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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• Digital piracy needs to be addressed. Without content protection, investment in content can't be supported. We need secure distribution. If you (telecommunications equipment and software makers) help us, we will make it easier for you to distribute our content.

  Bob Iger

  Contentment, Digital, Needs

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• When individuals approach one another with deep purposes on both sides they seldom come at once to the matter which they have most at heart. They dread the electric shock of a too sudden contact with it.

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

  Heart, Electric Shock, Purpose

  Nathaniel Hawthorne (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated)”, p.1018, Delphi Classics

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• The cable operators are paying to show content. The most important content you have is the broadcast stations. They take the position that over the air is free to people, so it should be free to them.

  Bill Vaughan

  Air, People, Contentment

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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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• Contentions fierce, Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.

  Walter Scott

  Spring, Causes, Fierce

  Walter Scott, Sir Walter Scott (1841). “The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart”, p.700

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• It is my contention that civil disobediences are nothing but the latest form of voluntary association, and that they are thus quite in tune with the oldest traditions of the country.

  Hannah Arendt

  Country, Tunes, Association

  Hannah Arendt (1972). “Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics; Civil Disobedience; On Violence; Thoughts on Politics and Revolution”, p.106, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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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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• And the combat ceased, for want of combatants.

  Pierre Corneille

  Want, Combat

  Pierre Corneille (2009). “Le Cid”, p.79, The Floating Press

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• The whole discord of this world consists in discords.

  Seneca the Younger

  World, Discord, Whole

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• Contention is inseparable from creating knowledge. It is not contention we should try to avoid, but discourses that attempt to suppress contention.

  Joyce Appleby

  Creating, Trying, Should

  Joyce Appleby (2007). “A Restless Past: History and the American Public”, p.106, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

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• In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game.

  Anita Brookner

  Real, Writing, Winning

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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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• 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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  There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.

  Morihei Ueshiba

  Art, Peace, Mean

  Morihei Ueshiba (2005). “The Art of Peace”, p.94, Shambhala Publications

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• Religious contention is the devil's harvest.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Religious, Devil, Argument

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• Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants; each claiming truth, And truth disclaiming both.

  William Cowper

  Dust, Contests

  'The Task' (1785) bk. 3 'The Garden' l. 161

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• Contentions for trifles can get but a trifling victory.

  Philip Sidney

  Victory, Trifling, Trifles

  Sir Philip Sidney, William Gray (1829). “The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Philip Sidney, Knt: With a Life of the Author and Illustrative Notes”

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• If there was strife and contention in the home, very little else in life could compensate for it.

  Lawana Blackwell

  Home, Littles, Conflict

  Lawana Blackwell (2007). “Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter, The”, p.67, Bethany House

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• The making of a picture ought surely to be a rather fascinating adventure. It is not; it is an endless contention of tawdry egos, some of them powerful, almost all of them vociferous, and almost none of them capable of anything much more creative than credit-stealing and self-promotion.

  Raymond Chandler

  Powerful, Adventure, Self

  Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). “Raymond Chandler Speaking”, p.117, Univ of California Press

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