Quotessence
Home / Topics / Contrary Quotes

Contrary Quotes

Browse 1748 quotes about Contrary.

Related topics

IfsMenPeopleThinkingWorldDoeBelieveShouldMayWayBeliefMeanEvidenceHumansHas BeensPersonsKnowsGivingOpinionReasonLawFirstsGovernmentIdeasStatesFactsMindMadeNeedsWould BeArtHeartSeemsContrary To Popular BeliefWantWellsSaidFeelingsIndividualMatterOrderCommonForceTryingDesireDespitePrinciplesMightSelfActionCoursesEndsWholeFeelsGivenLittlesPoliticalSpiritUseChristKindNaturalRunningChildrenCountryLibertyDifferentEvilLooksRealViewsVirtueAuthorityCasesChristianFormImportantProduceResultsScienceTwoValuesEffectsFoundHandsMomentsShowsSometimesSoulTurnsBookCertainDoctrineFacesInspirationalWarWritingArtistExistenceJusticemore

Contrary Quotes

“I say that in narrative paintings one should mingle direct contraries close by, because they produce strong contrasts with one another, and all the more so when they are very close together; that is, the ugly next to the beautiful, the big to the small, the old to the young, the strong to the weak; in this way you will vary as much as possible and close by.”

WayShouldBigsTogetherBeautifulYoungNextStrongProducePaintingDirectWeakUglyContraryNarrativeContrastVary
Author:Leonardo da Vinci
Create image

“Let not therefore thy heart be troubled, neither let it fear. Trust in me, and put thy confidence in my mercy. When thou thinkest thyself farthest off from me, oftentimes I am nearest unto thee. When thou countest almost all to be lost, then oftentimes the greatest gain of reward is close at hand. All is not lost, when any thing falleth out contrary. Thou oughtest not to judge according to present feeling; nor so to take any grief, or give thyself over to it.”

GivingHeartFeelingsHandsLostGriefJudgingGainsMercyRewardsContraryTheeThyself
Author:Thomas a Kempis
Create image

“Chess computers do not sweat during time pressure and commit costly blunders. Furthermore, the strength of these programs (over and above their faultless recall processes) lies in their capacity to make relatively superficial tactical decisions with incredible speed. Positional values, long-range strategy, aesthetic judgment, and political astuteness remain staples of human performance, man vs. machine results in the foreseeable future to the contrary not withstanding.”

MenHumansLongPoliticalLyingValuesProcessDecisionResultsJudgmentComputerCapacityProgramMachinesPerformancesPressureStrategyIncrediblesSpeedContraryChessCommitRangeSweatAestheticRecallsSuperficialBlundersStaplesTacticalWithstanding
Author:Ira Carmen
Create image

“For if many ill-conceived plans have succeeded through the still greater lack of judgment of an opponent, many more, apparently well laid, have on the contrary ended in disgrace. The confidence with which we form our schemes is never completely justified in their execution; speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.”

IfsWellsStillsActionFormCausesGreaterPlansJudgmentSafetyIllContraryOpponentsExecutionSchemesJustifiedSpeculationDisgrace
Book:The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War
Create image

“We are told that Sin consists in acting contrary to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. . . . This leads to frightful results. . . . The British State considers it the duty of an Englishman to kill people who are not English whenever a collection of elderly gentlemen in Westminster tells him to do so. . . . Church and State are placable enemies of both intelligence and virtue.”

PeopleStatesChurchSinResultsActingEnemyVirtueDutyBritishContraryCommandGentlemanCollectionsElderlyChurch And StateEnglishmenOmnipotentWestminster
Author:Bertrand Russell
Create image

“When you believe you have found an important scientific fact, and are feverishly curious to publish it, constrain yourself for days, weeks, years sometimes, fight yourself, try and ruin your own experiments, and only proclaim your discovery after having exhausted all contrary hypotheses. But when, after so many efforts you have at last arrived at a certainty, your joy is one of the greatest which can be felt by a human soul.”

TryingYearsBelieveHumansImportantSoulSometimesFactsLastsJoyFightingFoundFeltEffortWeekDiscoveryContraryExperimentsRuinsCuriousCertaintyExhaustedHypothesisPublishHuman SoulConstrainScientific Facts
Author:Louis Pasteur
Create image

“We ought not to believe those who today, adopting a philosophical air and with a tone of superiority, prophesy the decline of culter and are content with the unknowable in a self-satisfied way. For us there is no unknowable, and in my opinion there is also non whatsoever for the natural sciences. In place of this foolish unknowable, let our watchword on the contrary be: we must know - we shall know.”

KnowsWayBelieveSelfTodayNaturalOpinionAirOughtPhilosophicalContraryFoolishSatisfiedToneDeclineSuperiorityAdoptingNatural Science
Author:David Hilbert
Create image

“We have got to fight it [Communism] with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn't America.”

PeopleIfsThinkingTryingIdeasAmericaFightingRecordsContraryCommunismSomething Better
Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
Create image

“Has it been found that bodies of men act with more rectitude or greater disinterestedness than individuals? The contrary of this has been inferred by all accurate observers of the conduct of mankind; and the inference is founded upon obvious reasons. Regard to reputation has a less active influence, when the infamy of a bad action is to be divided among a number than when it is to fall singly upon one.”

MenHas BeensReasonBodyActionFallFoundIndividualNumbersGreaterInfluenceMankindRegardObviousActiveContraryReputationDividedAccurateObserversInferenceInfamyRectitudeBad Actions
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
Create image

“Whatever the poets pretend, it is plain they give immortality to none but themselves; it is Homer and Virgil we reverence and admire, not Achilles or Aeneas. With historians it is quite the contrary; our thoughts are taken up with the actions, persons, and events we read, and we little regard the authors.”

GivingLittlesPersonsActionTakenEventsPoetRegardContraryAdmireImmortalityHistorianReverenceOur ThoughtsAchillesAeneas
Book:The Battle of the Books: And Other Works, Including 'A Modest Proposal'
Create image

“Believing that war is contrary to the will of God and to common sense, and feeling that the way of peace is the way of love, I shall work for peace by using the way of love myself, by helping any group I am part of to use it, by helping the nation of which I am a citizen to use it, by helping the United Nations to use it, and by praying that the way of love be used all over the world.”

WorldWayBelieveWarHelpingUseFeelingsUsedNationsLove IsUnitedCommonGroupsPrayingCitizensContraryGods WillCommon SenseUnited NationsLove MyselfWay Of Love
Book:Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words
Create image

“People of the world, the time for decision is short. It is measured in a few years. The choice is ours as to whether or not we will pay the price of peace. If we are not willing to pay it, all that we hold dear will be consumed in the flame of war. The darkness in our world today is due to the disintegration of things which are contrary to God's laws. Let us never say hopelessly this is the darkness before a storm; rather let us say with faith this is the darkness before the dawn of the golden age of peace, which we cannot now even imagine. For this, let us hope and work and pray.”

PeopleIfsWorldYearsWarAgeTodayLawChoicesDecisionPayDarknessImagineWillingPrayingDearStormDuesContraryGoldenDawnFlamesOur WorldConsumedWorld TodayPay The PriceGolden AgeDisintegrationDarkness Before The Dawn
Book:Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words
Create image

“An ignorant man believes that the whole universe only exists for him: as if nothing else required any consideration. If, therefore, anything happens to him contrary to his expectation, he at once concludes that the whole universe is evil. If, however, he would take into consideration the whole universe, form an idea of it, and comprehend what a small portion he is of the Universe, he will find the truth. There are many ... passages in the books of the prophets expressing the same idea.”

IfsMenBelieveBookIdeasWholeHappensFormUniverseEvilExpectationsContraryThings HappenIgnorantProphetConsiderationPassagesPortions
Book:The Guide for the Perplexed
Create image

“The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbances.”

Life IsChoicesBeliefSeaSourceTablesDancingDrinkingContraryDrivingMotivePleasantReasoningDishesSoberIntercourseAvoidanceDisturbanceDelicacyLuxuriousDriving Away
Author:Epicurus
Create image

“How to check these unconstitutional invasions of rights by the Federal judiciary? Not by impeachment in the first instance, but by a strong protestation of both houses of Congress that such and such doctrines advanced by the Supreme Court are contrary to the Constitution; and if afterwards they relapse into the same heresies, impeach and set the whole adrift. For what was the government divided into three branches, but that each should watch over the others and oppose their usurpations?”

IfsShouldFirstsWholeGovernmentThreeHouseStrongWatchesRightsConstitutionCourtCongressContrarySupremeChecksDoctrineInstanceBranchesDividedSupreme CourtInvasionHeresyJudiciaryUnconstitutionalImpeachmentRelapseAdriftUsurpation
Author:Thomas Jefferson
Create image

“A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention.”

MenChildrenLongHas BeensGivenChanceEducationTeachingMiddleIgnoranceDevelopmentHabitAdultsContraryIgnorantConventionsContinuingArrestedMiddle AgedCocoons
Book:Complete Essays: 1920-1925
Create image

“The Obama administration already claims the power to wage endless and boundless war, in virtually total secrecy, and without a single meaningful check or constraint. No institution with any power disputes this. To the contrary, the only ones which exert real influence - Congress, the courts, the establishment media, the plutocratic class - clearly favor its continuation and only think about how further to enable it.”

ThinkingWarRealClassInfluenceMediaClaimsInstitutionsCourtCongressContraryFavorsMeaningfulEndlessChecksAdministrationEstablishmentDisputesSecrecyConstraintsBoundlessContinuation
Author:Glenn Greenwald
Create image