Opposing Quotes

• To take arms against a sea of troubles.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Sea, Speech

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

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• It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

  Albert Einstein

  Courage, Moving, Simple

  "Small is Beautiful". The Radical Humanist, Vol. 37, No. 5, (p. 22), August 1973.

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• The man who fears war and squats opposing
  My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
  But is fit only to rot in womanish peace

  Ezra Pound

  Fear, War, Men

  Ezra Pound, Richard Sieburth (2010). “New Selected Poems and Translations”, p.11, New Directions Publishing

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• The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.

  Alex Kozinski

  Mistake, Gun, Rights

  "Ninth Circuit Confirms a 2nd Amendment Right to Carry" by Michael James Barton, www.nationalreview.com. February 14, 2014.

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• It’s in our interest to take care of others. Self-centrednes s is opposed to basic human nature. In our own interest as human beings we need to pay attention to our inner values. Sometimes people think compassion is only of help to others, while we get no benefit. This is a mistake. When you concern yourself with others, you naturally develop a sense of self-confidence . To help others takes courage and inner strength.

  Dalai Lama

  Wise, Confidence, Spiritual

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• Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.

  J. Sidlow Baxter

  Faith, Christian, Prayer

  "The Tremendous Power of Prayer". Book by Bob Kelly and Charlie Jones, p. 46, 2000.

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• I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.

  John Diefenbaker

  Country, Freedom, Believe

  John George Diefenbaker (1982). “The Wit & Wisdom of John Diefenbaker”, Hurtig Trade

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• China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one... If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialist, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.

  Deng Xiaoping

  Change, Bullying, Power

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• The artist usually sets out -- or used to -- to point a moral and adorn a tale. The tale, however, points the other way, as a rule. Two blankly opposing morals, the artist's and the tale's. Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper functions of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.

  D. H. Lawrence

  Artist, Two, Way

  Studies in Classic American Literature (1923) ch. 1

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• Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong... It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.

  Emma Watson

  Strong, Men, Sensitive Man

  "Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too". UN Speech on the HeForShe campaign, New York, www.unwomen.org. September 20, 2014.

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• As a final example, let's remember Jeremy Glick, whose father died in the World Trade Center. After his name appeared in an ad opposing war in Iraq, Mr. Glick was invited on The Factor .. I'm not going to dress you down anymore.

  Bill O'Reilly

  Father, War, Names

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• Only disaster can follow divided counsels and opposing wills.

  Thomas John Barnardo

  Disaster, Divided

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• When I played, I never needed the spotlight, nor did I want it. I simply wanted to play baseball and be respected by my teammates and the opposing players.

  Bruce Sutter

  Baseball, Player, Spotlight

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• Being funny is a symptom of what's underneath. You're pumping out all that energy because something else is going on inside you, some opposing force, something uncomfortable.

  Faith Prince

  Energy, Symptoms, Force

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• Collective guilt is borne by what is conventionally called the scapegoat. Now the scapegoat for white society - which is based on myths of progress, civilization, liberalism, education, enlightenment, refinement - will be precisely the force that opposes the expansion and the triumph of these myths. This brutal opposing force is supplied by the Negro.

  Frantz Fanon

  Civilization, White, Guilt

  Frantz Fanon (1967). “Black Skin, White Masks”, p.194, Pluto Press

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• The love of conflict is most evident when opposing forces join sides to defeat the peacemaker.

  Criss Jami

  Sides, Conflict, Defeat

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.54, Criss Jami

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• You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.

  Charlie Munger

  Best Love, Ideas, Challenges

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• Why would our president close the embassy to the Vatican? Hopefully, it is not retribution for Catholic organizations opposing Obamacare.

  Jeb Bush

  Organization, Obamacare, Catholic

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• For the span of my memory, this has been a city of opposing wills.

  Mari Evans

  Memories, Cities, Has Beens

  Mari Evans (2006). “Clarity as Concept: A Poet's Perspective : a Collection of Essays”

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• A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Betrayal, War, Moving

  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence, Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

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• The language of [Catholic] mysticism - its repeated attempts to lay consciousness itself bare and speak all the intensely opposing yet interconnected parts of it that cannot be spoken.

  Helen Oyeyemi

  Catholic, Language, Consciousness

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• Once war consisted of individual combats between armed men. Later it was waged between lines of men in opposing trenches. Now it is organized slaughter of whole populations.

  Kirby Page

  War, Men, Population

  Kirby Page (1976). “Kirby Page and the social gospel: an anthology”, Dissertations-G

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• How can you hope to build up a nation by fragmenting its politics into opposing camps? Whatever one group builds, the other will endeavour to destroy.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Groups, Endeavour, Camps

  "The Shah and I: The Confidential Diary of Iran's Royal Court, 1968-77". Book by Asadollah Alam, p. 552, 1991.

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• The only limit to the oppression of government is the power with which the people show themselves capable of opposing it.

  Errico Malatesta

  Government, People, Limits

  Errico Malatesta (2015). “Life and Ideas: The Anarchist Writings of Errico Malatesta”, p.46, PM Press

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• Having a puppet is a way of having opposing opinions - I say a thing; he says the other.

  Nina Conti

  Puppets, Way, Opinion

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