Contempt Quotes

• Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Change, Men, Law

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• He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  "Mein Weltbild (My World-view)". Essay by Albert Einstein, 1931.

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• I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.

  John Steinbeck

  Dog, Eye, Thinking

  John Steinbeck (2012). “The Portable Steinbeck”, p.42, Penguin

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  Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Expression, Perfect, Silence

  Back to Methuselah (1921) pt. 5

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• Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees.

  Samuel Johnson

  Character, Degrees, Kind

  Samuel Johnson (1810). “The works of the English poets, from Chaucer to Cowper”, p.320

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• Wrongs are often forgiven; but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Forgiveness, Pride, Forever

  "Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman". Book by Lord Chesterfield, 1774.

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• You can have no influence over those for whom you have underlying contempt.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Judgement, Influence, Nonviolent Communication

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• Contempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one's own despised and unwanted feelings.

  Alice Miller

  Warrior, Feelings, Defense

  Alice Miller (1997). “The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self”, p.74, Basic Books

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• Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Anger, Philosophical, Heart

  Arthur Schopenhauer, E. F. J. Payne (1974). “Parerga and Paralipomena: Short Philosophical Essays”, p.591, Oxford University Press

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• Isn't it fitting that so many of those who have contempt for the private sector will soon find themselves back in it?

  Mitt Romney

  Fitting, Private Sector

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• Pride defeats its own end, by bringing the man who seeks esteem and reverence into contempt.

  Henry Bolingbroke

  Pride, Men, Dignity

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• There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Insult To Injury, People, Forgiving

  Lord Chesterfield (1998). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.87, OUP Oxford

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• To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Leadership, Fate

  Albert Einstein (2002). “Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein's letters to and from children”

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• Contempt; the feeling of a prudent man for an enemy who is too formidable safely to be opposed.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Men, Feelings, Enemy

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2374, Delphi Classics

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• Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

  William Shakespeare

  Kissing, Romantic Love, Best Kiss

  'Richard III' (1591) act 1, sc. 2, l. 172

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• Christ saw much in this world to weep over, and much to pray over: but he saw nothing in it to look upon with contempt.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Looks, World, Saws

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, 1895.

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• He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Country, Peace

  "Mein Weltbild (My World-view)". Essay by Albert Einstein, 1931.

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• Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self Esteem, Odor, Literature

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration.

  Apuleius

  Winning, Admiration, Familiarity

  "On the God of Socrates". Ch. 4,

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• Clinton's hands remain incredibly clean, don't they, and Tony Blair's smile remains as wide as ever. I view these guises with profound contempt.

  Harold Pinter

  Smile, Views, Hands

  "Pinter: I won't be silenced". Interview with Matthew Tempest, www.theguardian.com. August 3, 2001.

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• Anger and hate against one we love steels our hearts, but contempt or pity leaves us silent and ashamed.

  Edgar Rice Burroughs

  Hate, Anger, Heart

  Edgar Rice Burroughs (2008). “Tarzan of the Apes”, p.162, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Comedy is defiance. It's a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it's the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale.

  Will Durst

  Happiness, Laughter, Fear

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• Antipathy, dissimilarity of views, hate, contempt, can accompany true love.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Love, Hate, Views

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• Never before has a civilization reached such a degree of a contempt for life; never before has a generation, drowned in mortification, felt such a rage to live.

  Raoul Vaneigem

  Civilization, Umpires, Degrees

  Guy Debord, Ivan Chtcheglov, Asger Jorn, Raoul Vaneigem, Mustapha Khayati (2014). “Situationism: A Compendium”, p.127, Bread and Circuses Publishing

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• An appeal is when you ask one court to show its contempt for another court.

  Finley Peter Dunne

  Sarcastic, Sarcasm, Court

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