"If simple mechanical change of place contains a contradiction, this is even more true of the higher forms of motion of matter, and especially of organic life and its development... life consists precisely and primarily in this--that a being is at each moment itself and yet something else. Life is therefore also a contradiction which is present in things and processes themselves, and which constantly originates and resolves itself; and as soon as the contradiction ceases, life, too, comes to an end, and death steps in. We likewise saw that also in the sphere of thought we could not escape contradictions, and that for example the contradiction between man's inherently unlimited capacity for knowledge and its actual presence only in men who are externally limited and possess limited cognition finds its solution in what is--at least practically, for us--an endless succession of generations, in infinite progress."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Engels, in "Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung On Contradiction".
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Contradiction
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Contradiction
88 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Contradiction →
Related Quotes
"That is exactly the point, what we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive."
"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."
"It is... axiomatic that we should all think of ourselves as being more sensitive than other people because, when we a…"
"I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction."
"I am human, and I make mistakes. Therefore my commitment must be to truth and not to consistency."
"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and mere…"
"The conflicts that tear society apart resemble the distinction between the concept and the particular facts subordina…"
"Nothing which implies contradiction falls under the omnipotence of God."
"...Erich Fromm wondered why most people did not become insane in the face of the existential contradiction between a …"
"Paradoxes specific to the work are, in a sense, the counterpart of the contradictions of the perceivable world."