Contradiction Quotes

• In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Real, Knowledge, Science

  Alfred North Whitehead (1997). “Science and the Modern World”, p.187, Simon and Schuster

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• The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to be.

  George Santayana

  World, Moments, Pretending

  George Santayana (1936). “The Works of George Santayana”

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  Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Confidence, Dream, Mistake

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joel Porte (1982). “Emerson in His Journals”, p.206, Harvard University Press

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• One is fruitful only at the cost of being rich in contradictions.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Cost, Rich, Being Rich

  "Nietzsche: His Philosophy of Contradictions and the Contradictions of His Philosophy". Book by Wolfgang Müller-Lauter (p. 7), January 1, 1999.

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• Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

  George Orwell

  Mean, Two, Mind

  Nineteen Eighty-Four pt. 2, ch. 9 (1949)

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• Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat.

  Audre Lorde

  Inspiring, Harmony

  Audre Lorde, Joan Wylie Hall (2004). “Conversations with Audre Lorde”, p.31, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.

  Georges Bataille

  Believe, Literature, Faces

  Georges Bataille (1984). “Violent silence: celebrating Georges Bataille”

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• I've always regretted that I'm made of contradictions. But, if contradiction is impossible to overcome, we have to accept both its ends.

  Czeslaw Milosz

  Overcoming, Impossible, Accepting

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• Do you think when two representatives holding diametrically opposing views get together and shake hands, the contradictions between our systems will simply melt away? What kind of a daydream is that?

  Nikita Khrushchev

  Thinking, Views, Hands

  "Khrushchev Remembers; the Last Testament, Volume 2". Book by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Strobe Talbott (Little, Brown), p. 415, 1974.

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• When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Encouragement, Trying, Encounters

  Saint Francis (de Sales) (1953). “Spiritual maxims”

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• The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

  Oscar Wilde

  Wise, Wisdom, Yoga

  Oscar Wilde, Isobel Murray (2000). “Oscar Wilde - The Major Works”, p.572, Oxford Paperbacks

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• Good morning is a contradiction of terms.

  Jim Davis

  Good Morning, Monday, Good Day

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• Hybridity keeps me from being rigid about most things. It has taught me to appreciate the contradictions in the world and in my life. I scavenge from the best.

  Jessica Hagedorn

  Appreciate, Hybridity, World

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• That man is a creature who needs order yet yearns for change is the creative contradiction at the heart of the laws which structure his conformity and define his deviancy.

  Freda Adler

  Change, Heart, Men

  "Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal". Book by Freda Adler, 1975.

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• After all, what would be "beautiful" if the contradiction had not first become conscious of itself, if the ugly had not first said to itself: "I am ugly"?.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Beautiful, Would Be, Ugly

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2010). “On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo”, p.88, Vintage

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• The market came with the dawn of civilization and it is not an invention of capitalism. ... If it leads to improving the well-being of the people there is no contradiction with socialism.

  Mikhail Gorbachev

  Civilization, People, Dawn

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Christians who have influence in political life must feel as individuals responsibility in front of their own faith. And the duty of encouraging laws that are not in contradiction with the Commandments comes within the mission of the Church.

  Karl Lehmann

  Christian, Responsibility, Law

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• Hope, insofar as it is hope of resurrection, is the living contradiction of what it proceeds from and what is placed under the sign of the Cross and death.

  Paul Ricoeur

  Resurrection, Crosses

  Paul Ricoeur (2005). “The EPZ Conflict of Interpretations”, p.405, A&C Black

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• It was not simply out of a spirit of contradiction that I exposed a light source to magnetic forces. The idea came to me during an investigation of the effect discovered by Kerr on light reflected by magnetic mirrors.

  Pieter Zeeman

  Mirrors, Light, Ideas

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• I am the epitome of a walking contradiction for various reasons, only one of which being that I feel my existence is of heaven and hell.

  Elizabeth Kim

  Walking Away, Heaven, Hell

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• I spoke without fear of contradiction. I simply did not suffer self-doubt.

  Elia Kazan

  Self, Doubt, Suffering

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• That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise.

  David Hume

  Selfless, Sun, Tomorrow

  David Hume (2016). “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book”, p.19, VM eBooks

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• How can what an Englishman believes be hearsay? It is a contradiction in terms.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Believe, Rebellious, Contradicting

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• The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.

  Winston Churchill

  Fear, Sometimes, Modern

  Winston Churchill (1990). “A History of the English-speaking Peoples: The birth of Britain”

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• I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.

  Charlie Chaplin

  Shoes, Pants, Hats

  "Charlie Chaplin and the Tramp: the birth of a hero" by Pamela Hutchinson, www.theguardian.com. January 27, 2014.

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