Contrary Quotes - Page 6

• There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend to be noticeably silly.

  H. L. Mencken

  Religious, Silly, Others Opinions

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.80, Vintage

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• The riches of the rich are not the cause of the poverty of anybody; the process that makes some people rich is, on the contrary, the corollary of the process that improves many peoples want satisfaction. The entrepreneurs, the capitalists and the technologists prosper as far as they succeed in best supplying the consumers.

  Ludwig von Mises

  People, Entrepreneur, Want

  Ludwig Von Mises (1978). “Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, The”, p.43, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• It is a grave misconception to regard the mystical progress as passing mostly through ecstasies and raptures. On the contrary, it passes just as much through broken hearts and bruised emotions, through painful sacrifices and melancholy renunciations.

  Paul Brunton

  Heart, Sacrifice, Broken

  Paul Brunton (1984). “The Notebooks of Paul Brunton: Perspectives (posthumous)”

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• Love is not a matter of getting what you want. Quite the contrary. The insistence on always having what you want, on always being satisfied, on always being fulfilled, makes love impossible.

  Thomas Merton

  Love Is, Making Love, Getting What You Want

  Thomas Merton (1979). “Love and Living”, p.40, Macmillan

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• God is not pleased by blood – and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.

  Manuel II Palaiologos

  Strong, Mean, Blood

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• Away with tears and fears and troubles! United in wedlock with the eternal Godhead Itself, our nature ascends into the Heaven of Heavens. So it would be impious to call ourselves 'miserable.' On the contrary, Man is a creature whom the Angels-were they capable of envy-would envy. Let us lift up our hearts!

  C. S. Lewis

  Heart, Angel, Men

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• The slight, the facile and the merely self-glorifying tend to drop away over the centuries, and what we are left with is the bedrock: Homer and Milton, the Greek tragedian and Shakespeare, Chaucer and Cervantes and Swift, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy and James and Conrad. Time does not make their voices fainter, on the contrary, it reinforces our sense of their truth-telling capacity.

  Wendy Lesser

  Self, Voice, Greek

  Wendy Lesser (2014). “Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books”, p.98, Macmillan

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• I think a Person who is thus terrified with the Imagination of Ghosts and Spectres much more reasonable, than one who contrary to the Reports of all Historians sacred and profane, ancient and modern, and to the Traditions of all Nations, thinks the Appearance of Spirits fabulous and groundless.

  Joseph Addison

  Thinking, Imagination, Sacred

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator: With a Biographical and Critical Preface, and Explanatory Notes ...”, p.353

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• The conservative "thinks of political policies as intended to preserve order, justice, and freedom. The ideologue, on the contrary, thinks of politics as a revolutionary instrument for transforming society and even transforming human nature. In his march toward Utopia, the ideologue is merciless.

  Russell Kirk

  Thinking, Order, Justice

  Russell Kirk (2014). “The Politics of Prudence”, p.21, Open Road Media

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• Acting doesn't bring anything to a text. On the contrary, it detracts from it.

  Elaine Dundy

  Acting, Actors, Acting From Actors

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• Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife. For Carl, what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would make us feel better. Even at this moment when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching. As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, it was with a shared conviction that our wondrous life together was ending forever.

  Ann Druyan

  Taken, Eye, Feel Better

  "Billions and Billions". Book by Carl Sagan, epilogue, p. 271, 1997.

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• Contrary to popular myth, werewolves myth, werewolves are born, not made. No matter how many times they bite someone, that person will not turn, though they will probably bleed profusely and will definitely be annoyed.

  Molly Harper

  Annoyed, Matter, Werewolf

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• Nothing cuts the nerve of the desire to pursue holiness as much as a sense of guilt. On the contrary, nothing so motivates us to deal with sin in our lives as does the understanding and application of the two truth that our sins are forgiven and the dominion of sin is broken because of our union with Christ.

  Jerry Bridges

  Cutting, Two, Broken

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• Don’t worry about breaks every 20 minutes ruining your focus on a task. Contrary to what I might have guessed, taking regular breaks from mental tasks actually improves your creativity and productivity. Skipping breaks, on the other hand, leads to stress and fatigue.

  Tom Rath

  Stress, Creativity, Hands

  Tom Rath (2013). “Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes”, p.37, Missionday, LLC

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• If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations.

  Abdu'l-Bahá

  Religious, Imagination, Superstitions

  "How Two Baha’i Women Integrate Science and Religion" by Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 7, 2014.

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• A broken heart is not the same as sadness. Sadness occurs when the heart is stone cold and lifeless. On the contrary, there is an unbelievable amount of vitality in a broken heart.

  Elizabeth Lesser

  Heart, Sadness, Broken

  Elizabeth Lesser (2010). “Broken Open: How difficult times can help us grow”, p.115, Random House

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• Far too long, historians have accepted the claim that the conversion of the Emperor Constantine (ca. 285-337) caused the triumph of Christianity. To the contrary, he destroyed its most attractive and dynamic aspects, turning a high-intensity, grassroots movement into an arrogant institution controlled by an elite who often managed to be both brutal and lax.

  Rodney Stark

  Long, Triumph, Arrogant

  "For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery". Book by Rodney Stark, August 29, 2004.

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• There's nothing inherently interesting about being a drunk -- in fact, quite the contrary.

  Heather King

  Drunk, Interesting, Facts

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• If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ.

  Pope Benedict XVI

  Running, People, Joy

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• Man is the creature that cannot emerge from himself, that knows his fellows only in himself; when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.

  Marcel Proust

  Lying, Men, Self

  Marcel Proust (2015). “Remembrance of Things Past: The Sweet Cheat Gone”, p.30, Marcel Proust

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• Religions are not imaginative, not poetic, not soulful. On the contrary, they are parochial, small-minded, niggardly with the human imagination, precisely where science is generous.

  Richard Dawkins

  Imagination, Religion, Poetic

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• One of the most ordinary weaknesses of the human intellect is to seek to reconcile contrary principles, and to purchase peace at the expense of logic.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Weakness, Principles, Ordinary

  Alexis de Tocqueville (1863). “Democracy in America”, p.34

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• Contrary to what you might think, China's economy is relatively less efficient, and more polluting, than those of rich countries.

  James Fallows

  Country, Thinking, Rich Countries

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• It is wrong to follow the advice of an adversary; nevertheless it is right to hear it, that you may do the contrary; and this is the essence of good policy.

  Saadi

  Essence, Advice, May

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• Contrary to current cynicism about past golden ages, the abstraction known as 'the intelligent layperson' does exist - in the form of millions of folks with a passionate commitment to continuous learning.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Commitment, Intelligent, Past

  "A grand finale" by Robin McKie, www.theguardian.com. May 26, 2002.

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