QuoteProject
A rational man acting in the real world may be defined as one who decides where he will strike a balance between what he desires and what can be done.
Walter Lippmann
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the importance of balancing personal desires with practical limitations.

Walter Lippmann suggests that a rational person is one who thoughtfully navigates between their wishes and the reality of their capabilities. This balance requires self-awareness and a practical approach to decision-making, allowing individuals to make informed choices that align with both their passions and the possibilities of the real world.

Themes

BalanceDesireRealityRationalityDecision-Making

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about personal growth, this quote can highlight the balance needed to pursue dreams realistically.

More from Walter Lippmann

Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.
Walter LippmannRead
The simple opposition between the people and big business has disappeared because the people themselves have become so deeply involved in big business.
Walter LippmannRead
The news and the truth are not the same thing.
Walter LippmannRead
There is nothing so bad but it can masquerade as moral.
Walter LippmannRead
The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble upon a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then to make it the representative of a whole class.
Walter LippmannRead
The private citizen, beset by partisan appeals for the loan of his Public Opinion, will soon see, perhaps, that these appeals are not a compliment to his intelligence, but an imposition on his good nature and an insult to his sense of evidence.
Walter LippmannRead

Similar quotes

The strongest wish of a vast number of earnest men and women to-day is for a basis of religious belief which shall rest, not upon tradition or external authority or historical evidence, but upon the ascertainable facts of human experience. The craving for immediacy, which we have seen to be characteristic of all mysticism, now takes the form of a desire to establish the validity of the God-consciousness as a normal part of the healthy inner life.
William Ralph IngeRead
Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.
Eckhart TolleRead
In my death, people will understand what I was talking about.
Tupac ShakurRead
He who acts with a constant view to his own advantage will be much murmured against.
ConfuciusRead
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.
Oswald ChambersRead
We have known for a long time that Prince Charles' empty sails are so rigged as to be swelled by any passing waft or breeze of crankiness and cant. He fell for the fake anthropologist Laurens van der Post. He was bowled over by the charms of homeopathic medicine. He has been believably reported as saying that plants do better if you talk to them in a soothing and encouraging way
Christopher HitchensRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.