Paradoxical Thinking Quotes

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

Going on means going far, going far means returning.

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

It doesn't make any sense... that's why I trust it!

By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.

Faith consists in believing not what seems true, but what seems false to our understanding.

The capacity for people to kid themselves is huge. Living on illusions or delusions, and the re-establishing of these illusions or delusions requires a big effort to keep them from being seen through. But a very old idea is at work behind our current state of affairs: enantiodromia, or the Greek notion of things turning into their opposite.

I think intelligence basically can be in a way defined by the possibility of having two opposite ideas living together and at the same time functioning. That's why I think a smart script has two things living in the same place, and they're absolutely contradictory.

As far as consistency of thought goes, I prefer inconsistency.

Morality without a sense of paradox is mean.

Thinking about language, while thinking _in_ language, leads to puzzles and paradoxes.

I don't want to call myself a perfectionist, because perfection is imperfection.

Proper stupidity is fascinating.

At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far.

Inconsistency itself breeds vitality.

I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.

In contradiction and paradox, you can find truth.

Steve Martin said that philosophy is good for comedy because it screws up your thinking just enough, and I agree with that. Being forced to see life's metadata is good training for looking for interesting angles on a topic.

I'm definitely of the mindset of "I wouldn't want to be part of any group that would have me as a member."

it's wrong to be right; it's right to be wrong.

Winning doesn't really matter as long as you win

I am a very mediocre intellect, at best, and I am smarter than most people I know - and that terrifies me.