20 Fascinating Paradoxes About Life

What is a Paradox?

According to the Oxford dictionary, a paradox is a noun that has two meanings:

1. A seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true.

2. A person or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.

I love paradoxes because they are sometimes funny and usually also quite insightful. Listening to the audiobook version of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu was like listening to one paradox after another. This was especially surprising to me, because it is an ancient book of wisdom. So a great paradox is much more than just a cliche, even though it can appear like that over time.

Below is a list of some of my favourites, starting with one from the Tao Te Ching:

1. “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings” – Lao Tzu

2. “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than be loved for who I am not” – Kurt Cobain

4. “I refuse to join any club that would have me for a member.” – Groucho Marx

5. “You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants a magical solution to their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.” – Alice in Wonderland

6. “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” – Plato

7. “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi

8. “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviours.” – Stephen Covey

9. “If you don’t risk anything you risk everything.” – Mark Zuckerberg

10. “The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.” – William Hazlitt

11. “Only you can take responsibility for your happiness…but you can’t do it alone. It’s the great paradox of being human.” – Simon Sinek

12. “If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?” – George Carlin

13. “Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” – Frank Herbert

14. “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

15. “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

16. “He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.”― Michel de Montaigne

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

18. “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

19. “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

20. “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold onto it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” – Socrates

 

Dr Damon Ashworth

Clinical Psychologist