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Contrary Quotes

“Where we find echoes, we generally find emptiness and hollowness; it is the contrary with the echoes of the heart.”

Heart Contrary Emptiness Echoes Hollowness

Book:Life and Books: Or, Records of Thought and Reading

Source: Life and Books: Or, Records of Thought and Reading

“Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.”

Doe Results Contrary Prudence Prudent

Book:Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann

Source: Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann

“Fearfulness, contrary to all other vices, maketh a man think the better of another, the worse of himself.”

Thinking Men Past Fear Vices Contrary

Book:Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney: With Remarks

Source: Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney: With Remarks

“The recurrence of periods of depression and mass unemployment has discredited capitalism in the opinion of injudicious people. Yet these events are not the outcome of the operation of the free market. They are on the contrary the result of well-intentioned but ill-advised government interference with the market.”

Source: Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism

“Truth, in its struggles for recognition, passes through four distinct stages. First, we say it is damnable, dangerous, disorderly, and will surely disrupt society. Second, we declare it is heretical, infidelic and contrary to the Bible. Third, we say it is really a matter of no importance either one way or the other. Fourth, we aver that we have always upheld it and believed it.”

Way Firsts Matter Liberty Struggle Four Stage Dangerous Thirds Importance Libertarian Contrary Recognition One Way Fourth Libertarianism

Book:A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard

Source: A Thousand & One Epigrams: Selected from the Writings of Elbert Hubbard

“Your good mother tells me you are feeling very badly in your new situation. Allow me to assure you it is a perfect certainty that you will, very soon, feel better - quite happy - if you only stick to the resolution you have taken to procure a military education.... On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.”

Source: Abraham Lincoln's Wit & Wisdom

“Speaking one day to Monsieur de Buffon, on the present ardor of chemical inquiry, he affected to consider chemistry but as cookery, and to place the toils of the laboratory on the footing with those of the kitchen. I think it, on the contrary, among the most useful of sciences, and big with future discoveries for the utility and safety of the human race.”

Source: Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts

“I may conclude this chapter by quoting a saying of Professor Agassiz, that whenever a new and startling fact is brought to light in science, people first say, 'it is not true,' then that 'it is contrary to religion,' and lastly, 'that everybody knew it before.'”

People Firsts May Facts Light Truth Science Religion Contrary Professors Chapters Quoting

Book:The Geological Evidence of Man

Source: The Geological Evidence of Man

“I would proclaim that the vast majority of what [say, Scientific American] is true-yet my ability to defend such a claim is weaker than I would like. And most likely the readers, authors, and editors of that magazine would be equally hard pressed to come up with cogent, non-technical arguments convincing a skeptic of this point, especially if pitted against a clever lawyer arguing the contrary. How come Truth is such a slippery beast?”

Source: Metamagical Themas: Questing For The Essence Of Mind And Pattern

“No true geologist holds by the development hypothesis;-it has been resigned to sciolists and smatterers;-and there is but one other alternative. They began to be, through the miracle of creation. From the evidence furnished by these rocks we are shut down either to belief in miracle, or to something else infinitely harder of reception, and as thoroughly unsupported by testimony as it is contrary to experience. Hume is at length answered by the severe truths of the stony science.”

Source: The Foot-prints of the Creator: Or, The Asterolepis of Stromness

“In experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction should be considered either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions.”

Should Philosophy Science Contrary Experiments Exception Propositions Hypothesis Liable

Book:The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Source: The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

“The development of mathematics toward greater precision has led, as is well known, to the formalization of large tracts of it, so that one can prove any theorem using nothing but a few mechanical rules... One might therefore conjecture that these axioms and rules of inference are sufficient to decide any mathematical question that can at all be formally expressed in these systems. It will be shown below that this is not the case, that on the contrary there are in the two systems mentioned relatively simple problems in the theory of integers that cannot be decided on the basis of the axioms.”

“Non-doing has nothing to do with being indolent or passive. Quite the contrary. It takes great courage and energy to cultivate non-doing, both in stillness and in activity. Nor is it easy to make a special time for non-doing and to keep at it in the face of everything in our lives which needs to be done.”

Needs Done Faces Purpose Energy Easy Courage Our Lives Meditation Special Activity Contrary Stillness Passive Special Times

Book:Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Source: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding.”

Heart Doubt Meditation Conflict Depth Contrary Wounds Contemplation Tragic Anguish Bleeding Contemplative Certitude

Book:New Seeds of Contemplation

Source: New Seeds of Contemplation

“Do not, however, mistake me. It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that brought upon him the character of a heretic.”

Character Religion Mistake Atheism Honesty Contrary Good Friend Heresy Heretic

Book:The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin .. Comprising a Series of Letters on Miscellaneous, Litarary, and Political Subjects: Written Between the Years 1753 and 1790; Illustrating the Memoirs of His Public and Private Life, and Developing the Secret History of His Political Transactions and Negociations. Now First Published from the Originals

Source: The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin .. Comprising a Series of Letters on Miscellaneous, Litarary, and Political Subjects: Written Between the Years 1753 and 1790; Illustrating the Memoirs of His Public and Private Life, and Developing the Secret History of His Political Transactions and Negociations. Now First Published from the Originals

“And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.”

Giving Believe Persons Understanding Principles Atheism Conscious Determination Miracle Moved Contrary Customs Agnosticism

Author:David Hume

“The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.”

Too Much Spread Contrary Civil Rights Flames Engines Fourth Globes July Despotism

Book:The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont

Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont

“But nature - that is, biological evolution - has not fitted man to any specific environment. On the contrary, ... he has a rather crude survival kit; and yet -this is the paradox of the human condition - one that fits him to all environments. Among the multitude of animals which scamper, fly, burrow and swim around us, man is the only one who is not locked into his environment. His imagination, his reason, his emotional subtlety and toughness, make it possible for him not to accept the environment but to change it.”

“I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel, continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth. Much remains to be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of ecclesial life in America.”

“The disappearance of your person is not your disappearance, remember; on the contrary, it is your appearance. As your person disappears, your personality falls away; your individuality, your individual arises. To have a personality is hypocrisy. To be an individual is your birthright.”

Persons Remember Fall Individual Personality Individuality Appearance Disappear Contrary Arise Hypocrisy Birthright Disappearance

Author:Rajneesh

“There is in every breast a sensibility to marks of honor, of favor, of esteem, and of confidence, which, apart from all considerations of interest, is some pledge for grateful and benevolent returns. Ingratitude is a common topic of declamation against human nature; and it must be confessed, that instances of it are but too infrequent and flagrant both in public and in private life. But the universal and extreme indignation which it inspires, is itself a proof of the energy and prevalence of the contrary sentiment.”

Source: The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

“This position will not be disputed so long as it is admitted that the desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct, or that the best security for the fidelity of mankind is to make their interest coincide with their duty. Even the love of fame, the ruling passion of the noblest minds... would on the contrary deter him from the undertaking, when he foresaw that he must quit the scene before he could accomplish the work.”

“A Buddha is not a man of concentration, he is a man of awareness. He has not been trying to narrow down his consciousness; on the contrary, he has been trying to drop all barriers so that he becomes totally available to existence. Watch... existence is simultaneous. I am speaking here and the traffic noise is simultaneous. The train, the birds the wind blowing through the trees - in this moment the whole of existence converges. You listening to me, I speaking to you, and millions of things going on - it is tremendously rich.”

“The Americans, on the contrary, are fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle of interest rightly understood; they show with complacency how an enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each other, and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the welfare of the state.”

Source: Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II

“What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the purely scientific, which possess far greater merit are almost unknown. And yet the latter are the proper source from which the others flow. Practice alone can never lead to the discovery of a truth or a principle. In Germany it is quite the contrary. Here in the eyes of scientific men no value, or at least but a trifling one, is placed upon the practical results. The enrichment of science is alone considered worthy attention.”

“There are several kinds of truths, and it is customary to place in the first order mathematical truths, which are, however, only truths of definition. These definitions rest upon simple, but abstract, suppositions, and all truths in this category are only constructed, but abstract, consequences of these definitions ... Physical truths, to the contrary, are in no way arbitrary, and do not depend on us.”

Way Firsts Kind Truth Order Simple Depends Consequence Mathematics Definitions Contrary Mathematical Abstract Categories Arbitrary Supposition

Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“It appears that all that can be, is. The Creator's hand does not appear to have been opened in order to give existence to a certain determinate number of species, but it seems that it has thrown out all at once a world of relative and non-relative creatures, an infinity of harmonic and contrary combinations and a perpetuity of destructions and replacements. What idea of power is not given us by this spectacle! What feeling of respect for its Author is not inspired in us by this view of the universe!”

“Nothing is more contrary to a heavenly hope than an earthly heart.”

Heart Christianity Contrary Heavenly

Author:William Gurnall

“Why be saddled with this thing called life expectancy? Of what relevance to an individual is such a statistic? Am I to concern myself with an allotment of days I never had and was never promised? Must I check off each day of my life as if I am subtracting from this imaginary hoard? No, on the contrary, I will add each day of my life to my treasure of days lived. And with each day, my treasure will grow, not diminish.”

Ifs Helping Individual Grows Inspiring Travel Concern Add Contrary Treasure Checks Each Day Imaginary Diminish Relevance Expectancy Life Expectancy Allotments

Author:Robert Breault

“Our wills and fates do so contrary run, That our devices still are overthrown; Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.”

Stills Ends Running Destiny Fate Contrary Devices Our Thoughts

Author:William Shakespeare

“Sometimes a man imagines that he will lose himself if he gives himself, and keep himself if he hides himself. But the contrary takes place with terrible exactitude.”

Ifs Men Giving Sometimes Helping Loses Imagine Terrible Charity Contrary Making A Difference Imagine That Exactitude

Author:Ernest Hello

“But at the same time, there must never be the least hesitation in giving up a position the moment it is shown to be untenable. It is not going too far to say that the greatness of a scientific investigator does not rest on the fact of his having never made a mistake, but rather on his readiness to admit that he has done so, whenever the contrary evidence is cogent enough.”

Giving Doe Made Done Enough Moments Facts Science Mistake Opinion Position Greatness Giving Up Evidence Contrary Made A Mistake Hesitation Readiness Investigators

Author:William Bayliss

“Liberty is not for these slaves; I do not advocate inflicting it against their conscience. On the contrary, I am strongly in favor of letting them crawl and grovel all they please before whatever fraud or combination of frauds they choose to venerate...Our whole practical government is grounded in mob psychology and the Boobus Americanus will follow any command that promises to make him safer.”

Whole Government Freedom Liberty Psychology Please Promise Conscience Slave Contrary Favors Practicals Command Combination Fraud Grounded

Author:H. L. Mencken

“[P]erfect freedom consists in obeying the dictates of right reason, and submitting to natural law. When a man goes beyond or contrary to the law of nature and reason, he . . . introduces confusion and disorder into society . . . [thus] where licentiousness begins, liberty ends.”

Men Ends Reason Law Natural Liberty Virtue Contrary Confusion Disorder Introducing Laws Of Nature Natural Law Obeying American Liberty

Author:Samuel West

“In geology we cannot dispense with conjectures: [but] because we are condemned to dream let us ensure that our dreams are like those of sane men-e.g. that they have their foundations in truth-and are not like the dreams of the sick, formed by strange combinations of phantasms, contrary to nature and therefore incredible.”

Men Dream Science Strange Sick Foundation Incredibles Contrary Combination Sane Hypothesis Our Dreams Geology Conjecture

Author:Scipione Breislak

“Either one or the other [analysis or synthesis] may be direct or indirect. The direct procedure is when the point of departure is known-direct synthesis in the elements of geometry. By combining at random simple truths with each other, more complicated ones are deduced from them. This is the method of discovery, the special method of inventions, contrary to popular opinion.”

“No doubt science cannot admit of compromises, and can only bring out the complete truth. Hence there must be controversy, and the strife may be, and sometimes must be, sharp. But must it even then be personal? Does it help science to attack the man as well as the statement? On the contrary, has not science the noble privilege of carrying on its controversies without personal quarrels?”

Men Wells May Doe Sometimes Helping Science Doubt He Man Accounts Privilege Noble Contrary Statements Compromise No Doubt Strife Controversy Quarrels Carrying On

Author:Rudolf Virchow

“But, contrary to the lady's prejudices about the engineering profession, the fact is that quite some time ago the tables were turned between theory and applications in the physical sciences. Since World War II the discoveries that have changed the world are not made so much in lofty halls of theoretical physics as in the less-noticed labs of engineering and experimental physics. The roles of pure and applied science have been reversed; they are no longer what they were in the golden age of physics, in the age of Einstein, Schrödinger, Fermi and Dirac.”

“Facts are certainly the solid and true foundation of all sectors of nature study ... Reasoning must never find itself contradicting definite facts; but reasoning must allow us to distinguish, among facts that have been reported, those that we can fully believe, those that are questionable, and those that are false. It will not allow us to lend faith to those that are directly contrary to others whose certainty is known to us; it will not allow us to accept as true those that fly in the face of unquestionable principles.”

Believe Has Beens Facts Faces Science Faith Belief Nature Known Accepting Principles Study Foundation Contrary Certainty Reasoning Definite Questionable Contradicting

Author:Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur

“Imagination, on the contrary, which is ever wandering beyond the bounds of truth, joined to self-love and that self-confidence we are so apt to indulge, prompt us to draw conclusions which are not immediately derived from facts.”

Self Facts Science Imagination Imagine Self Love Draws Bounds Self Confidence Contrary Conclusion Wander Indulge Prompts

Book:Elements of Chemistry

Source: Elements of Chemistry

“I would like to suggest that our minds are swamped by too much study and by too much matter just as plants are swamped by too much water or lamps by too much oil; that our minds, held fast and encumbered by so many diverse preoccupations, may well lose the means of struggling free, remaining bowed and bent under the load; except that it is quite otherwise: the more our souls are filled, the more they expand; examples drawn from far-off times show, on the contrary, that great soldiers ad statesmen were also great scholars.”

Source: The Essays of Michel de Montaigne

“cruelty to animals is contrary to man's duty to himself, because it deadens in him the feeling of sympathy for their sufferings, and thus a natural tendency that is very useful to morality in relation to other human beings is weakened.”

Men Humans Feelings Suffering Natural Human Beings Animal Duty Morality Relation Philosophical Contrary Cruelty Tendencies Animal Cruelty

Author:Immanuel Kant

“Contrary to a common myth, while there are general guidelines, there is no exact 'right' way to run ... I am amazed by the many ways people move forward.”

People Way Inspirational Running Moving Common Myth Contrary Moving Forward Amazed Right Way Guidelines

Book:Run Your First Marathon: Everything You Need to Know to Reach the Finish Line

Source: Run Your First Marathon: Everything You Need to Know to Reach the Finish Line

“In a very real sense, therefore, advocacy of the doctrine of continuity [i.e evolutionism] has always necessitated on retreat from pure empiricism [i.e., logic an observation], and contrary to what is widely assumed by evolutionary biologists today, it has always been the anti-evolutionists [i.e creationist], not the evolutionists, in the scientific community who have struck rigidly to the facts and adhered to a more strictly empirical approach... It was Darwin the evolutionist who was retreating from the facts.”

Real Facts Today Community Evolution Pure Approach Logic Contrary Doctrine Observation Retreat Continuity Advocacy Biologist Empiricism Creationist

Author:Michael Denton

“We have reached a situation where a theory has been accepted as fact by some, and possible contrary evidence is shunted aside. [This is] mythology rather than science.”

Has Beens Facts Situation Theory Evolution Evidence Contrary Accepted Mythology

Book:Origins: a skeptic's guide to the creation of life on earth

Source: Origins: a skeptic's guide to the creation of life on earth

“One must conclude that, contrary to the established and current wisdom, a scenario describing the genesis of life on earth by chance and natural causes which can be accepted on the basis of fact and not faith has not been written.”

Facts Earth Causes Natural Chance Written Evolution Bases Currents Contrary Accepted Scenarios Describing Genesis Origin Of Life

Author:Hubert Yockey

“Contrary to the popular notion that only creationism relies on the supernatural, evolutionism must as well, since the probabilities of random formation of life are so tiny as to require a 'miracle' for spontaneous generation tantamount to a theological argument.”

Wells Generations Evolution Argument Miracle Notion Contrary Tiny Rely Spontaneous Probability Formation Theological Creationism

Author:Chandra Wickramasinghe

“The sovereigns of the earth do not always grant audience readily; on the contrary, the King of Heaven, hidden under the eucharistic veils, is ready to receive anyone.”

Earth Heaven Audience Ready Kings Contrary Grants Sacraments Veils Eucharistic

Author:Alphonsus Liguori

“The dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness are contrary to the order of creation. ...A given culture reveals its understanding of life through the choices it makes in production and consumption... a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed, including the education of consumers in the responsible use of their power of choice.”

“Living God's way means putting away your self-centeredness and committing yourself to follow God's Word in spite of any feelings to the contrary.”

Way Mean Self Feelings Commitment Contrary Spite Self Centeredness Centeredness

Author:John C. Broger