Probably Attributable to "No-one or Everyone"

November 26, 2017 7:12 PM

My mother used to say to me (when my father was vexing me): "Soldiers are romantics who believe they are realists. Poets are realists who believe they are romantics." She always said it in the manner of Someone quoting Someone. Various internet searches indicate it's just--basically--conventional wisdom with various groups standing in for the soldier/poet dichotomy. Anyone got a better source for the quote or sentiment?
posted by crush to Grab Bag (2 answers total)

This quote "Somebody once observed--we don't think it was Wilde--that journalists are pragmatists who think they're romantics, and soldiers are romantics who think they're pragmatists." is in this article.

I can't find the original, but perhaps it might help track it down.
posted by beccaj at 7:37 PM on November 26, 2017

And then there's this version: Men are romantics pretending to be realists; women are realists pretending to be romantics . ((which I also can't source.)
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:47 AM on November 27, 2017