, you take it to get rid of headaches. In that way, pragmatism is a philosophical therapy. It helps you stop asking the unhelpful questions. — Richard Rorty
Anybody who witnesses the suffering of animals and has a glimmer of hope of reducing that suffering can't take the position that it's all or nothing. We have to be pragmatic. Screw the principle. — Ingrid Newkirk
Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms? — William James
I'm not asking any of you to make drastic changes to every single one of your recipes or to totally change the way you do business. But what I am asking is that you consider reformulating your menu in pragmatic and incremental ways to create healthier versions of the foods that we all love. — Michelle Obama
Most governments are pragmatic, most people are logical. There are pockets of extremism in Israel, in the U.S. and in the Muslim world. But we have to fight them with reason, with logic and with compassion. — Al-Waleed bin Talal
The god hypothesis is no longer of any pragmatic value for the interpretation or comprehension of nature, and indeed often stands in the way of better and truer interpretation. Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler, but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire Cat. — Julian Huxley
Our greatest challenge today is to couple conviction with doubt. By conviction, I mean some pragmatically developed faith, trust, or centeredness; and by doubt I mean openness to the ongoing changeability, mystery, and fallibility of the conviction. — Kirk J. Schneider
The 'natural' is not necessarily a 'human' value. Humanity has begun to transcend nature: we can no longer justify the maintenance of a discriminatory sex class system on grounds of its origins in nature. Indeed, for pragmatic reasons alone it is beginning to look as if we must get rid of it. — Shulamith Firestone
Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism. — Richard M. Nixon
Strength, the American way, is not manifested by threats of criminal prosecution or police state methods. Leadership is not manifested by coercion, even against the resented. Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any methods. — Margaret Chase Smith
I am not against being pragmatic, because it is pragmatic to make a good pass, not a bad one. If I have the ball, what do I do with it? Could anybody argue that a bad solution like just kicking it away is pragmatic just because, sometimes, it works by accident? — Arsene Wenger
I am pragmatic. That which works, works, and theory can go screw itself. However, my pragmatism also extends to maintainability, which is why I also want it done well. — Linus Torvalds
Progress must not become progressivism, where success is measured only by achieving pragmatic results. — Mal Fletcher
Nature has color-coded groups of individuals so that statistically reliable predictions of their adaptability to intellectual rewarding and effective lives can easily be made and profitably used by the pragmatic man-in-the street. — William Shockley
Pragmatism ... reflects with almost disarming candor the spirit of the prevailing business culture, the very same attitude of 'being practical' as counter to which philosophical meditation as such was conceived. — Max Horkheimer
Architecture falls between art and airports. It's pragmatic-it helps you get from point A to point B. But it also works as art. It makes you think twice. It inspires you. It brings you back to yourself. — Ben van Berkel
The most vital issue of the age is whether the future progress of humanity is to be governed by the modern economic and materialistic mind of the West or by a nobler pragmatism guided, uplifted and enlightened by spiritual culture and knowledge. — Sri Aurobindo
[Pragmatism's] only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and combines with the collectivity of experience's demands, nothing being omitted. — William James
In pragmatic terms, our challenge is less to save the earth from ourselves and more to save ourselves from an earth that, if pushed too far, has ample power to rock, burn, and shake us off completely. — Naomi Klein
I think in Singapore, we stand a chance of making the one-man-one-vote system work. With amendments as we have done, you know, like GRCs.. We need to make it work. And I believe with pragmatic adjustments, given these favourable conditions, we can have more open debate. — Lee Kuan Yew
The worst crimes are not committed by evil degenerates, but by decent and intelligent people taking 'pragmatic' decisions. — Colin Wilson
That renunciation of human closeness, of our deepest instincts: is it, in the end, simply too much to ask? Good men-sound, healthy men-can't make the sacrifice, or don't want to; has Holy Mother settled for the unsound and unhealthy? Has the Church, ever pragmatic, made do with what is left? — Jennifer Haigh
Thought's a luxury. Do you think the peasant sits and thinks of God and Democracy when he gets inside his mud hut at night? — Graham Greene
I grew up with Scientology - my parents at one point were clerical. It's a pragmatic philosophy, not merely a belief system. Yeah, it's had media exposure because certain luminaries do Scientology, but millions of people do it who are not celebrities. It's not a threat or some cult. — Giovanni Ribisi
Knowing yourself, knowing where you want to get, combining those things gives you the pragmatic steps. — John Amaechi
In Conclusion
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