No doubt there are other important things in life besides conflict, but there are not many other things so inevitably interesting. The very saints interest us most when we think of them as enganged in a conflict with the Devil.
—Robert Wilson Lynd (1879–1949) Irish Essayist, Critic
You cannot perform in a manner inconsistent with the way you see yourself.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English Political Philosopher
Insight into the two selves within a man clears up many confusions and contradictions. It was our understanding that preceded our victory.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
There are always two forces warring against each other within us.
—Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Indian Hindu Mystic, Religious Leader, Philosopher, Teacher
Jesus taught us how to forgive out of love, how to forget out of humility. So let us examine our hearts and see if there is any unforgiven hurt—any unforgotten bitterness! It is easy to love those who are far away. It isn’t always easy to love those who are right next to us. It is easier to offer food to the hungry than to answer the lonely suffering of someone who lacks love right in one
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
There are three principles in a man’s being and life, the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don’t do what I say.
—Martin Buber (1878–1965) Austrian Jewish Theologian, Philosopher, Novelist
Reason and emotion are not antagonists. What seems like a struggle between two opposing ideas or values, one of which, automatic and unconscious, manifests itself in the form of a feeling.
—Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) American Psychotherapist
Commonly they must use their feet for defense whose only weapon is their tongue.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
There can be no reconciliation where there is no open warfare. There must be a battle, a brave boisterous battle, with pennants waving and cannon roaring, before there can be peaceful treaties and enthusiastic shaking of hands.
—Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) English Novelist
Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing. That’s my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The most intense conflicts, if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed. It is just these intense conflicts and their conflagration which are needed to produce valuable and lasting results.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Instead of suppressing conflicts, specific channels could be created to make this conflict explicit, and specific methods could be set up by which the conflict is resolved.
—Albert Low (1928–2016) British-born Canadian Zen Master
Don’t jump on a man unless he is down.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Author, Writer, Humorist
When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the game, the virtue passes out of him.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Comedy comes from conflict, from hatred.
—Warren Mitchell (1926–2015) English Actor
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Only by pride comes contention; but, with the well-advised is wisdom.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
We must become acquainted with our emotional household: we must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are. This breaks their hypnotic and damaging hold on us.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
What a man knows is everywhere at war with what he wants.
—Joseph Wood Krutch (1893–1970) American Writer, Critic, Naturalist
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise.
—Marian Anderson (1897–1993) American Singer
Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
—James Thurber
Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
The archenemy is the arch stupid!
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
For better or worse, I’ve been involved in the description of political conflict.
—John le Carre (1931–2020) English Spy Thriller Novelist
Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
After all the field of battle possesses many advantages over the drawing-room. There at least is no room for pretension or excessive ceremony, no shaking of hands or rubbing of noses, which make one doubt your sincerity, but hearty as well as hard hand-play. It at least exhibits one of the faces of humanity, the former only a mask.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
No one from the beginning of time has had security.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.
—Max Lucado (b.1955) American Christian Author, Minister
Modern science knows much about such conflicts. We call the mental state that engenders it “ambivalence”: a collision between thought and feeling.
—David Seabury (1885–1960) American Psychologist
The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
What people need and what they want may be very different.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
We are enslaved by anything we do not consciously see. We are freed by conscious perception.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
Like a ball bated back and forth, a human being is batted by two forces within.
—The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism
I believe in getting into hot water. I think it keeps you clean.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The advantage of time and place in all practical actions is half a victory; which being lost is irrecoverable.
—Francis Drake (1540–96) English Military Leader, Politician
Let us move from the era of confrontation to the era of negotiation.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
It is the eternal struggle between these two principles—right and wrong. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. It is the same spirit that says, “You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict—alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.
—Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American Journalist, Radio Personality
I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A country cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
A man’s own self is his friend. A man’s own self is his foe.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
We are the prisoners of ideas.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith