Top 100 Contrary To Quotes
#1. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love, or which oppose and thwart us in those things that we delight in.
Jonathan Edwards
#2. That a joint stock company should be able to carry on successfully any branch of foreign trade, when private adventurers can come into any sort of open and fair competition with them, seems contrary to all experience.
Adam Smith
#3. Working conditions for me have always been those of the monastic life: solitude and frugality. Except for frugality, they are contrary to my nature, so much so that work is a violence I do to myself.
Albert Camus
#4. Anxiety is a sign that you have made up a story contrary to reality. Love does not fear.
Alan Cohen
#5. Contrary to many young Colleagues, I do believe that it makes sense to study the Classics.
Magnus Carlsen
#6. Listening to people espouse beliefs different from mine is informative, not threatening, because the only thing that can alter my worldview is a new and undeniable truth, and contrary to what Jack Nicholson says in 'A Few Good Men', I CAN handle the truth.
Michael J. Fox
#7. Whoever digs at verse must renounce all idols; he has to break with everything.
He cannot have truth for his horizon, or the future as his element, for he has no right to hope. He
has, on the contrary, to despair. Whoever delves into verse dies; he encounters his death as an
abyss.
Maurice Blanchot
#8. In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the Sages.
Swami Brahmananda
#9. And contrary to popular kindergarten doctrine, talk to as many strangers as possible.
Tim Sullivan
#10. Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any Manner contrary to their conscience.
James Madison
#11. The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God; the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.
Thomas Aquinas
#12. We find other people's vanity contrary to our taste only when it is contrary to our vanity.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#13. We'd do well to remember that at the end of the day, the law doesn't defend us; we defend the law. And when it becomes contrary to our morals, we have both the right and the responsibility to rebalance it toward just ends.
Edward Snowden
#14. Intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason.
C. G. Jung
#15. I will not yield to any man contrary to what is right, for fear of death, even if I should die at once for not yielding.
Socrates
#16. Neither by nature, therefore, nor contrary to nature are the virtues present; they are instead present in us who are of such a nature as to receive them, and who are completed1 through habit.
Aristotle.
#17. The cult of happiness turns into a huge concern which to my opinion is exactly contrary to what happiness should be: a paradise of enchantment.
Pascal Bruckner
#18. It is contrary to the will of God to eat delicate food hastily.
Zhang Zhao
#19. It is manifestly contrary to the law of nature, however defined, that a handful of people should gorge themselves with superfluities while the hungry majority goes in need of necessities.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
#20. His will cannot be neutral or 'free' to act contrary to his nature.
Charles Spurgeon
#21. The grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit.
J.I. Packer
#22. Jesus' idea of blessing is completely contrary to ours. It has nothing to do with what we have, and everything to do with who we are.
Cole Ryan
#23. Contrary to the outstanding work of art, outstanding theory is susceptible to improvements.
Karl Popper
#24. If there existed no external means for dimming their consciences, one-half of the men would at once shoot themselves, because to live contrary to one's reason is a most intolerable state, and all men of our time are in such a state.
Leo Tolstoy
#25. The angel told her, An honest man who committed a crime, you have no idea how many honest men have committed crimes, their crimes are countless, and contrary to popular belief these are the only crimes that cannot be forgiven.
Jose Saramago
#26. We strive to further the occurrence of whatever we imagine will lead to Joy, and to avert or destroy what we imagine is contrary to it, or will lead to Sadness.
Baruch Spinoza
#27. I believe that the testing of the student's achievements in order to see if he meets some criterion held by the teacher, is directly contrary to the implications of therapy for significant learning.
Carl Rogers
#28. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.
Aldous Huxley
#29. Not a desire, act, wish, or thought does the Holy Ghost indulge in contrary to that which is dictated by the Father
Brigham Young
#30. Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It's something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
#31. Our object should not be to have scripture on our side but to be on the side of scripture; and however dear any sentiment may have become by being long entertained, so soon as it is seen to be contrary to the Bible, we must be prepared to abandon it without hesitation.
William Symington
#32. It is good to know something of the customs of different people in order to judge more soundly of our own, and so that we might not think that all that which is contrary to our own ways be ridiculous and contrary to reason, as those who have seen nothing have the habit of doing.
Rene Descartes
#33. Nothing in the Shastra, which is manifestly contrary to universal truths and morals, can stand.
Mahatma Gandhi
#34. Definitions, contrary to popular opinion, tell us nothing about things. They only describe people's linguistic habits; that is, they tell us what noises people make under what conditions.
S.I. Hayakawa
#35. Information ... exhausts itself in the staging of meaning ... [and leads] not at all to a surfeit of innovation but to the very contrary, to total entropy
Jean Baudrillard
#36. Marriage by now seemed to me an institution that, contrary to what one might think, stripped coitus of all humanity.
Elena Ferrante
#37. Contrary to common assumption, many of the wealthiest Americans aren't worried about the weakening economy at all. They are actually excited about it.
Jamie Johnson
#38. In the beginning, Adam was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his brow - not Eve. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a mother's place is in the home!
Ezra Taft Benson
#39. Contrary to popular belief, editors and agents are gagging for good books.
Meg Rosoff
#40. Contrary to what most women think, men want a lot more than just sex. A man wants to make a difference in a woman's life and make her happy.
Linda Alfiori
#41. Contrary to economists' beliefs, the informal sectors of the world's economies, in total, are predominant, and the institutionalized, monetized sectors grow out of them and rest upon them, rather than the reverse.
Hazel Henderson
#42. The naturalists of yore esteemed the ocean to be a treasury of wonders, and sought therein for monstrosities and organisms contrary to the law of nature, such as they interpreted it.
Edward Forbes
#43. Let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's power; direct it only to things in man's power that are contrary to nature.
Epictetus
#44. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful; make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to the nature of the child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes, are to any of us.
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham And Vaux
#45. 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
#46. Contrary to what certain governments say, human rights are universal. Arbitrary detention, torture and discrimination hurt the human dignity of anybody, whatever his or her country of origin, religion, descent, or any other ground.
Shirin Ebadi
#47. Contrary to popular opinion, the Constitution was not - and is not - a grant of rights to the citizenry. Instead, the Constitution is a "barbed-wire entanglement" designed to interfere with, restrict, and impede government officials in the exercise of political power.
Jacob G. Hornberger
#48. The statements of certain western officials show that contrary to their absurd claims, westerners are disqualified, and impetuous, lacking any cultural background.
Hamid-Reza Assefi
#49. The syllogism art for art's sake refers to that kind of painting which disregards, or is contrary to, public taste.
Walter J. Phillips
#50. Contrary to what people may say, there's no upper limit to stupidity.
Stephen Colbert
#51. The patient's autonomy always, always should be respected, even if it is absolutely contrary - the decision is contrary to best medical advice and what the physician wants.
Jack Kevorkian
#52. Contrary to popular wisdom, knowledge is not power - it's potential power. Knowledge is not mastery. Execution is mastery. Execution will trump knowledge every day of the week.
Anthony Robbins
#53. Libertarianism is a way of measuring how the government and other kinds of systems respect the individual. At the core of libertarianism is the idea that the individual is sacrosanct and that anything that's done contrary to the well-being of the individual needs some pretty serious justification.
P. J. O'Rourke
#54. Socialism cannot function, because its economic reward structure is contrary to human nature.
Frans De Waal
#55. Alleged commitment to democracy and human rights is mere rhetoric, directly contrary to actual policy.
Noam Chomsky
#56. Will you be wanting to contest the divorce?" I asked Mrs. Davis. "I should think not," she said calmly, "although I suppose on of us should, for the fun of the thing. An uncontested divorce always seems to me contrary to the spirit of divorce.
Donald Barthelme
#57. The issues we hear Donald Trump talking about are just so contrary to who we are as a people. They are an affront and an insult to our higher angels and our best selves.
Cory Booker
#58. Lastly (4) in each of his infinite bodies there would be already present infinite flesh and blood and brain - having a distinct existence, however, from one another, and no less real than the infinite bodies, and each infinite: which is contrary to reason.
Aristotle.
#59. Social justice is collectivism. Social justice is the rights of a group. It denies individual responsibility. It's a negation of individual responsibility, so social justice is totally contrary to the Word of God.
Ted Cruz
#60. Her hot attire did not signify promiscuity - contrary to the consensual interpretation of the other male teachers - but a kind of nostalgia: this was what she used to wear when she was happy, when she used to live the normal
Aleksandar Hemon
#61. Contrary to the common misconception that loving yourself equates to being self-absorbed and lacking empathy or consideration for others, the true meaning of self-love is about caring, respecting and knowing yourself, taking responsibility for your life, and ultimately, your happiness.
Miya Yamanouchi
#62. and fulfillment come from engaging in activities that are productive and you enjoy doing. Contrary to popular belief, relaxing does not bring lasting joy.
Alex Foster
#63. I think women have made progress in cinematography, contrary to women directors, who I think have regressed. There are many more women cinematographers than when I started.
Maryse Alberti
#64. Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.
Epictetus
#65. We are wont to condemn self-love; but what we really mean to condemn is contrary to self-love. It is that mixture of selfishness and self-hate that permanently pursues us, that prevents us from loving others, and that prohibits us from losing ourselves.
Paul Valery
#66. It is not cowardly, quite the contrary, to seek to meet the adversary and know his intentions. However, it is cowardly, shameful and treasonable to lay down arms.
King Hassan II
#67. Catholicism is contrary to human liberty. Catholicism bases salvation upon belief. Catholicism teaches man to trample his reason under foot. And for that reason it is wrong.
Robert Green Ingersoll
#68. I'm half Scottish, half Welsh and I regard red hair as perfectly ordinary. And to set the record straight, contrary to reports, he has never referred to himself as the 'Ginger Ninja'.
Helen McCrory
#69. No quality of human nature is more remarkable, both in itself and in its consequences, than that propensity we have to sympathize with others, and to receive by communication their inclinations and sentiments, however different from, or even contrary to our own.
David Hume
#70. And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. The Prince, XVIII, 5
Niccolo Machiavelli
#71. Contrary to what is commonly believed, all murderers are men of extreme faith rather than unbelievers.
Orhan Pamuk
#72. I don't want to be a dictator, because it is contrary to my own conscience. I am a democrat, but I don't desire democratic liberalism. On the contrary, I want a guided democracy ... I have a conception of my own, which I will put at the disposal of the party leaders if required.
Sukarno
#73. Faith is not contrary to the usual ideas, something that turns out to be right or wrong, like a gambler's bet.
Joanna Russ
#74. If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
#75. Perversion is considered a biological abnormality rather than a sin. These things are contrary to the teaching of God's Word. And God has not changed. His standards have not been lowered. God still calls immorality a sin and the Bible says God is going to judge it.
Billy Graham
#76. Freedom of speech is central to most every other right that we hold dear in the United States and serves to strengthen the democracy of our great country. It is unfortunate, then, when actions occur that might be interpreted as contrary to this honored tenet.
Sam Farr
#77. Knowing that all things contrary to God's laws are transient, let us avoid despair and radiate hope for a warless world.
Peace Pilgrim
#78. Value all books in proportion as they are agreeable to Scripture. Those that are nearest to it are the best, and those that are farthest from it, and most contrary to it, the worst.
J.C. Ryle
#79. For men may prove and use their friends, as the poet expresses it, usque ad aras, meaning that a friend should not be required to act contrary to the law of God.
Miguel De Cervantes
#80. Contrary to the ecologists, nature does not stand still and does not maintain the kind of equilibrium that guarantees the survival of any particular species - least of all the survival of her greatest and most fragile product: man.
Ayn Rand
#81. Contrary to what we've been taught, genes do not determine physical and character traits on their own. Rather, they interact with the environment in a dynamic, ongoing process that produces and continually refines an individual
David Shenk
#82. If our subject persuades himself to believe contrary to the evidence in order to evade, somehow, the unpleasant truth to which he has already seen that the evidence points, then and only then is he clearly a self-deceiver.
Herbert Fingarette
#83. Contrary to popular belief, the Loch Ness Monster is not a dinosaur
it's a huge mutant duck, a top researcher claims ... Most mainstream Nessie researchers consider Gluber's duck theory to be horse feathers and are trying to blast it out of the water.
Murphy J. Foster Jr.
#84. No truly conscious human being sabotages himself - it's impossible, because it's contrary to Nature.
Guy Finley
#85. The truth is paradoxical to the extent of being exactly contrary to the usual perception.
Georges Bataille
#86. Allowing yourself to be a conduit
for opportunity requires a brand new outlook on life. Lady fortune
cannot enter a locked door, you know. And contrary to that wellknown
saying, she has rarely been known to knock
Chris Murray
#87. Contrary to previous assumptions, maternal depression can also manifest in a myriad of ways, many far different from what some might consider traditional depressive symptoms, including psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other anxiety disorders.
Kimberly McCreight
#88. Atheism in not simply beyond reason, it is contrary to reason.
Dave Hunt
#89. Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.
Thomas Perry
#90. To fill the fathomless caverns of my thirsty soul I must work entirely contrary to impulses of my own humanity, for it is in emptying myself at the very point where I am most empty that I fill myself.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
#91. Contrary to popular belief," Gretchen grumbled. "It's creepy to watch a girl while she sleeps."
Clint shrugged and smiled. "Sorry, I guess I should've just woken you up.
Aria Kane
#92. There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery
Enrico Fermi
#93. A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law.
John Marshall
#94. Thus the will to power strives towards oppositions, towards displeasure. There is a will to suffering at the foundation of all organic life (contrary to "happiness" as "goal").
Friedrich Nietzsche
#95. If someone is brought in for an interview, for example, and is asked about their views on things, but has posted things that are completely contrary to the interview, frankly I have much more faith in what they posted than what they say during the course of an interview.
Adam Schiff
#97. Most are deceived by and drawn to behavior and things that seem right, good, and wise but are contrary to His wisdom.
John Bevere
#98. Analysts may be correct that the presidential election won't primarily turn on entitlements reform, but by choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney can, contrary to conventional wisdom, make it a winning issue and lay the foundation for a reform mandate when he wins.
David Limbaugh
#99. Man is neither by birth nor disposition a savage, nor of unsocial habits, but only becomes so by indulging in vices contrary to his nature.
Plutarch
#100. God will never lead contrary to His word - so get acquainted with the Word of God, the Bible. Pray. He leads through the illumination of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Use whatever you have and be faithful. We are called to serve Christ in our sphere of influence.
Billy Graham
