Contrary Quotes - Page 3

[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.

Samuel West

Men, Law, Confusion

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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.

Scipione Breislak

Dream, Science, Men

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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.

Andre-Marie Ampere

Knowledge, Science, Simple

"André-Marie Ampère: Enlightenment and Electrodynamics". Book by James R. Hofmann, p. 159, 1996.

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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?

Rudolf Virchow

Science, Men, Doubt

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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.

Nicholas Metropolis

War, Science, Engineering

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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.

Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur

Faith, Nature, Believe

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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.

Antoine Lavoisier

Self Confidence, Science, Imagination

Antoine Lavoisier (2011). “Elements of Chemistry”, Courier Corporation

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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.

Michel de Montaigne

Educational, Struggle, Mean

Michel de Montaigne (1991). “The essays of Michel de Montaigne”, Lane, Allen

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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.

Immanuel Kant

Philosophical, Animal, Men

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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.

Grete Waitz

Inspirational, Running, Moving

Grete Waitz, Gloria Averbuch (2015). “Run Your First Marathon: Everything You Need to Know to Reach the Finish Line”, p.115, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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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.

Michael Denton

Real, Community, Doctrine

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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.

Robert Shapiro

Facts, Evolution, Accepted

Robert Shapiro (1987). “Origins: a skeptic's guide to the creation of life on earth”, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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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.

Hubert Yockey

Origin Of Life, Earth, Causes

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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.

Chandra Wickramasinghe

Miracle, Tiny, Generations

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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.

Alphonsus Liguori

Kings, Heaven, Veils

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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.

Pope John Paul II

Educational, Teaching, Order

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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.

John C. Broger

Mean, Commitment, Self

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Pain is a sensation produced by something contrary to the course of nature and this sensation is set up by one of two circumstances: either a very sudden change of the temperament (or the bad effect of a contrary temperament) or a solution of continuity.

Avicenna

Pain, Health, Two

Avicenna (1999). “The Canon of Medicine (al-Qānūn Fī'l-ṭibb)”, Abjad Book Designers & Builders

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The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, it can be found by eating the succulent fruit of the Tree of Life and by living in the here and now as fully and creatively as we can.

Paul Kurtz

Life And Love, Tree, Fruit

Paul Kurtz “Toward a New Enlightenment: The Philosophy of Paul Kurtz”, Transaction Publishers

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And that is the trouble with all lovers: they want more love, because they don't understand that the real desire is not for more love, but for something more than love. Their language ends with love; they don't know any way that is higher than love, and love does not satisfy. On the contrary, the more you love the more thirsty you become. At the fourth center of love, one feels a tremendous satisfaction only when energy starts moving to the fifth center.

Rajneesh

Love, Real, Life Changing

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Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true. God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist.

Saint Augustine

God, Work, Math

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Belief is reassuring. People who live in the world of belief feel safe. On the contrary, faith is forever placing us on the razor's edge.

Jacques Ellul

Faith, People, Forever

Jacques Ellul (2012). “Living Faith: Belief and Doubt in a Perilous World”, p.112, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss,
And is a pattern of celestial peace.

William Shakespeare

Marriage, Patterns, Bliss

William Shakespeare, Michael Taylor (2004). “Henry VI, Part One”, p.247, Oxford University Press, USA

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Neglect not your time, nor use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account. Structure your litanies and other practices during each day and night. This is how to bring about the spiritual blessing (baraka) in each period. If each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, Be not like the deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life grows ever shorter.

Al-Ghazali

Spiritual, Wisdom, Islamic

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Perhaps because our culture and politics have gone so off course, with values so contrary to those of Jesus, more and more people intuitively recognize that His vision of God's kingdom-a new world of compassion, justice, integrity and peace- is the Good News they've been searching and waiting for.

Tony Campolo

Jesus, Integrity, Godly

Tony Campolo (2010). “Red Letter Christians (Large Print 16pt)”, p.6, ReadHowYouWant.com

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