Contradictions Quotes

I think wholeness is God's design for us;
and that often amounts to embracing contradictions.
- Bono

Related topics: Wisdom

I love the contradictions of people
- Jewel

We are composed of self-contradictions.
Each of us is loving in some moments - hateful in others.
Patient and calm sometimes - harried by urgency at others.
Understanding - and self-absorbed.
Reassuring - and sarcastic.
Generous - and greedy.
Trusting - and jealous.
Comforting - and snappish.
Original - and stuck in a rut.
Thankful - and needy.
Forgiving - and vengeful.
Nurturing ourself - and stuffing ourself with fast food.
Honoring our bodies - and overstressing.
Being Joyful - and Suffering.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It cannot be wisdom to assert the truth of one faith over another.
In our troubled world so full of contradictions,
the wise person makes justice his guide and learns from all.
- Akbar the Great (1542-1605)

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Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A contradiction can not exist in reality.
Not in part, nor in whole.
- Terry Goodkind

Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession
as they torment us with their loss.
- Epicurus

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
- Marianne Williamson

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
- Lao Tzu

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Lord, grant that I might not so much
seek to be loved as to love.
- St. Francis of Assisi

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu

Life is not supposed to be fair.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To the people who love you,
you are beautiful already.
This is not because they're
blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
- Khalil Gibran

Stand Tall, Stand Proud.
Know that you are unique and magnificent.
You do not need the approval of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do not blame the thistle that you see no beauty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
- Chinese Proverb

A ship in harbor is safe -
but that is not what ships are for.
- John A. Shedd

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore

The world is perfect. It's a mess.
It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

One does not discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
- Andre Gide

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary

You do not need anyone's permission to be your true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The true meaning of life is to plant trees,
under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
- Nelson Henderson

I am not afraid of storms
for I am learning how to sail my ship.
- Louisa May Alcott

Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius

We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past,
but by the love we're not extending in the present.
- Marianne Williamson

A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing,
of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear,
and not bothering.
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

The mind is not a vessel to be filled
but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
- George Eliot

Love means not ever having to say you're sorry.
- Erich Segal

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly,
"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

I am not a slave to my thoughts or emotions.
- Richard Carlson

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- The Buddha

The ache for home lives in all of us,
the safe place where we can
go as we are and not be questioned.
- Maya Angelou

Treat those who are good with goodness,
and also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
Be honest to those who are honest,
and be also honest to those who are not honest.
Thus honesty is attained.
- Lao Tzu

When dealing with people, remember you are
not dealing with creatures of logic,
but creatures of emotion.
- Dale Carnegie

I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Am I not destroying my enemies
when I make friends of them?
- Abraham Lincoln

The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde

The essence of life is not in
the great victories and grand failures,
but in the simple joys.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves
that all of life is not black and white.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
- Anne Bradstreet

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition,
is not only a waste of energy
but the worst habit you could possibly have.
- Dale Carnegie

One can not reflect in streaming water.
Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
- Lao Tzu

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The possession of knowledge does not
kill the sense of wonder and mystery.
There is always more mystery.
- Anais Nin

Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Do not let Sunday be taken from you.
If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.
- Albert Schweitzer

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
- Louisa May Alcott

Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth.
Breathe deep, sing loud and sweet,
"I am me, I am unique, I am magnificent."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You will not be punished for your anger,
you will be punished by your anger.
- The Buddha

The beauty does not live out there;
the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.
- Soren Kierkegaard

"It's not that important,
don't worry about it" is the answer,
now what was the question?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If we let things terrify us,
life will not be worth living.
- Seneca

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Where fear is, happiness is not.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Things are only impossible until they're not.
- Jean-Luc Picard, character in STAR TREK: The Next Generation

Merely to avoid harming others is not enough.
Earn your place in this world by doing good.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I find hope in the darkest of days,
and focus in the brightest.
I do not judge the universe.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Do not anticipate trouble,
or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.
- Benjamin Franklin

Love is like a beautiful flower
which I may not touch,
but whose fragrance makes the garden
a place of delight just the same.
- Helen Keller

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new
continents and worlds within you,
opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
- Henry David Thoreau

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants.
The question is: What are we busy about?
- Henry David Thoreau

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,
but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero

If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you are not afraid of dying,
there is nothing you cannot achieve.
- Lao Tzu

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May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie