Dilemma Quotes

• Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Love, Funny, Change

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• You can't resolve a dilemma with all the very same mind that made it

  Albert Einstein

  Mind, Made, Resolve

  36 Copy quote

• Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Life, Choices

  89 Copy quote

• The really tough choices...don't center upon right versus wrong. They involve right versus right. They are genuine dilemmas precisely because each side is firmly rooted in one of our basic, core values.

  Rushworth Kidder

  Choices, Sides, Tough

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• Every life is a dilemma that must be solved by the person living it.

  Jo Coudert

  Life Is, Persons

  Jo Coudert (2003). “Advice from a Failure”, p.267, iUniverse

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• The dilemma is that if one does not risk anything one risks even more.

  Erica Jong

  Risk, Doe, Ifs

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• When facing a dilemma, choose the more morally demanding alternative.

  Harold S. Kushner

  Alternatives

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• There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull: How do you hang on to someone who won't stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won't go?

  Danny DeVito

  Two, Skulls, Humans

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• Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life. ... There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation.

  Margaret Thatcher

  War, Responsibility, Men

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• You don't know what you don't know.

  Socrates

  Knows

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• On an important decision one rarely has 100% of the information needed for a good decision no matter how much one spends or how long one waits. And, if one waits too long, he has a different problem and has to start all over. This is the terrible dilemma of the hesitant decision maker.

  Robert K. Greenleaf

  Long, Decision, Waiting

  45 Copy quote

• In a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Variables, Helpful, Problem

  Robert A. Heinlein (2005). “Have Space Suit, Will Travel”, p.61, Simon and Schuster

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• Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Thinking, Awareness, Existence

  Eckhart Tolle (2006). “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose”, p.33, Penguin

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• Man desires to be free and he desires to feel important. This places him in a dilemma, for the more he emancipates himself from necessity the less important he feels.

  W. H. Auden

  Men, Important, Desire

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• Science is important, but so is ethics, so is balancing life. To destroy life to save life - it's one of the real ethical dilemmas that we face.

  George W. Bush

  Real, Important, Faces

  The debate between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry at Washington University, www.cnn.com. October 9, 2004.

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• No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced with the growth of a conscious mind: how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in all life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s own culture but within oneself.

  Barry Lopez

  Blood, Darkness, Mind

  Barry Lopez (2013). “Arctic Dreams”, p.529, Open Road Media

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• We realize our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. We confess, we have left undone those things that ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

  Charles Hummel

  Time, Focus, Priorities

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• Know what you do not know.

  Gautama Buddha

  Knowledge, Not Knowing, Knows

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• a problem that presents itself as a dilemma carries an unfortunate prescription: to argue instead of act.

  Elizabeth Janeway

  Arguing, Problem, Unfortunate

  Elizabeth Janeway (1987). “Improper behavior”, William Morrow

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• For me the moral dilemma this past year has been how to make peace with the unacceptable.

  May Sarton

  Moral, Making Peace, Moral Dilemma

  "Recovering: A Journal".

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• When we arrive at dilemmas in life and we are unable to decipher the right direction to go, if we hope to maintain our confidence in the process, we must (repeat must) allow the Lord to be our Guide, our Strength, our Wisdom - our all!

  Charles R. Swindoll

  Faith, Christian, Religion

  Charles R. Swindoll (2006). “Great Attitudes for Graduates!: 10 Choices for Success in Life”

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• There is no escaping from ourselves. The human dilemma is as it has always been, and we solve nothing fundamental by cloaking ourselves in technological glory.

  Neil Postman

  Escaping, Fundamentals, Glory

  "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business". Book by Neil Postman, 1985.

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• The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.

  Bob Woodward

  Media, Literature, Journalism

  "Watergate: 25 Years Later". The Washington Post Interview, www.washingtonpost.com. June 17, 1997.

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• Sometimes it takes ten seconds to see some humor in your dilemmas, sometimes ten years.

  Allen Klein

  Humor, Years, Sometimes

  Allen Klein (1989). “The Healing Power of Humor: Techniques for Getting Through Loss, Setbacks, Upsets, Disappointments, Difficulties, Trials, Tribulations, and All that Not-so-funny Stuff”, Tarcher

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• The reason most of us go to the movies is to be involved in someone else's moral dilemma.

  Tom Hanks

  Moral, Reason, Involved

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