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Conflict Quotes

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Conflict Quotes

“If we do not change our negative habits toward climate change, we can count on worldwide disruptions in food production, resulting in mass migration, refugee crises and increased conflict over scarce natural resources like water and farm land. This is a recipe for major security problems.”

“Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of phenomenological adequacy, inner consistency, and practical-moral consequences. Reason may err, but it can be moral. If we must err, let it be on the side of our creativity, our freedom, our betterment.”

Ifs May Ideas Reason Problem Sides Ability Moral Creativity Progress Conflict Consequence Tests Practicals Handle Consistency Betterment Adequacy

Author:Rudolph Rummel

“Isn't it sad, that in a time when we face so many devastating problems - poverty, HIV/AIDS, war and conflict - that in our Communion we should be investing so much time and energy on disagreement about sexual orientation? [The Communion, which] used to be known for embodying the attribute of comprehensiveness, of inclusiveness, where we were meant to accommodate all and diverse views, saying we may differ in our theology but we belong together as sisters and brothers [now seems] hell-bent on excommunicating one another. God must look on and God must weep.”

“[T]he mass-man sees in the State an anonymous power, and feeling himself, like it, anonymous, he believes that the State is something of his own. Suppose that in the public life of a country some difficulty, conflict, or problem presents itself, the mass-man will tend to demand that the State intervene immediately and undertake a solution directly with its immense and unassailable resources. This is the gravest danger that to-day threatens civilisation: State intervention; the absorption of all spontaneous social effort by the State.”

Source: the Revolt of the Masses

“Zionism was originally a rebellion against religious Judaism and the PLO Charter was essentially secularist. But because the conflict was allowed to fester without a resolution, religion got sucked into the escalating cycle of violence and became part of the problem.”

Problem Religious Violence Conflict Cycles Rebellion Resolution Judaism Charter Zionism Escalating Cycle Of Violence

Author:Karen Armstrong

“That conflict between the reach for the divine and the lure of earthly things was to be the central problem of the Middle Ages.”

Problem Age Middle Divine Conflict Middle Ages Lure Earthly Things

Book:A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

“Frankly speaking, we all know that provoking military and political instability, regional, and other conflicts is a helpful means of distracting the public from growing domestic social and economic problems in certain countries. Such attempts cannot be ruled out, unfortunately.”

“People are stereotypes, they are caricaturized. It comes from both sides of the political aisle, it comes from the press. It's all about conflict, it's all about personality, and there are huge stakes in the policies that are being debated, and I think there's a hunger amongst a very significant, maybe even a critical mass of Americans, clustered on the left, right, and center, to have an adult conversation about how we're going to solve these problems ... but it's not for the fainthearted.”

“The belief that value judgments are not subject, in the last analysis, to rational control, encourages the inclination to make irresponsible assertions regarding right and wrong or good and bad. One evades discussion of serious issues by the simple device of passing them off as value problems, whereas, to say the least, many of these conflicts arose out of man's very agreement regarding values.”

Source: What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies

“Everyone wants to be happy; happiness is a right. And while on a secondary level differences exist of nationality, faith, family background, social status and so on, more important is that on a human level we are the same. None of us wants to face problems, and yet we create them by stressing our differences. If we see each other just as fellow human beings, there'll be no basis for fighting or conflict between us.”

“Our ingenuity in feeding ourselves is prodigious, but at various points our technologies come into conflict with nature's ways of doing things, as when we seek to maximize efficiency by planting crops or raising animals in vast mono-cultures. This is something nature never does, always and for good reasons practicing diversity instead. A great many of the health and environmental problems created by our food system owe to our attempts to oversimplify nature's complexities, at both the growing and the eating ends of our food chain.”

Source: The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World

“During the long drag of years before our youngest child went to school, my love for my family and my need to write were in acute conflict. The problem was really that I put two things first. My husband and children came first. So did my writing. Bump.”

Needs Writing Years Firsts Children Long Two Problem School Husband Conflict My Family Two Things My Husband Drag Bumps Youngest Child

Book:A Circle of Quiet

Source: A Circle of Quiet

“Our first and most pressing problem is how to do away with warfare as a method of solving conflicts between national groups or between groups within a society who have different views about how the society is to be run. If you look back, you will see that warfare was an invention, just as ways of handling government or taxes are inventions. You will see, too, that once people use an invention they go on using it until they find another which they think is superior.”

People Ifs Thinking Way Firsts Looks Different War Use Problem Government Running Views Groups Goes On Conflict Taxes Method Invention Superiors Warfare Different Views

Book:PEOPLE AND PLACES

Source: PEOPLE AND PLACES

“The problems raised by a conscious direction of economic affairs on a national scale inevitably assume even greater dimensions when the same is attempted internationally. The conflict between planning and freedom cannot but become more serious as the similarity of standards and values among those submitted to a unitary plan diminishes.”

Problem Values Greater Plans Economic Serious Conflict Standards Conscious Assuming Raised Affair Scales Planning Dimensions Diminish Similarity Standards And Values

Author:Friedrich August von Hayek

“The planet's biggest problems have to do with sustainability, environmental decline, global poverty, disease, conflict and so forth. Really, they're all interconnected - it's one big problem, which is that the way we're doing things can't go on.”

Way Problem Bigs Poverty Planets Goes On Conflict Disease Environmental Sustainability Decline Big Problems Interconnected Global Poverty

Author:Alex Steffen

“Force, punishment, and violence are patriarchy's answer to conflicts and social problems. Patriarchy finds its ultimate expression in war.”

War Problem Force Social Answers Violence Expression Conflict Ultimate Punishment Patriarchy Social Problems

Author:Starhawk

“the mediation of internal conflicts can be resolved by linkages with other problems.”

Problem Conflict Internals Mediation Internal Conflict Linkages

Book:The Art and Science of Negotiation

Source: The Art and Science of Negotiation

“We all know as we travel around this country or around the world that there are huge problems, and also people doing amazing things on the ground - but those people rarely get reported. Our media are so into conflict that they sometimes say to me, "Bring an 'anti' with you."”

People Knows World Country Sometimes Problem Media Huge Conflict Around The World Amazing Things

Author:Gloria Steinem

“Only in the problem play is there any real drama, because drama is no mere setting up of the camera to nature: it is the presentation in parable of the conflict between Man's will and his environment: in a word, of problem.”

Men Real Play Problem Environment Drama Conflict Cameras Mere Setting Settings Presentation Parables

Book:The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more

Source: The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Lectures, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more

“Current conflicts and guilt about being a woman who is a mother and a person in her own right are a socially defined malaise, notan individual problem.... The conflict is not between being a mother and having a career; it is between nineteenth-century ideas about children and today's ideas about women.”

Children Persons Ideas Problem Today Mother Individual Women Work Careers Century Conflict Guilt Currents Defined Men Women Being A Woman Nineteenth Century Being A Mother Malaise

Author:Sandra Scarr

“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively andnonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”

Ifs Years Believe Children Stories Use Problem Next I Believe Sides Leader Teach Plans Generations Share Planets Conflict Mouths Tools Our Children Come Up Handle Next Generation

Author:Barbara Coloroso

“Perhaps the most difficult ethical problem of the scientific community arises not so much from conflict with other subcultures as from its own success. Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.”

Problem Difficult Community Failing Conflict Arise Ethical Subculture

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“Ironically, people who suppress the mini-confrontations for fear of conflict tend to have huge conflicts later, which can lead to separation, precisely because they let minor problems fester. On the other hand, people who address the mini-conflicts head-on in order to straighten things out tend to have the great, long-lasting relationships.”

“Whether a man lives or dies in vain can be measured only by the way he faces his own problems, by the success or failure of the inner conflict within his own soul. And of this no one may know save God.”

Knows Men Way May Soul Problem Faces Dies Conflict Vain Success Or Failure Inner Conflict

Author:James Bryant Conant

“You know if you pick up a beach read, you're excused from the problems in your own life and safe in a world with conflicts you understand, and you know you will get a happy ending.”

Ifs Knows World Life Problem Safe Conflict Picks Beach Happy Endings

Author:Nancy Thayer

“People mistake their love of the technology for it being a solution. Social media is the problem, not the solution, in crisis management. It's a problem if you use it to communicate in areas where you're dealing with incredibly intense emotions and very deep conflicts.”

People Ifs Use Problem Social Emotion Mistake Technology Media Conflict Solutions Areas Management Crisis Communicate Social Media Intense Very Deep Crisis Management Intense Emotions

Author:Eric Dezenhall

“Two thirds of the work in the world is done by women. Women own 1 percent of the assets. Young women are sold into prostitution, forced labour, premature marriage, forced to have children they don't want or they can't support. They're abused, raped, beaten up. Domestic violence is supposed to be a cultural problem. They are the first victims of war, fundamentalism, conflict, recession. And young women who have access to education and health care and have resources think that everything was done, they don't have to worry.”

“Peace can be threatening because peace is the absence of problems and conflict. There is something, perhaps in the personal you, that does not want freedom or peace, or the absence of problems. There's something that wants the opposite.”

Want Doe Problem Conflict Opposites Absence Threatening

Author:Eckhart Tolle

“There is some conflict between religion and science in my world, but that's nothing new. Science, at its root, is a rational discipline. Religion, on the other hand, is fundamentally trans-rational. Both of them attempt to solve problems, but since their methodology is vastly different, they can't help but come into conflict.”

World Different Helping Problem Hands Discipline Conflict Roots Solve Rational Science And Religion Trans Nothing New Methodology

Author:Patrick Rothfuss

“Racism is not nearly as important as poverty. That's the same around the world. What look like ethnic problems are really economic issues. If you look closely at all these conflicts around the world, they come down to poverty and economics and resources. The more poverty, the worse the war.”

Ifs World Looks Important War Problem Poverty Issues Economic Conflict Racism Resources Economics Around The World Economic Issues

Author:Marjane Satrapi

“The problem with representation in the media has very much to do with the conflicts between groups in the world. If you talk about Iraq, al Qaeda, Darfur, even Taiwan, representation is a part of that problem.”

Ifs World Problem Groups Media Conflict Iraq Als Representation Al Qaeda Taiwan Darfur

Author:Arthur Dong

“Incivility is a symptom, not the disease. We've always had partisan conflict in Congress, and we always will. Yet when I worked for a year (1970-71) on the staff of Sen. Ed Muskie of Maine, this was a different place, more collegial, more sensitive to data, more concerned about all of the American people. I think because the for-profit media prizes conflict above cooperation and sound bites above analysis, politicians have learned to adapt to those tendencies. Consequently, our public debates are dumbed down as our problems grow more complex.”

“The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise.”

Persons Problem Ability Healing Successful Conflict Tests Difficulty Work Out Arise Successful Person

Author:David J. Schwartz

“Our teaching of mathematics revolves around a fundamental conflict. Rightly or wrongly, students are required to master a series of mathematical concepts and techniques, and anything that might divert them from doing so is deemed unnecessary. Putting mathematics into its cultural context, explaining what is has done for humanity, telling the story of its historical development, or pointing out the wealth of unsolved problems or even the existence of topics that do not make it into school textbooks leaves less time to prepare for the exam. So most of these things aren't discussed.”

“I've been in a long and happy relationship for 22 years and it's never inspired me to write anything. It's too good - nothing to say. Problems, conflict, that's what makes for good stories.”

Writing Years Long Stories Problem Conflict Inspired Good Story Happy Relationship

Author:Emma Donoghue

“...instead of giving a rifle to somebody, build a school; instead of giving a rifle, build a community with adequate services. Instead of giving a rifle, develop an educational system that is not about conflict and violence, but one that promotes respect for values, for life, and respect for one's elders. This requires a huge investment. Yet if we can invest in a different vision of peaceful coexistence, I think we can change the world, because every problem has a nonviolent answer.”

“The Arab-Israeli conflict is the biggest problem, but small problems shape the daily lives of Israelis. Unless there happens to be a war going on, the Arab-Israeli conflict is irrelevant in daily life.”

War Problem Happens Shapes Conflict Daily Life Irrelevant Israeli Arab Israeli Conflict Small Problems

Author:Yair Lapid

“We're dealing with such enormous problems today that we have no other choice but to work together. If Iraq fails, if a religious civil war breaks out and the neighboring states are drawn into this conflict, if the Kurds declare independence and al-Qaida takes over an entire province - that's when the consequences will be dramatic.”

Ifs War States Problem Today Together Choices Religious Break Failing Conflict Consequence Independence Iraq Enormous Dramatic Civil War Working Together Als Provinces Break Out Kurds

Author:Zalmay Khalilzad

“Some countries such as Iran and Syria are using the commotion to distract attention from their own problems with the international community. The Palestinians, who have been deeply divided since their election, have found a common enemy in Denmark that unites them. Extremists and fundamentalists are exploiting the conflict to promote their radical agenda and win new members.”

“Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again.”

Men Writing Humans Heart Long Problem Today Young Spirit Bears Conflict Universal Tragedy Forgotten Young Man Sweat Agony Human Heart Good Writing

Author:William Faulkner

“Playing with various approaches may be due to resistance to going within, to the fear of having to abandon the illusion of being something or somebody in particular.Of all the affections the love of oneself comes first. Light and love are impersonal.When you do not think yourself to be this or that, all conflict ceases. Any attempt to do something about your problems is bound to fail, for what is caused by desire can be undone only in freedom from desire. You cannot be rid of problems without abandoning illusions.”

“Morality is not a simple set of rules. It's a very complex struggle of conflicting patterns of values. This conflict is the residue of evolution. As new patters evolve they come into conflict with old ones. Each stage of evolution creates in its wake a wash of problems.”

Problem Values Simple Struggle Stage Evolution Morality Conflict Complexes Patterns Evolve

Book:LILA An Inquriry into Morals

Source: LILA An Inquriry into Morals

“Any time scientists disagree, it's because we have insufficient data. Then we can agree on what kind of data to get; we get the data; and the data solves the problem. Either I'm right, or you're right, or we're both wrong. And we move on. That kind of conflict resolution does not exist in politics or religion.”

Kind Doe Problem Moving Conflict Scientist Agree Solve Data Resolution Disagree Insufficient Conflict Resolution

Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The people of Iran have been battling against consecutive conflicts between tradition and modernity for over 100 years... some have tried and are trying to see the world through the eyes of their predecessors and to deal with the problems and difficulties of the existing world by virtue of the values of the ancients... many others...seek to go forth in step with world developments and not lag behind the caravan of civilization, development and progress.”

“Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the author has to offer an analysis of how the group and the protagonist fit. Otherwise, the reader will just say, "This makes no sense," and will put it away.”

Helping Problem Social Deals Novel Groups Reader Fit Offers Conflict Analysis Protagonists Social Problems

Author:Jane Smiley

“The worst problems for children stem from parental conflict, before, during, and after divorce or within marriage.”

Children Problem Worst Conflict Divorce Stem Parental After Divorce

Author:Stephanie Coontz

“In addition to world conflicts, the most challenging problem we face today is hunger, deprivation and social injustice. Because we're ruled by separate self-interest, we go on accumulating personal wealth, ignoring the well being of the others.”

World Wells Self Problem Today Faces Social Interest Challenges Wealth Goes On Conflict Injustice Hunger Well Being Self Interest Deprivation Social Injustice Personal Wealth

Author:Satish Kumar

“The years 1781 to 1793 are crucial for many reasons, but chiefly because they pose in an especially clear way the main problem of German philosophy for the next century. This is the old conflict between reason and faith which recurred during the pantheism controversy between Jacobi and Mendelssohn.”

Way Years Reason Philosophy Problem Next Clear Century Conflict Crucial Controversy Pantheism Mendelssohn German Philosophy

Author:Frederick C. Beiser

“The problems of tribal conflicts in Kenya are much older, caused by the former colonial power. A former American ambassador there once wrote about how the CIA has contributed to the divisions between Kenyans.”

Problem Conflict Former Division Cia Ambassadors Kenya

Author:Yoweri Museveni

“Nobody had counseled women to expect the changes in bleeding patterns which are typically associated with IUD use, and they received no support from the health clinics with their problems. Because in traditional Hindu culture menstruation is associated with a variety of social taboos, prolonged menstrual bleeding produced conflicts within families.”

Use Problem Culture Social Support Conflict Patterns Traditional Variety Taboo Bleeding Clinic Menstruation Social Taboos

Author:Ruth Simmons