Controversial Quotes

• I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.

  Nora Ephron

  Intelligent, People, Offensive

  Nora Ephron (1978). “Scribble Scribble Notes on the Media”

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• A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system.

  Jane Smiley

  Children, Ideas, May

  FaceBook post by Jane Smiley from Jul 28, 2012

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• If an individual wants to be a leader and isn't controversial, that means he never stood for anything.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Mean, Leader, Want

  "An interview with Nixon: 'Defeated, but not finished'". Interview with Nick Thimmesch, Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1978.

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• If journalism is good, it is controversial, by its nature.

  Julian Assange

  Media, Journalism, Controversy

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I've never intended to be controversial but it's very easy to be controversial in pop music because nobody ever is.

  Steven Morrissey

  Memorable, Easy, Pops

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.

  John F. Kennedy

  Book, Writing, Library

  Saturday Review, p. 44, October 29, 1960.

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• I don't see how you can write anything of value if you don't offend someone.

  Marvin Harris

  Writing, Offensive, Valuable

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• A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight - and when they come out, they're gay.

  Benjamin Carson

  Crazy, Stupid, Gay

  "Ben Carson apologizes for comments on gay people" by Eric Bradner and Alexandra Jaffe, edition.cnn.com. March 5, 2015.

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• When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best.

  Donald Trump

  Illegal Things, People, Mexican

  "Divided Mexico unites against Trump: 'He has no respect for human beings'" by Jo Tuckman, www.theguardian.com. July 6, 2015.

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• Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts. Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men - such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion?

  Sepp Blatter

  Soccer, Football, Volleyball

  "Make-up and short shorts improving women's football, says Brazilian official". www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2015.

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• I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.

  Donald Trump

  Wall, Mexican Border, Southern

  Donald Trump's Announcement on Presidential Campaign Launch at the Trump Tower in New York City, New York, www.washingtonpost.com. June 16, 2015.

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• I think that as I continue to write, my writing I hope will become more controversial and more provocative.

  Christopher Darden

  Writing, Thinking, Provocative

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• Just because you say something doesn't make it controversial, and it doesn't make you a bad person.

  Charles Barkley

  Persons

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• One of the most powerful defences the media can offer for controversial actions is, of course, public interest.

  Rowan Williams

  Powerful, Media, Action

  "This media tribe disfigures public life" by Rowan Williams, www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2005.

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• I've been a very effective leader in the gay rights movement, though at times I've been controversial.

  Jean O'Leary

  Gay, Rights, Leader

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• They said it was against the rules to take sides on a controversial issue. I said, 'I wish you had told me that during World War II, when I took sides against Hitler.

  Howard K. Smith

  War, Issues, Wish

  "Newscaster Howard K. Smith dies at 87". www.cnn.com. February 18, 2002.

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• That's the heart of it: My shows were not that controversial with the American people. They were controversial with the people who think for the American people.

  Norman Lear

  Heart, Thinking, People

  Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. April 27, 2005.

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• I kicked down doors to show that Hiphop has matured. And it may be a little controversial.

  Slick Rick

  Doors, May, Littles

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• It is pretty hard to find the right result to a controversial issue.

  Max Baucus

  Issues, Results, Controversy

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• It's really easy to avoid the tabloids. You just live your life and don't hang out with famous people who are in the tabloids. Don't do anything controversial and be a normal person. Have friends. And get a job and keep working.

  Amanda Seyfried

  Jobs, Inspiration, Humor

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• If men were equally at risk from this condition - if they knew their bellies might swell as if they were suffering from end-stage cirrhosis, that they would have to go nearly a year without a stiff drink, a cigarette, or even an aspirin, that they would be subject to fainting spells and unable to fight their way onto commuter trains - then I am sure that pregnancy would be classified as a sexually transmitted disease and abortions would be no more controversial than emergency appendectomies.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Pregnancy, Fighting, Men

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• The question is, and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer, is that human life a person under the constitution. And Barack Obama says no. Well, if that person, human life, is not a person, then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say no, we're going to decide who our people, and who are not people.

  Rick Santorum

  Men, People, Black

  Anderson Cooper 360°, transcripts.cnn.com. January 4, 2012.

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• All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis, they're not Palestinians. There is no 'Palestinian.' This is Israeli land.

  Rick Santorum

  Land, People, West

  "Santorum: ‘All The People Who Live In The West Bank Are Israelis’". Conversation during a campaign stop in Iowa, thinkprogress.org. November 21, 2011.

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• I'm controversial. My friends either dislike me or hate me

  Oscar Levant

  Hate, Dislike Me, My Friends

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• At any rate, when a subject is highly controversial-and any question about sex is that-one cannot hope to tell the truth. One can only show how one came to hold whatever opinion one does hold.

  Virginia Woolf

  Sex, Doe, Opinion

  Virginia Woolf (2015). “A Room of One's Own (Annotated)”, p.4, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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