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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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  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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• 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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• 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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• 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

  36 Copy quote

• 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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• 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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• Hurt people hurt people. That's how pain patterns gets passed on, generation after generation after generation. Break the chain today. Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with kindness. Greet grimaces with smiles. Forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.

  Yehuda Berg

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  FaceBook post by Yehuda Berg from Sep 07, 2016

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  Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

  Cesar Chavez

  Other Cultures, Diversity, Disrespect

  Cesar Chavez (2008). “An Organizer's Tale: Speeches”, p.352, Penguin

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• The jury had down right contempt for punk rock grass roots ethics.

  Jello Biafra

  Rocks, Roots, Ethics

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• In politics, familiarity doesn't breed contempt. It breeds votes.

  Paul Lazarsfeld

  Political, Politics, Vote

  The English Digest, Vol. 57, p. 34, 1958.

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• Most of my adult life I had this towering contempt for America.

  Robert Crumb

  America, Adults

  "'America has become this soulless suburban culture'" by Robert Crumb, www.theguardian.com. March 9, 2005.

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• Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration.

  William Hazlitt

  Idols, May, Admiration

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1464, Delphi Classics

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• I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk.

  Winston Churchill

  Military, People, Drunk

  Sir Winston Churchill (1954). “Sir Winston Churchill: a self-portrait”

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• I'm always annoyed about why black people have to bear the brunt of everybody else's contempt. If we are not totally understanding and smiling, suddenly we're demons.

  Toni Morrison

  Smile, People, Annoyed

  Toni Morrison, Danille Kathleen Taylor-Guthrie (1994). “Conversations with Toni Morrison”, p.256, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Familiarity with evil breeds not contempt but acceptance.

  Roy Hattersley

  Acceptance, Evil, Suffering

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