Pragmatism Quotes

“Honesty is not the best policy - merely the safest”

“Don't argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.”

“I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and Fact.”

“It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.”

“I've got to confess I'm a pragmatic optimist myself.”

“A world united is better than a world divided, but a world divided is better than a world destroyed.”

“I'd prefer to be right than consistent.”

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

“Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.”

“Great statesmen seem to direct and rule by a sort of power to put themselves in the place of the nation over which they are set, and may thus be said to possess the souls of poets at the same time they display the coarser sense and the more vulgar sagacity of practical men of business.”

“Tolerance is an admirable intellectual gift; but it is of little worth in politics.”

“The reason for having diplomatic relations is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience. [On diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China]”

“A right is worth fighting for only when it can be put into operation.”

“A difference which makes no difference is no difference at all.”

“The United States abd usually be reiled on to do the right thing, but only after they have tried all the other alternatives.”

“You know, in war, you don't have to be nice. You only have to be right.”

“The most ancient parts of truth . . . also once were plastic. They also were called true for human reasons. They also mediated between still earlier truths and what in those days were novel observations. Purely objective truth, truth in whose establishment the function of giving human satisfaction in marrying previous parts of experience with newer parts played no role whatsoever, is nowhere to be found. The reasons why we call things true is the reason why they are true, for to be true means only to perform this marriage-function.”

“Truth in our ideas means their power to work.”

“From a pragmatic point of view, the difference between living against a background of foreigness (an indifferent Universe) and one of intimacy (a benevolent Universe) means the difference between a general habit of wariness and one of trust.”

“Truth is what works.”

“Uncompromising thought is the luxury of the closeted recluse. Untrammeled reasoning is the indulgence of the philosopher, of the dreamer of sweet dreams.”

“Truth is something that happens to an idea.”

“We see the wisdom of Solon's remark, that no more good must be attempted than the nation can bear.”

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

“Never stand so high upon a principle that you cannot lower it to suit the circumstances.”