Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
True politics serves ideals by working within real-world constraints.
In plain terms
Politics balances ideals with practical realities.
What can you take from it?
Serve ideals through practical action.

Where it applies

  • public service
  • leadership
  • policy making

Putting it to work

  • draft feasible policies
  • bridge vision and execution
  • serve public good

Questions to consider

  • How do you balance ideals with reality?
  • Is your service exploited or genuine?

Another view

Ideals often get compromised too much by realities.

More from Charles de Gaulle

  1. I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone.

    Permalink to quote #10
  2. No policy is worth anything outside of reality.

    Permalink to quote #12
  3. 'A foreign military leader whose daring was feared by those who profited by it.' De Gaulle said that MacArthur's critics should 'pay deserved tribute to the le…

    Permalink to quote #9

Related quotes

  1. Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to ch…

    Vaclav HavelVaclav Havel quote #71
  2. [Alan Cranston] understood power not as a reflection of status but as a tool with a purpose.' - Sen. Joseph Biden December 31, 2000 on Meet the Press

    Alan CranstonAlan Cranston quote #1
  3. A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectuall…

    Paul WellstonePaul Wellstone quote #1