Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
It is strange to view idealism as uncool; rebels usually had hope.
In plain terms
Being idealistic should not be seen as uncool.
What can you take from it?
Idealism is valuable.

Where it applies

  • activism
  • art
  • personal growth

Putting it to work

  • stay idealistic
  • embrace hope

Questions to consider

  • Is idealism uncool?
  • What makes a rebel?

Another view

Idealism can sometimes ignore practical realities.

More from Tom Petty

  1. Young people are very cynical now, you know? Very cynical! They've been taught cynicism, they've been - they've been bred cynicism. So, I think it's important …

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. I don't understand the ones that have no sense of hope and invest in hate. That's not gonna work out, you know? It's a waste of your time!

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. You don't hear any more of, 'Hey, we did something creative and we turned a profit, how about that?' Everywhere we look, we want to make the most money possibl…

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. Every valuable human being must be a radical and a rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better than they are.

    Niels BohrNiels Bohr quote #9
  2. You see things as they are and ask, 'Why?' I dream things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'

    George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw quote #23
  3. It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.

    Eric HofferEric Hoffer quote #174