[FRA:] Origins of a phrase

[matthew piscioneri]

I'd always thought H&A's famous line...'theoretical pessimists/practical optimists' was theirs originally, but it seems to have a precursor in Gramsci "Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will" and even more originally in Romain Rolland, who is a writer I hadn't come across before.
 
Going by bits of the bibliographical information on Rolland, I'd hazard a guess H&A's exposure to the quote came directly from Rolland and not via Gramsci. But who knows; in the 1920s it may have been a faddish phrase/notion amongst European left intelligentsia.
 
"Among Rolland's other works are several psychological biographies of artists and politicians (Michelangelo, Danton, Beethoven, Tolstoy etc.). Rather than to concentrate on single novels, Rolland wrote cycles of works. His cycles of plays include The Tragedies and Faith, Saint Louis (1897), The Triumph of Reason (1899), and Theater of Revolution, dramas concerning the French Revolution."
"For further reading: Romain Rolland by R.A. Francis (1999); Romain Rolland and the Politics of the Intellectual Engagement by D. Fisher (1987); Romain Rolland by K. Gore (1981); Romain Rolland by S. Zweig (1970); Romain Rolland by H. March (1971); Romain Rolland by W.T. Star (1971); Romain Rolland by M.Z. Karczewska (1964); Romain Rolland by J. Robichez (1961); Romain Rolland and a World at War by W. Starr (1956); Romain Rolland by M. Descotes (1948); Romain Rolland by M. Doisy (1945); Romain Rolland: the Story of a Conscience by A. Aronson (1944); Romain Rolland by S. Zweig (1921); Romain Rolland: Sa vie, son œuvre by J. Bonnerot (1921)"
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