Contention Quotes

• The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Believe, Want, Belief

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• Pride does not look up to God and care about what is right. It looks sideways to man and argues who is right. Pride is manifest in the spirit of contention. Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule. Christ wanted to bring men to where He was. The devil wanted to be above men. Christ removed self as the force in His perfect life. It was not my will, but thine be done

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Life, Pride, Men

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• Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts. The scriptures tell us that "Only by pride cometh contention".

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Pride, Scripture, Spirit

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• The more arguments you win, the less friends you will have

  E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax

  Winning, Argument

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• Let the long contention cease! / Geese are swans, and swans are geese.

  Matthew Arnold

  Swans, Long, Geese

  'The Last Word' (1867)

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• Contention, like a horse,
  Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose,
  And bears down all before him.

  William Shakespeare

  Horse, Bears, Broke

  William Shakespeare, William Dodd (1842). “The Beauties of Shakspeare: Regularly Selected from Each Play : with a General Index Digesting Them Under Proper Heads”, p.123

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• Where two discourse, if the anger of one rises, he is the wise man who lets the contest fall.

  Plutarch

  Wise, Fall, Men

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• Religious contention is the devil's harvest.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Religious, Devil, Argument

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• Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Life, Past, Men

  Abraham Lincoln, Bob Blaisdell (2005). “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations”, p.7, Courier Corporation

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• But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.

  Homer

  Way, Spirit, Argument

  Homer (1871). “The Iliad of Homer”, p.231

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• It is as hard a thing to maintain a sound understanding, a tender conscience, a lively, gracious, heavenly spirit, and an upright life in the midst of contention, as to keep your candle lighted in the greatest storms.

  Richard Baxter

  Understanding, Storm, Sound

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• I am tired of a life of contention, and of being the personal object for the hatred of every man, who hates the present state of things.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Hate, Tired, Men

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.208, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The family as an institution today is beset on all sides. Conflicts within the family are critical and often damaging. Contention puts heavy strain on stability, strength, peace, and unity in the home. There is certainly not time for contention in building a strong family.

  Marvin J. Ashton

  Strong, Home, Unity

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• George Orwell's contention was that it is a sure sign of trouble when things can no longer be called by their right names and described in plain, forthright speech.

  Christopher Lasch

  Swag, Names, Speech

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• My contention is that that style is just as stylized as an ornate style.

  Rick Moody

  Style

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• The twentieth century provides little or no evidence in any corner of the globe to support the contention that religion causes most human conflict.

  Michael Medved

  Support, Religion, Littles

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• When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.

  Oswald Chambers

  Light, Bitterness, Impossible

  Oswald Chambers (2011). “The Quotable Oswald Chambers”, p.20, Discovery House

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• When filled with God's love, we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand. Filled with His love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength, and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us.

  John H. Groberg

  Pain, Helping Others, Forgiving

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• Unlike the authors of such warrior classics as The Art of War and The Book of the Five Rings, which accept the inevitability of war and emphasize cunning strategy as a means to victory, Morihei understood that continued fighting-with others, with ourselves, and with the environment-will ruin the earth. “The world will continue to change dramatically, but fighting and war can destroy us utterly. What we need now are techniques of harmony, not those of contention. The Art of Peace is required, not the Art of War.

  Morihei Ueshiba

  Art, War, Book

  Morihei Ueshiba, John Stevens (2010). “The Art of Peace”, p.5, Shambhala Publications

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• The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as those who are wrong.

  Dallin H. Oaks

  Wells, Commandments

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• Blessed are the peacemakers, and one sure way of peacemaking is to let the fire of contention alone. Neither fan it, nor stir it, nor add fuel to it, but let it go out by itself. Begin your ministry with one blind eye and one deaf ear.

  Charles Spurgeon

  Blessed, Eye, Fire

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• Contention, especially violence, is not the way to deal with our problems. Unfortunately, television, videos, movies, and electronic games teach otherwise. Even cartoons and many children's programs depict violence in amusing ways, suggesting that no one really gets hurt and that any disagreement can be solved by a karate kick or the use of some weapon.

  Harold Anthony Oaks

  Hurt, Children, Media

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• In an hundred elles of contention, there is not an inch of love.

  George Herbert

  Hundred, Inches

  George Herbert (1874). “The Complete Works of George Herbert: Prose”, p.355

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• There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party communion.

  John Quincy Adams

  Party, Passion, Sacrifice

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• If we are not one, we are not in the true sense of the word the disciples of the Lord Jesus.

  Brigham Young

  Jesus, Lord, Disciple

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