Quotes About Opponents

#1. I still believe the Lewinsky investigation was way off from the focus of what Whitewater was, which turned out to be nothing at the end of the process. And I think that there were people who were determined as political opponents to not allow his presidency to succeed.

Rahm Emanuel

#2. Despite the negativity coming from the President's opponents, the United States remains fully committed to assisting the Iraqis in restoring security and rebuilding their nation.

Craig L. Thomas

#3. An opponent is entitled to the same regard for his principles as we would expect others to have for ours. Non-violence demands that we should see every opportunity to win over opponents.

Mahatma Gandhi

#4. Men who are engaged in public life must necessarily aim at reducing opposition to a minimum, and one of the most obvious means to that end is by misrepresenting, discrediting or ruining their opponents.

Frederick Scott Oliver

#5. Never let us do wrong, because our opponents did so. Let us, rather, by doing right, show them what they ought to have done, and establish a rule the dictates of reason and conscience, rather than of the angry passions.

James Joyce

#6. It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.

Thomas Jefferson

#7. Einstein was arguing against quantum theory just as irrationally as his opponents had argued against relativity theory. Einstein remained adamant (he remained adamant to the end of his life where quantum theory was concerned).

Richard Rhodes

#8. You often see in Washington those who disagree you described as stupid or evil. It's one of the most unfortunate trends of modern political discourse. Portraying opponents as too dumb to know the truth but smart enough and wanting people to suffer.

Ted Cruz

#9. My opponents attitude is, 'If it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it and when it stops, subsidize it.

Rob Simmons

#10. I might not have had the tools at my disposal that my opponents had, but I created advantages of my own.

Ronda Rousey

#11. The Taoists realised that all opposites aren't opponents that must clash but are part of a dynamic balance of existence, necessary to create and sustain life.

Mark Forstater

#12. If supporters of equality for women want to vote for the best candidate, they must look to a person regardless of gender and must disregard the gender of political opponents.

Karen DeCrow

#13. For too long, opponents of the PATRIOT Act have transformed this law into a grossly distorted caricature that bears no relation to the legislation itself.

Jim Sensenbrenner

#14. There are so many tough opponents out there and tough competitors so I've never liked to look ahead.

Caroline Wozniacki

#15. [T]he great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement.

Harrison Schmitt

#16. Each party profited by the offices when in power," Roosevelt explained, "and when in opposition each party insincerely denounced its opponents for doing exactly what it itself had done and intended again to do.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

#17. The task is not to overcome opponents in general but only those opponents against whom one has to summon all one's strength, one's skill and one's swordsmanship-in fact to master opponents who are one's equals.

Friedrich Nietzsche

#18. Throughout his life, General Wesley Clark has stood up to some tough opponents. He battled the Viet Cong, and went toe-to-toe with Slobodan Milosevic. But today the retired four-star general capitulated to the fiercest enemy he's ever confronted: the American voter.

Jon Stewart

#19. The opponents of this process have always tried to vilify westernization as a poor imitation.

Orhan Pamuk

#20. People ask if I hate my opponents; I don't. I love them. They are the ones that actually make me bring the best I have.

Renzo Gracie

#21. I was speaking within the confines of this specific event, the Brexit vote. The opponents are gonna blame everything that happens on the vote, and they're gonna have the media with them for the most part. It's gonna be a great thing to watch, lesson-wise.

Rush Limbaugh

#22. When you fear a foe, fear crushes your strength; and this weakness gives strength to your opponents.

William Shakespeare

#23. The worse the coming future, the more it should motivate its opponents.

Leonard Peikoff

#24. Opponents of U.S. sanctions have made 'unilateral sanctions' their special target. They argue that sanctions observed by many nations would be much more effective. True enough. Far better for trade with an outlaw regime to be restricted by many nations than by just one.

Elliott Abrams

#25. Opponents are working very hard to defeat us. Let's not do it for them by defeating ourselves from within.

John Wooden

#26. I don't think of my opponents in the sense that I don't think of them consciously, I don't steer it one way or the other.

David Cross

#27. We are going to wreak havoc on our opponents' psyche and their plan of attack,

Shaka

#28. In the end it's the big picture which changes nations and whatever our opponents may say, Australia's changed inexorably for good, for the better.

Paul Keating

#29. People who flush easily become even more agitated when they feel themselves getting hot under the collar, and they quickly lose to their opponents.

Anne Frank

#30. I've spent so much time making sure I don't underestimate my opponents that I've forgotten it's just as dangerous to overestimate them as well.

Suzanne Collins

#31. It should also be remembered that art created to change minds often actually does more to bolster the spirit of those already in agreement than it does to convert opponents.

Steve Turner

#32. The point of a presidential campaign is to put the candidate through the ringer: to force him to get banged up by his opponents and the press, and to have to answer the difficult and uncomfortable questions, be investigated, and learn the thrust and parry of political swordplay.

Monica Crowley

#33. I like to be confident, absolutely not cocky, and I like to have that healthy fear of my opponents. It keeps me on my toes.

Cat Zingano

#34. The Mandrill with his multicolored wonder ass that he used to bedazzle opponents.

Michael Chabon

#35. It's important to respect both your teammates and your opponents. Friendships can make a victory last forever.

James Koven

#36. Politics is like boxing - you try to knock out your opponents.

Idi Amin

#37. The Block were not his enemy any more than the terror groups had been, however. They were just opponents in someone's obscene game of chess. It was stupid for a knight to hate a pawn just because it flew a different flag.

Evan Currie

#38. If you do not regard feminism with an uplifting sense of the gloriousness of woman's industrial destiny, or in the way, in short, that it is prescribed, by the rules of the political publicist, that you should, that will be interpreted by your opponents as an attack on woman.

Wyndham Lewis

#39. The path of love has many opponents - fear, self-pity, anxiety, hate, lust, greed, avarice - all the usual freinds.

Frederick Lenz

#40. The fact that abortion is still a taboo subject means that opponents of abortion get to define it however suits them best.

Lindy West

#41. Sarcasm is a manifestation of anger, and anger can make you the puppet of your opponents.

Wayne Gerard Trotman

#42. A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself

Jan Smuts

#43. I do not have any fears, no fear of dying, of failure, of anything; that means I am very dangerous for my opponents.

Imran Khan

#44. One of the principles of nonviolence is that you leave your opponents whole and better off than you found them.

Andrew Young

#45. I don't defeat my opponents, they defeat themselves.

Helio Gracie

#46. On the positive side, a strong sense of comradely loyalty triggers genuine affection and friendship. On the negative side, it may strengthen contempt for the lives of opponents and, of course, the loss of a comrade may be followed by even greater brutality in battle.

Nel Noddings

#47. I don't care very much for miniatures. I don't try to beat my opponents quickly because if they are strong, I think I should respect them. It is too risky to play sharply to beat them in 20 moves.

Bent Larsen

#48. Strength comes from ignoring your critics.
Power comes from mastering your fears.
Fortitude comes from wrestling your opponents.
Superiority comes from overcoming your losses.
Greatness comes from conquering your weaknesses.

Matshona Dhliwayo

#49. Being involved in competition is a privilege and an opportunity. Seek to make the most of that opportunity by pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities. When it is over, you will have earned the respect of your opponents, your coaches, and yourself.

Tony La Russa

#50. We feel that the 2-2-1 press is a very effective means of controlling tempo and providing us with opportunities to capitalize on the mistakes of our opponents. At the same time we feel it is a very safe press because we work very hard at the necessary rotations.

Jim Calhoun

#51. If religious people deny paradise to their opponents or to 'non-believers,' atheists would likewise seek to eliminate 'dangerous' believers with their 'childish' ways and their heads in the clouds.

Tariq Ramadan

#52. Max Planck, surveying his own career in his Scientific Autobiography, sadly remarked that "a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."8

Thomas S. Kuhn

#53. The opponents of perestroika had suffered a defeat, and then they organized the coup.

Mikhail Gorbachev

#54. Apropos this election season, America is the home of:

"Despicable trickery at elections; under-handed tamperings with public officers; and cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for shields, and hired pens for daggers.

Charles Dickens

#55. Taking a principled and consistent stance over Iraq has attracted much criticism from our detractors and opponents.

Charles Kennedy

#56. Often dismissed or underestimated by political opponents, President Reagan had the most valuable weapon in the political arsenal: a bond with the people.

William L. Jenkins

#57. He was the guy who always won the game of chicken because his opponents suspected he might actually enjoy a head-on collision.

Michael Lewis

#58. Believers should be more concerned for God's opinion of them than for what human opponents might do to their bodies.

Max Anders

#59. You have to be willing to out-condition your opponents.

Bear Bryant

#60. All religions are ultimately cargo cults. Adherents perform required rituals, follow specific rules, and expect to be supernaturally gifted with desired rewards long life, honor, wisdom, children, good health, wealth, victory over opponents, immortality after death, any desired rewards.

Octavia Butler

#61. Ellen could have killed me," Jack said quietly, "but she didn't. She saved my life."
"How come?" Fitch demanded. "After all this?"
Ellen turned scarlet and stared at the ground. "Maybe none of my opponents ever gave me flowers before," she mumbled.

Cinda Williams Chima

#62. True ahimsa should wear a smile even on a deathbed brought about by an assailant. It is only with that ahimsa that we can befriend our opponents and win their love.

Mahatma Gandhi

#63. Unfortunately, opponents of online speech have decided to punish our changing technological world.

Dennis Hastert

#64. Hamas, the opponents of Arafat, the opponents of peace, urged a boycott of the election, and yet there was an 85 percent turnout where Hamas is supposed to be strong. Isn't that really quite incredible?

Warren Christopher

#65. Your opponents would love you to believe that it's hopeless, that you have no power, that there's no reason to act, that you can't win. Hope is a gift you don't have to surrender, a power you don't have to throw away.

Rebecca Solnit

#66. The toughest opponents to defend are Iverson, Marbury and Payton. They are all very talented and can shoot at anytime from anywhere.

Steve Nash

#67. My job as Labour Home Secretary is to ensure people are prepared to listen to us when we take on our opponents across the political spectrum.

David Blunkett

#68. The New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media will only refer to partial birth abortion as 'what its opponents refer to as partial birth abortions.' What do its supporters call it? Casual Fridays? Bean-with-bacon potato chip dip? Uh ... Steve?

Ann Coulter

#69. The basic premise of my system is to fatigue your opponents with constant pressure defensively and constant movement offensively.

Rick Pitino

#70. Instead of 'counterrevolutionaries,' liberals' opponents are called 'haters,' 'those who seek to divide us,' 'tea baggers,' and 'right-wing hate groups.' Meanwhile, conservatives call liberals 'liberals'-and that makes them testy.

Ann Coulter

#71. We become distracted from productive labors by our perceived opponents; we become focused on them and not on our larger calling to advance our nation; our debate becomes more about scoring points against an adversary and less about advancing our common cause.

Cory Booker

#72. Be honest, Look for areas where you can admit error and say so. Apologize for your mistakes. It will help disarm your opponents and reduce defensiveness.

Dale Carnegie

#73. Lissa knelt down, compassion on her face. I wasn't surprised, since she'd always had a thing for animals. She'd lectured me for days after I'd instigated the infamous hamster-and-hermit-crab fight. I'd viewed the fight as a testing of worthy opponents. She'd seen it as animal cruelty.

Richelle Mead

#74. You cannot be sure that you are right unless you understand the arguments against your views better than your opponents do.

Milton Friedman

#75. Fischer was a master of clarity and a king of artful positioning. His opponents would see where he was going but were powerless to stop him

Bruce Pandolfini

#76. Associational ad hominem attacks remain the left's favorite rhetorical strategy for undermining opponents.

Jonah Goldberg

#77. There are many games I love to play. Which one I put on the table depends on the mood and the level of experience of my opponents; I don't have a clear favorite.

Klaus Teuber

#78. All of West Ham's away victories have come on opponents' territory this season

Rob Hawthorne

#79. I don't look at computers as opponents. For me it is much more interesting to beat humans.

Magnus Carlsen

#80. What an eternal art it is
such a glittery delightful art
finding hard names for our opponents! How we do sanctify our efforts to keep them from getting the holy dollars we want for ourselves!

Sinclair Lewis

#81. But in the end it's still a game of golf, and if at the end of the day you can't shake hands with your opponents and still be friends, then you've missed the point.

Payne Stewart

#82. A good book is made better by good readers and clearer by good opponents.

Friedrich Nietzsche

#83. As long as one does not call his own position into question but regards it as absolute, while interpreting his opponents' ideas as a mere function of the social positions they occupy, the decisive step forward has not yet been taken.

Karl Mannheim

#84. Afghans cherish custom but abhor rules. And so it was with kite fighting. The rules were simple: No rules. Fly your kite. Cute the opponents. Good luck.

Khaled Hosseini

#85. Our opponents say more children are living in poverty than when we came into office. And that's probably right.

John Key

#86. We must protect the right of our opponents to speak because we must hear what they have to say.

Walter Lippmann

#87. I try not to underestimate my opponents, no matter how ridiculous their beards.

Derek Landy

#88. No doubt it was "unenlightened" of the crusaders to have been typical medieval warriors, but it seems even more unenlightened to anachronistically impose the Geneva Conventions on the crusaders while pretending that their Islamic opponents were innocent victims.

Rodney Stark

#89. Democrats always like to brag that their guys are smarter than the opponents and Republicans always like to brag that their guys are more moral than the opponents. But if you're looking for morals in politics you're looking for bananas in the cheese department.

Harry Shearer

#90. I've been outspent by my opponents every time I've run for U.S. Senate.

Russ Feingold

#91. When the meal was over we all had a quiet rest in our rooms and I meditated on the race. This is the time when an athlete feels all alone in the big world. Opponents assume tremendous stature. Any runner who denies having fears, nerves or some kind of disposition is a bad athlete, or a liar.

Gordon Pirie

#92. The very best that can happen is to have energetic opponents. The more extreme they become, the more powerful the reaction they will have to face.

Jostein Gaarder

#93. Parker Brothers tried to introduce a German version of Risk, the board game in which players try to dominate a map of the world, the German government tried to censor it. (Eventually the rules were rewritten so that players were "liberating" rather than conquering their opponents' territories.)

Steven Pinker

#94. The issue is not whether I agree with someone but rather how I treat someone with whom I profoundly disagree. We Christians are called to use the "weapons of grace," which means treating even our opponents with love and respect.

Philip Yancey

#95. The best way to intimidate your opponents is with your brilliance.

Matshona Dhliwayo

#96. We must be ever courteous and patient with those who do not see eye to eye with us. We must resolutely refuse to consider our opponents as enemies.

Mahatma Gandhi

#97. Oh, diplomacy," said M.D., in his element, "it mops up war's spillages; legitimizes its outcomes; gives the strong state the means to impose its will on a weaker one, while saving its fleets and battalions for weightier opponents.

David Mitchell

#98. Don't divide the world into 'them' and 'us.' Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours.

Donald Rumsfeld

#99. Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents.

Ernst Otto Fischer

#100. Our party cannot be all things to all people. It can't be. Our loudest opponents on the left are never going to like us so let's stop trying to curry favor with them.

Rick Perry