47 Paradoxical Quotes

In the realm of language and thought, paradoxes hold a unique charm, weaving contradictions that intrigue and challenge our conventional understanding. They compel us to pause, reflect, and delve deeper into the intricacies of human nature and the world around us. Hence, we've gathered a curated collection of the top 47 paradoxical quotes to captivate your mind and spark thoughtful conversation. These quotes, emanating wisdom and wit, elevate the dialogue and invite contemplation on life's inherent contradictions. So, prepare to be both puzzled and enlightened as you explore these enigmatic expressions.

1. “Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” - Oscar Wilde

2. “I never said most of the things I said.” - Yogi Berra

3. “Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.” - Oscar Wilde

4. “And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.” - Erica Jong

5. “He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.” - Douglas Adams

6. “And that was all the part of it - the way you were obliged to live. You stifled a groan, you lied about your love, you deceived your legal wife, and all in the name of honour. That was the damned paradox of it - in order to behave well, you have to behave badly.” - Julian Barnes

7. “Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs, total liberty of the powerful, the gifted, is not compatible with the rights to a decent existence of the weak and the less gifted.” - Isaiah Berlin

8. “Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do. ” - Zsa Zsa Gabor

9. “Nobody comes here anymore, its too crowded” - Yogi Berra

10. “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.” - George Bernard Shaw

11. “How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.” - Niels Bohr

12. “A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.” - Banksy

13. “Give me an honest con man any day.” - J.D. Salinger

14. “You are never too old to become younger!” - Mae West

15. “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” - Rita Mae Brown

16. “He was a thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of me and the worst of men, the most protean, most ridiculous, and most sublime. No more baffling, exasperating soldier ever wore a uniform. Flamboyant, imperious, and apocalyptic, he carried the plumage of a flamingo, could not acknowledge errors, and tried to cover up his mistakes with sly, childish tricks. Yet he was also endowed with great personal charm, a will of iron, and a soaring intellect. Unquestionably he was the most gifted man-at arms- this nation has produced. -William Manchester on Douglas MacArthur” - William Manchester

17. “His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger self, after being taught, grew up to be the older self and was, therefore, capable of teaching.” - Robert A. Heinlein

18. “The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.” - Douglas Adams

19. “Two paradoxes are better than one they may even suggest a solution. ” - Edward Teller

20. “Glory: I look around at this world you're so eager to be a part of and all I see is six billion lunatics looking for the fastest ride out. Who's not crazy? Look around, everyone's drinking, smoking, shooting up, shooting each other, or just plain screwing their brains out 'cause they don't want 'em anymore. I'm crazy? Honey, I'm the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind, 'cause at least I admit the world makes me nuts.” - Douglas Petrie

21. “If a tree falls in the forest and it hits a mime, would he make a noise?” - Brad Warner

22. “That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.” - Aristotle

23. “The modern West has been deeply split about freedom and responsibility. On the one hand, it has championed human freedom in many forms - human rights, sexual freedom, political liberty, freedom to choose in many spheres. On the other hand, many of its most intelligent members have not believed that people are free at all, and have devoted great efforts to show that really we are the product of our genes, our unconscious drives, our education, economic pressures, or other forms of conditioning.” - David F. Ford

24. “The world is a contradiction; the universe a paradox.” - Kedar Joshi

25. “The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.” - Erica Jong

26. “First she would try to kill him, but failing this give him food and her body, breast-feed him back to a state of childishness and even, perhaps, feel affection for him. Then, the moment he was asleep, cut his throat. The synopsis of the ideal marriage.” - J.G. Ballard

27. “Pops added,"you know, they say if you don't vote, you get the government you deserve.""And if you do, you never get the results you expected," (Katherine) replied.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

28. “Here we have the paradox, the potentially tragic paradox, that our relatedness to others is an essential aspect of our being, as is our separateness, but any particular person is not a necessary part of our being.” - R. D. Laing

29. “A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness.” - Criss Jami

30. “Men have two greatest fears: the first fear is the fear of being needed, and the second fear is the fear of not being needed.” - C. JoyBell C.

31. “Joshua to Angela: "Please, Angela, do it for me… and you never know you just might have fun." She looked at him warily. "I find that highly doubtful, Josh.""Well how will you know unless you actually try it?""I just know. Do you have to drink a hot fish milkshake to know you aren’t going to like it?" She asked.” - Patti Roberts

32. “Mr. Chan," Grace said as the wind whipped strands of her hair across her face. "What are you doing here?" She shouted over the howling wind as it lashed around them."Catering," the old man said flashing her a toothy gold grin.” - Patti Roberts

33. “This Lord of natures today was transformed contrary to His nature; it is not too difficult for us to also overthrow our evil will." Hymns of the Nativity, Hymn 1:97, pg. 74 in Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns (New York: Paulist Press, 1989).” - St. Ephrem the Syrian

34. “One of the great constants in life is change.” - Heracleitus

35. “Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.” - Tony Schwartz

36. “As a small child, I felt in my heart two contradictory feelings, the horror of life and the ecstasy of life.” - Charles Baudelaire

37. “Here is the paradox of the thing we call freedom: the farther we wander from God and the more we try to break free from him, the more enchained we become. Every step we take away from Him leads us farther from the freedom of Jesus and closer to the cruelty of Cain.” - Steven James

38. “I am Dead, but it's not so bad. I've learned to live with it.” - Isaac Marion

39. “I have no privacy. But I feel so alone.” - Susan Beth Pfeffer

40. “If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn’t value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?” - Sam Harris

41. “There is a curious paradox that no one can explain. Who understands the secret of the reaping of the grain? Who understands why Spring is born out of Winter’s laboring pain, or why we must all die a bit before we grow again? I do not know the answer; I merely know it’s true. I hurt them for that reason, and myself a little bit too.” - Tom Jones

42. “Kur vispār zināšanas cilvēci novedušas? Pie atombumbām, nāvīgām gāzēm un visādiem nāves rīkiem. Nebūtu augstskolu, ļaudis izkautos ar rungām, dabūtu punus un zilumus un – atkal varētu slēgt mieru.Pārspīlētas pieklājības klusinātajā gammā katrs spēcīgāks akords skanēja griezīgi, bet visu laiku skaļi bungotā priekšnesumā asāki piesitieni nevienu neuztrauca. Viss taču dibinājās uz kontrastiem!” - Anšlavs Eglītis

43. “I'm no one... I don't want to be anyone. I stepped into singularity to exist within a void. I'm no one... However, I am becoming... Imagination. I am grabbing conception, and leaving humanity behind. Humans have lost their sight, and individuality makes people blind to the truth. It makes people believe that anything is possible. Only nothing is possible. But then again, my words are the words of no one.” - Lionel Suggs

44. “There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical paradox. We have definitions of good qualities and of bad; not changing things, but generally considered good and bad throughout the ages and throughout the species. Of the good, we think always of wisdom, tolerance, kindliness, generosity, humility; and the qualities of cruelty, greed, self-interest, graspingness, and rapacity are universally considered undesirable. And yet in our structure of society, the so-called and considered good qualities are invariable concomitants of failure, while the bad ones are the cornerstones of success…Perhaps no other animal is so torn between alternatives. Man might be described fairly adequately, if simply, as a two-legged paradox.” - John Steinbeck

45. “My name is Stephen Leeds, and I am perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.” - Brandon Sanderson

46. “I never use paradox. The statements I make are wearisome and obvious common sense. I have even been driven to the tedium of reading through my own books, and have been unable to find any paradox. In fact, that thing is quite tragic, and some day I shall hope to write an epic called 'Paradox Lost'.” - G.K. Chesterton

47. “It's a bit like staring into another dimension, one that has a different set of mathematical and physical laws. For me, it also serves as reminder that that the mind of God is unknowable, that things that seem contradictory to us only appear so because we have no context for them, or aren't seeing the full picture.” - Anna Jarzab