Opposites quotes
2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside opposites — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something that we would never want to be, if we only knew what we wanted? Why do we waste our time doing things which... are just the opposite of what we were made for?"
"When I started acting, I was asked said, 'What's your dream?' 'What would you like to achieve?' I would say, 'Oh, I'd like to sit opposite DeNiro and hold my own.' But, you never think it's gonna happen."
"Putting yourself first is not selfish. Quite the opposite. You must put your happiness and health first before you can be of help to anyone else."
"I have often been amused by our vulgar tendency to take complex issues, with solutions at neither extreme of a continuum of possibilities, and break them into dichotomies, assigning one group to one pole and the other to an opposite end, with no acknowledgment of subtleties and intermediate positions and nearly always with moral opprobrium attached to opponents."
"People let their frustrations out on me. I love Kanye West. They say the opposite of that. But I'm not going to say that. I'm only going to say what I'm want to put into the universe."
"The two roads that lead to poverty and riches travel in opposite directions. If you want riches, you must refuse to accept any circumstance that leads to poverty. (The word riches is here used in its broadest sense, meaning financial, spiritual, mental, and material estates)."
"When I was young, I liked romance. But to me, romance is the opposite of domestic life. I just don't want anyone in the apartment, not for longer than a few hours."
"Knowingness is sexy. The opposite of sexy is naivete."
"I have the exact opposite problem of every writer I've ever met: Every writer I've ever met writes things that are too long, and they have to edit them down."
"Avarice is more opposite to economy than liberality."
"The temperament that produces a talent for little things is the opposite of that required for great ones."
"Paired opposites define your longings and those longings imprison you."
"The opposite is beneficial; from things that differ comes the fairest attunement; all things are born through strife."
"Enjoying praise is in some people merely a civility of the heart--and just the opposite of a vanity of the spirit."
"In every truth, the opposite is equally true. For example, a truth can only be expressed and enveloped in words if it is onesided."
"In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought that the same cause should produce such opposite effects."
"Resistances do not derive from a few heterogeneous principles; but neither are they a lure or a promise that is of necessity betrayed. They are the odd term in relations of power; they are inscribed in the latter as an irreducible opposite."
"I have never acted he has never been cast in a romantic lead or has been cast opposite a female love interest in any movie he starred in."
"Just like I described in health care, yeah, somebody comes in, they got new ideas, maybe ideas that are completely opposite of my ideas. Maybe some of it goes, maybe some of that progress goes back. Maybe they think of some things we didn't think of, and so in some other areas - we can learn something."
"Some people say it is hard to live in such a way, being completely one with the present moment. Of course, it is not hard. The opposite is hard. Not being one with life is hard, and that is how most people live."
