140 Contrary Quotes

Following is our list of contrary quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about contrary to belief.

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Famous Contrary Quotes

Opposites are not contradictory but complementary. — Niels Bohr

A contrarian isn’t one who always objects — that’s a conformist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently, from the ground up, and resists pressure to conform. — Naval Ravikant

One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Since I'm a contrarian, I don't want to go along with what everyone else thinks. — Akira Toriyama

Being a contrarian is not about going against the crowd for the sake of it; it is about independent thinking and having a solid rationale for your beliefs. — Gautam Baid

The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself. — Peter Thiel

Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. — Mandy Hale

The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves. — Oscar Wilde

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead. — Aldous Huxley

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd. — Baruch Spinoza

Success lies in the opposite direction of the normal pull. — Jim Rohn

There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction. — Franz Kafka

Paradoxical, things that seem obvious, broad consensus — Howard Marks

Watch what everyone else does--do the opposite. The majority is always wrong. — Earl Nightingale

Ideation is not a synonym for innovation, conformity is not its simple antonym, and innovation is not the automatic consequence of "creative thinking.". — Theodore Levitt

Short Contrary Quotes

  • There is more to sex appeal than just measurements — Audrey Hepburn
  • If a future Pope teaches anything contrary to the Catholic Faith, do not follow him. — Pope Pius IX
  • True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher. — J. PetitSenn
  • Don't fall asleep yet. Contrary to popular belief, that's not where dreams get accomplished. — George Watsky
  • Contrary to popular belief, Americans don't hate advertising. — Roy H. Williams
  • Contrary to what they tell you... You are not a limited material being. — Amit Goswami
  • Contrary to popular belief, English women do not wear tweed nightgowns. — Hermione Gingold
  • Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ. — James Madison
  • Fear and I were old buddies, despite my best efforts to the contrary. — Peter Straub
  • Inaction, contrary to its reputation for being a refuge, is neither safe nor comfortable. — Madeleine M. Kunin
Contrary quote Patience is not passive, on the contrary it is concentrated strength.
Patience is not passive, on the contrary it is concentrated strength.

Contrary to popular opinion, listening is not a passive activity. It is the most active thing you can do. — Chris Voss

Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a new dance step - it is an old business procedure. — Fran Lebowitz

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

Contrary quote Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

Make notes—I’ve lost more material than I’ve ever written. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not still up there in one’s brain. It’s in outer space and it ain’t coming back. — Judith Guest

Contrary to popular opinion, even totalitarian dictatorships are dependent on the population and the societies they rule. — Gene Sharp

Contrary to popular opinion, classical music does not have to be enjoyed amid exclusive circles, there need not be any snobbishness attached to it. It's there for everyone. I play for the people. — Andre Rieu

Contrary to popular cable TV-induced opinion, aerobics have nothing to do with squeezing our body into hideous shiny Spandex, grinning like a deranged orangutan, and doing cretinous steps to debauched disco music. — Cynthia Heimel

Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a new dance step -- it is an old business procedure. — Fran Lebowitz

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

Contrary to popular opinion, 'Leave it to Beaver' was not a documentary. — Stephanie Coontz

Contrary To Belief Quotes

Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. — Paul McCartney

Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs. — Edgard Varese

Contrary to popular belief, we are not doomed. This is statistically the best time to be alive, ever. — Peter Diamandis

Miracles, contrary to popular belief, do not just happen. A miracle is the achievement of the impossible, and it is only when we put aside out greed, anger, pride and prejudice so that our minds are open and ready to accept it, that a miracle can occur. — Julie Andrews

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not promiscuous. There does seem to be a mistaken belief out there that I am sexually available somehow — which is not to say that I'm not open-minded about sex. — Scarlett Johansson

To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the prerogative of mindlessness, but the exact opposite: It is the reward of self-esteem. — Nathaniel Branden

Contrary to the general belief about photography, you don't need bright sunlight: the best moodiest pictures are taken in the dim light of almost dusk, or of rainy days. — Jack Kerouac

I don't think people understand that being poor means you have to work from dawn until dusk just to survive through the day. I think there's some notion that poor people lie about all day not doing anything. — Emma Thompson

Contrary to popular belief, we (millennials) can't be won back with hipper worship bands, fancy coffee shops, or pastors who wear skinny jeans. — Rachel Held Evans

Contrary to popular belief, resilience isn’t something that only a select few are born with. — Paul Jarvis

Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is acting in spite of fear. — James Neil Hollingworth

Contrary to popular belief. It's much wiser to take money from the poor than the rich. — Mike Royko

Anyone can achieve something important. Contrary to popular belief, the key is not hard work, but finding the right thing to achieve. — Ernie J Zelinski

I'm not particularly fond of kissing strange men-contrary to popular belief. — Madonna Ciccone

The world is not ready for some people when they show up, but that shouldn't stop anyone. — Ashly Lorenzana

Contrary to popular belief, the past was not more eventful than the present. If it seems so it is because when you look backward things that happened years apart are telescoped together, and because very few of your memories come to you genuinely virgin. — George Orwell

Contrary to popular belief, all evolving artists are in a full time battle with mediocrity. — Robert Genn

Contrary to popular belief, it's not the legs that go first; it's remembering the word for legs. — Larry Gelbart

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.

You have a soft spot. Contrary to popular belief, it is not where you are weak, it is the gateway to indestructible power. — Susan Piver

Contrary Sayings And Quotes

It's the notion that there is no perfection - that there is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still there is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances. — Leonard Cohen

We must learn to endure what we cannot avoid. Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of contrary things, also of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only one kind, what would he have to say? — Michel de Montaigne

they go and set up free-will with the heathen philosophers and say that a man's free will is the cause why God chooseth and not another, contrary to all scriptures. — William Tyndale

It is idle to say that nations can struggle to outdo each other in building armaments and never use them. History demonstrates the contrary, and we have but to go back to the last war to see the appalling effect of nations competing in great armaments. — Frank B. Kellogg

Any concept of grace that makes us feel more comfortable sinning is not biblical grace. God's grace never encourages us to live in sin, on the contrary, it empowers us to say no to sin and yes to truth. — Randy Alcorn

Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer's day, and some say, to the contrary, that the very sparrows do not lose a feather that has not been brushed away by the finger of God. — Thornton Wilder

Don't flatter yourselves that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. On the contrary, the nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

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

May I say, finally, that I have no illusions of grandeur; quite to the contrary, I am very humble in my knowledge that through forty years of my life my life has been an open book of service to my fellow architects and for the public good. — Ralph Thomas Walker

Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders, so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reverse Quotes

Man has always learned from the past. After all, you can't learn history in reverse! — Archimedes

Never finish a negative statement; reverse it immediately, and wonders will happen in your life. — Joseph Murphy

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. Cesar Chavez Address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Nov. 9, 1984 — Cesar Chavez

Reverse petting zoo. You pet the animals, and they pet you back. - Andy Biersack

Reverse petting zoo. You pet the animals, and they pet you back. — Andy Biersack

Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others. — Bill W.

To recommend that women become identical to men, would be simple reversal, and would defeat the whole point of androgyny, and for that matter, feminism: in both, the whole point is choice. — Carolyn Heilbrun

I used to believe that gratitude for life came from being happy, but I have come to realize that the reverse is also true, perhaps even more so: being happy comes from feeling grateful for life. — William Ury

Many of the engineers I interviewed worked on reverse-engineering technology. — Annie Jacobsen

Reverse them by resetting your oral microbiome, you haven't been given the proper advice. Oral dysbiosis is at the root of all oral disease and illness today. — Mark Burhenne

I sometimes lie, especially about personal things, because what does it matter? I am a kind of minute commodity. My name is no longer my own. I try to lie as much as I can when I’m interviewed. It’s reverse psychology. I figure if you lie, they’ll print the truth. — River Phoenix

Contradiction Quotes

Teenagers these days are out of control. They eat like pigs, they are disrespectful of adults, they interrupt and contradict their parents, and they terrorize their teachers. — Aristotle

I’m a feminist so I believe in inhabiting contradictions. I believe in making contradictions productive, not in having to choose one side or the other side. As opposed to choosing either or, choosing both. — Angela Davis

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s time to put away our fairytales, all of them, and assume our responsibilities, the adult responsibilities that begin with adult knowledge. Our planet needs us. She needs us to think like healers and act like warriors. And if you think that’s a contradiction, then get out of the way. — Lierre Keith

Drama is exposure; it is confrontation; it is contradiction and it leads to analysis, construction, recognition and eventually to an awakening of understanding. — Peter Brook

Intelligence is measured by a person's ability to see validity within both sides of contradicting arguments. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students. — Paulo Freire

A fundamental contradiction does not exist between socialism and a market economy. — Deng Xiaoping

As for me, to love you alone, to make you happy, to do nothing which would contradict your wishes, this is my destiny and the meaning of my life. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I we are born to die and we all die to live, then what's the point of living life if it just contradicts? — Ronnie Radke

Contradict Quotes

No human being is illegal. That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal? — Elie Wiesel

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider. — Francis Bacon

It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind. — Naguib Mahfouz

There is no contradiction between effective law enforcement and respect for civil and human rights. — Dorothy Height

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. - Groucho Marx

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. — Groucho Marx

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. — Saint Francis de Sales

It must be obvious...that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity. — Shunryu Suzuki

Some people think or expect that you should make the same kinds of art forever because it creates a convenient narrative... I want my work to embody my inherent contradictions. — Kiki Smith

Iron ring made of wood. — Hungarian Proverbs

It's a meeting between two personalities of different natures—the creative people and the organizers, water and fire. But out of the contradiction can come progress. — Bernard Arnault

People Writing About Contrary

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr
quotes on quantum mechanics

78 1218
Read quotes by Naval Ravikant

Naval Ravikant
quotes on money, happiness and life

583 1
Read quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche
quotes on god, love and morality

2473 32550
Read quotes by Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama
quotes on life, ai and art

106 53
Read quotes by Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel

127 538
Read quotes by Mandy Hale

Mandy Hale

51 1

More Contrary Quotes

My solitude doesn’t depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company. — Friedrich Nietzsche

True love is not a strong, fiery, impetuous passion. It is, on the contrary, an element calm and deep. It looks beyond mere externals, and is attracted by qualities alone. It is wise and discriminating, and its devotion is real and abiding. — Ellen G. White

I see and hear daily that you of the Clergy preach one against another, teach one contrary to another, inveigh one against another without charity or discretion. Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their new sumpsimus. Thus all men almost be in variety and discord. — Henry VIII of England

Our confidence in Christ does not make us lazy, negligent, or careless, but on the contrary it awakens us, urges us on, and makes us active in living righteous lives and doing good. There is no self-confidence to compare with this. — Huldrych Zwingli

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. — Mahatma Gandhi

To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature; contumely to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice. — John Knox

Democracy is necessarily despotism, as it establishes an executive power contrary to the general will; all being able to decide against one whose opinion may differ, the will of all is therefore not that of all: which is contradictory and opposite to liberty. — Immanuel Kant

Intricate minglings of different uses in cities are not a form of chaos. On the contrary, they represent a complex and highly developed form of order. — Jane Jacobs

A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops. — John J. Pershing

We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it. — Wendell Berry

The prohibition of science would be contrary to the Bible, which in hundreds of places teaches us how the greatness and the glory of God shine forth marvelously in all His works, and is to be read above all in the open book of the heavens. — Galileo Galilei

Science and religion are not antagonists. On the contrary, they are sisters. While science tries to learn more about the creation, religion tries to better understand the Creator. While through science man tries to harness the forces of nature around him, through religion he tries to harness the force of nature within him. — Wernher Von Braun

To overcome the intelligent by folly is contrary to the natural order of things; to overcome the foolish by intelligence is in accord with the natural order. To overcome the intelligent by intelligence, however, is a matter of opportunity. — Zhuge Liang

Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself. — Irenaeus of Lyons

To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental today. — Thurgood Marshall

It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of anything else. — Maimonides

For no People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can they easily be subdued, where Knowledge is diffusd and Virtue preservd . On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight, without the Aid of foreign Invaders. — Samuel Adams

Classifications and distinctions based on race or color have no moral or legal validity in our society. They are contrary to our constitution and laws. — Thurgood Marshall

Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all — Pope John Paul II

Pain is a sensation produced by something contrary to the course of nature and this sensation is set up by one of two circumstances: either a very sudden change of the temperament (or the bad effect of a contrary temperament) or a solution of continuity. — Avicenna

Faith is acting in the face of contrary evidence. The senses declare, "It cannot be," but Faith shouts above the turmoil, "It is!" — E. W. Kenyon

As for antichrist occupying the papal chair, it is evident that a pope living contrary to Christ, like any other perverted person, is called, by common consent, antichrist. — Jan Hus

Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them. — Salvador Dali

I am not Christ or a philanthropist, old lady, I am all the contrary of a Christ I fight for the things I believe in, with all the weapons at my disposal and try to leave the other man dead so that I don't get nailed to a cross or any other place. — Che Guevara

Elegance and comfort are not incompatible, and whoever maintains the contrary simply doesn't know what he's talking about — Salvatore Ferragamo

Whenever the Lord holds us in suspense, and delays his aid, he is not therefore asleep, but, on the contrary, regulates all His works in such a manner that he does nothing but at the proper time. — John Calvin

When you can completely love your ego unconditionally and accept it as part of how you express in this life, you'll no longer have a problem with it. It won't impede your growth - on the contrary, it will be an asset. — Anita Moorjani

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

Life, faculties, production- in other words, individuality, liberty, property- this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. — Fr

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. — Frederic Bastiat

An unchurched christian is a grotesque anomaly. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community. — John Stott

The chief internal enemies of any state are not spies nor saboteurs nor the paid agents of foreign governments. They are, on the contrary, those myriads of public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people. — Dalton Trumbo

Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions are determined by divine revelation and not based on people's desires. — Anjem Choudary

The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbances. — Epicurus

The automobile, both a cause and an effect of this decentralization, is ideally suited for our vast landscape and our generally confused and contrary commuting patterns. — Brock Yates

The modern revisionists and reactionaries call us Stalinists, thinking that they insult us and, in fact, that is what they have in mind. But, on the contrary, they glorify us with this epithet; it is an honor for us to be Stalinists for while we maintain such a stand the enemy cannot and will never force us to our knees. — Enver Hoxha

Surrendering is not a weakness. At the contrary it is strength. The surrender stops living in boiling water and starts living in a secure place. — Shams Tabrizi

I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation. — Mikhail Bakunin

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