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Too often people view idealists as naive.

Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.

True Americanism is practical idealism. Its aims, instead of being materialistic and mechanical, are idealistic to the point of being Utopian. In this way, the U.S. can provide and express ideals that strike a chord in humans everywhere - a declaration of independence on behalf of all the peoples of the world.

Sometimes idealism and all that make believe makes the world a better place.

The enemy of idealism is zealotry.

Americans have always had an ambivalent attitude toward intelligence. When they feel threatened, they want a lot of it, and when they don't, they regard the whole thing as somewhat immoral.

At the end of the day, Americans are not so keen on ideologues, people who have such fixed positions that they can't see any virtue in the other side's point of view.

The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.

Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.

We're constantly told that all cultures are equal, and that every belief system is as good as the next. And it led to a kind of - and generally, that America was to be known for its flaws rather than its virtues.