These antithesis quotes will inspire you. Antithesis, a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.
A collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging antithesis quotes, antithesis sayings, and antithesis proverbs.
Best Antithesis Quotes
- “We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure.” ~ Leo Buscaglia
- “The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained.” ~ William Styron
- “Success often lies just the other side of failure.” ~ Leo Buscaglia
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“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “This liberal progressive agenda… is the antithesis of who we are as a constitutional republic.” ~ Allen West
- “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” ~ Charles Dickens
- “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ~ Charles Dickens
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“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Well, the first thing is that truth and power for me form an antithesis, an antagonism, which will hardly ever be resolved. I can define in fact, can simplify the history of human society, the evolution of human society, as a contest between power and freedom.” ~ Wole Soyinka
- “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” ~ Neil Armstrong
- “Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“In brief, egoism in its modern interpretation, is the antithesis, not of altruism, but of idealism.” ~ John Buchanan Robinson
- “Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “I sometimes struggle, because my job is like the antithesis of what surfing is all about. Surfing’s simple. It’s real.” ~ Paul Walker
- “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.” ~ C. S. Lewis
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“Now the relation which, in the sphere of nature, being and semblance or sensation bear to one another in this antithesis, is the same as that which in ethics exists between good and pleasure or feeling.” ~ Friedrich Schleiermacher
- “The farther a society progresses, the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group.” ~ Herbert Read
- “Now a great debate has been born. The thesis is Democratic Socialism. The antithesis is free-market capitalism. The Obama Democrats have posed the challenge. It is now up to the Republicans to pick it up and fight along these lines.” ~ Dick Morris
- “Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.” ~ Aaron Copland
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“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
- “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “My life has been the antithesis of that book ‘The Secret’. I’ve always been interested in doing what I do. I love storytelling and I really enjoyed acting, but it never seemed like a realistic thing.” ~ Aaron Stanford
- “What opposite discoveries we have seen! (Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.) One makes new noses, one a guillotine, One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets; But vaccination certainly has been A kind antithesis to Congreve’s rockets.” ~ Lord Byron
- “Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk and truth the root. CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon; Or, Many Things in a Few Words Light, whether it be material or moral, is the best reformer; for it prevents those disorders which other remedies sometimes cure, but sometimes confirm.” ~ Charles Caleb Colton
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“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” ~ William Shakespeare
- “Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk and truth the root.” ~ Charles Caleb Colton
- “Everything contains its antithesis.” ~ Juliet Stevenson
- “One of the goals of philosophy is wage theoretical battle. That is why we can say that every thesis is always, by its very nature, an antithesis. A thesis is only ever put forward in opposition to another thesis, or in defence of a new one.” ~ Louis Althusser
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“A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation” ~ Frank Herbert
- “Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.” ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- “Selfishness so often is the basis of money problems, which are a very serious and real factor affecting the stability of family life. Selfishness is at the root of adultery, the breaking of solemn and sacred covenants to satisfy selfish lust. Selfishness is the antithesis of love. It is a cankering expression of greed. It destroys self-discipline. It obliterates loyalty. It tears up sacred covenants. It afflicts both men and women.” ~ Gordon B. Hinckley
- “Mind is the antithesis of reflex, and only mind could discover mind” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
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“Obvious effort is the antithesis of grace.” ~ Baldassare Castiglione
- “[B]riefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.” ~ Alan Bennett
- “Since science is essentially objective, involving the study of how things actually are, “materialism” would therefore seem to be its antithesis, since its starting point is the desire to impose upon the natural world a particular and limited way of looking at it.” ~ Melanie Phillips
- “Once it has been perceived that the division of labour is the essence of society, nothing remains of the antithesis between individual and society. The contradiction between individual principle and social principle disappears.” ~ Ludwig von Mises
- “Poetry is essentially the antithesis of Metaphysics: Metaphysics purge the mind of the senses and cultivate the disembodiment of the spiritual; Poetry is all passionate and feeling and animates the inanimate; Metaphysics are most perfect when concerned with universals; Poetry, when most concerned with particulars.” ~ Samuel Beckett
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“It is usual to think of good and evil as two poles, two opposite directions, the antithesis of one another…We must begin by doing away with this convention.” ~ Martin Buber
- “Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that’s the corruption of yourself. My worst fear – that’s anyone’s worst fear – is to lose myself and become an empty person. And that happens a lot when you’re very ambitious.” ~ Marina and the Diamonds
- “Truth is found neither in Marxism nor in traditional capitalism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically capitalism failed to see the truth in collective enterprise, and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise. Nineteenth century capitalism failed to see that life is social and Marxism failed and still fails to see that life is individual and personal. The Kingdom of God is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truths of both.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “When one becomes conscious of his great humility, he has already lost it. When one begins boasting of his humility, it has already become pride-the antithesis of humility.” ~ Spencer W. Kimball
- “Composing computer programs to solve scientific problems is like writing poetry. You must choose every word with care and link it with the other words in perfect syntax. There is no place for verbosity or carelessness. To become fluent in a computer lnaguage demands almost the antithesis of modern loose thinking. It requires many interactive sessions, the hands-on use of the device. You do not learn a foreign language from a book, rather you have to live in the country for year to let the langauge become an automatic part of you, and the same is true for computer languages.” ~ James Lovelock
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“Art is the social antithesis of society, not directly deducible from it.” ~ Theodor Adorno
- “Slander, in the strict meaning of the term, comes under the head of lying; but it is a kind of lying which, like its antithesis flattery, ought to be set apart for special censure.” ~ Washington Gladden
- “War is the antithesis of all our teaching. It breaks all the commandments; it makes rich men poor, and strong men weak. It makes well men sick, and by it living men are changed to dead men.” ~ Nellie L. McClung , Antithesis quotes war
- “When you look at biology, look at the natural world, the roles of a male and a female in society, and other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role. We as people in a smart society have lost the ability to have complementary relationships in nuclear families, and it’s tearing us apart.” ~ Erick Erickson
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“It’s not cool. I think being a wealthy member of the establishment is the antithesis of cool. Being a countercultural revolutionary is cool. So to the extent that you’ve made a billion dollars, you’ve probably become uncool.” ~ Sean Parker
- “Readers are less and less seen as mere non-writers, the subhuman “other” or flawed derivative of the author; the lack of a pen is no longer a shameful mark of secondary status but a positively enabling space, just as within every writer can be seen to lurk, as a repressed but contaminating antithesis, a reader.” ~ Terry Eagleton
- “I think that there’s something extremely beautiful about the Olympic ideal and its motto – ‘Swifter, higher, stronger’ – it’s such a beautiful motto, and it celebrates everything which is the antithesis of death and dissolution and entropy.” ~ Chris Cleave
- “The easiest thing to do is to rag on the media, because it isn’t doing a very good job right now. It is so much easier to profit from celebrating the worst aspects of ourselves. Acting strikes me as the antithesis of that. We can examine the worst aspects of ourselves, but we don’t have to celebrate them.” ~ Tom Hanks
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“We have a president who apparently loves instability and revolution, and that is the antithesis of those two words, Social Security.” ~ Glenn Beck
- “Our audience is young and vibrant; we retain our previous following; we are three generations into it. Unlike other bands that are very demographically specific, who they appeal to and who their fans are, we’re the antithesis of that. If you see your younger brother or a parent of yours or a neighbor at most rock concerts, that’s not cool but with us and kids, it’s a tribal gathering. Whether it’s kids or neighbors – they’re all part of a secret society.” ~ Paul Stanley
- “Don’t seek happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
- “No school of philosophy has ever solved this question of whether being determines consciousness or the other way around. It may be a false antithesis.” ~ Christopher Hitchens
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“Perfection is the antithesis of authenticity.” ~ Willie Garson
- “My landscapes are not only beautiful, or nostalgic, with a Romantic or classical suggestion of lost Paradises, but above all ‘untruthful.’ By ‘untruthful,’ I mean the glorifying way we look at Nature. Nature, which in all its forms is always against us, because it knows no meaning, no pity, no sympathy, because it knows nothing and is absolutely mindless, the total antithesis of ourselves.” ~ Gerhard Richter
- “I think President Obama could have handled politics and policies differently. But he has been decisive, strong, and consistent – important qualities in a president. Mitt Romney is indeed an Etch A Sketch, the antithesis of leadership.” ~ Eliot Spitzer
- “You’re encouraging a response in citizens and the public, that has nothing to do with an informed decision, that has nothing to do with policy, that has nothing to do with any of that but that just kind of turns it into a competition they’re watching as if they’re watching the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes and I think if we want people to make more cool-headed, sober-minded decisions covering elections as horse races is the antithesis of doing that.” ~ Frank Bruni
- “i learned that predators don’t intentionally choose the weak or old or sick. they kill what they can, which means the slow members of the pack. thus, they strengthen the very gene pool they’re feeding from. the threshold for what is weak, old or sick gets raised, and the strength, speed and instincts of new generations of hunters grow. a beautiful, self-perpetuating system where evolution is the antithesis of entropy.” ~ Craig Clevenger
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“The reality is that we’re in very politicized times. The complete antithesis of Obama is Trump. We are in very polarized times. People are taking a very strong view after a period of time, I think, where people fell asleep on politics to a certain extent.” ~ Amma Asante
- “You are the antithesis of a racist if you’re white and you want to be black and you go out and do everything you can to identify as black, how in the world can they condemn that? That’s not fraud. That’s good intentions. And as we know, as we’ve learned, we are supposed to examine the good intentions and not the nature of the evidence.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
- “The downside, of course, is that over time religions become encrusted with precepts and ideas that are the antithesis of soul, as each faith tries to protect its doctrines and institution instead of nurturing the evolution of consciousness. If one is not careful to distinguish the genuine insights of a religion from its irrelevant accretions, one can go through life following an inappropriate moral compass.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- “Having plenty of living space has to be the greatest luxury in a city, and I guess in some sense Bombay is the antithesis of what living in Canada must be.” ~ Aravind Adiga
- “Some say we can’t choose who we fall in love with; love chooses us. Sometimes people fall for the complete antithesis of everything they believe they’re looking for.” ~ Alexandra Adornettob
