"I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way"
About this Quote
An idealist who admits he has no map is doing something sneakier than selling hope. Sandburg fuses two impulses Americans love to pretend are opposites: dreamy principle and blunt, working-class motion. The first sentence plants a flag in the realm of values; the second punctures any whiff of sanctimony with a shrug. He’s not promising arrival, he’s claiming momentum.
The intent is partly self-portrait, partly provocation. Sandburg came up out of the Midwest’s grit and labor politics, a poet-journalist shaped by the clang of industrial cities and the democratic mythos of the early 20th century. In that context, “idealist” isn’t a delicate salon posture; it’s a stubborn commitment to a better social order when the evidence is mixed and the news is ugly. The line reads like an antidote to cynicism: not naive optimism, but refusal to let uncertainty become paralysis.
The subtext is that direction can be moral before it’s geographical. “I don’t know where I’m going” confesses the messiness of living through modernization, war, and economic upheaval; grand narratives were wobbling, institutions were failing, and certainty was increasingly a luxury product. “But I’m on my way” turns that wobble into a stance: action as faith, progress as practice. It works because it recasts not-knowing as honest, even disciplined, while preserving the romance of forward motion. Idealism here isn’t a destination. It’s the engine.
The intent is partly self-portrait, partly provocation. Sandburg came up out of the Midwest’s grit and labor politics, a poet-journalist shaped by the clang of industrial cities and the democratic mythos of the early 20th century. In that context, “idealist” isn’t a delicate salon posture; it’s a stubborn commitment to a better social order when the evidence is mixed and the news is ugly. The line reads like an antidote to cynicism: not naive optimism, but refusal to let uncertainty become paralysis.
The subtext is that direction can be moral before it’s geographical. “I don’t know where I’m going” confesses the messiness of living through modernization, war, and economic upheaval; grand narratives were wobbling, institutions were failing, and certainty was increasingly a luxury product. “But I’m on my way” turns that wobble into a stance: action as faith, progress as practice. It works because it recasts not-knowing as honest, even disciplined, while preserving the romance of forward motion. Idealism here isn’t a destination. It’s the engine.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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