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Paradox:
Figure that employs an apparent contradiction which,
nonetheless, evokes some measure of truth; a statement which seems at one
level to be nonsensical because it moves against a normalcy. At another
level, however, the figure conjures a new way of seeing or understanding,
a novel meaning. Example: "I don't hustle with people who are dishonest." -- Woody Harrelson (from the movie White Men Can't Jump) |
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| Further Examples | |
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Michael Collins: They let us out
of jail just so we could do our best to be put inside again, Harry.
Don't you see a certain paradox in that? Hmm?
Harry Boland: .... Michael Collins: "Paradox -- a contradiction: Where an immovable force meets an immovable object kind of thing. Harry Boland: Zzzzzzz. Michael Collins: Hey.... -- delivered by Liam Neeson and Aidan Quinn (from the movie Michael Collins) |
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"Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, my fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans: I proudly, and humbly accept your nomination." -- Hubert Humphrey, 1964 Democratic National Convention Address |
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"Paradox has been defined as Truth standing on her head to attract attention. But it must be admitted that writers, like other mendicants and mountebanks, frequently do try to attract attention. They set out conspicuously, in a single line in a play, or at the head or tail of a paragraph, remarks of this challenging kind; as when Mr. Bernard Shaw wrote: The Golden Rule is that there is no Golden Rule; or Oscar Wilde observed: I can resist everything except temptation; or as a duller scribe (not to be named with these and now doing penance for his earlier vices in the nobler toil of celebrating the virtues of Mr. Pond) said in defense of hobbies and amateurs and general duffers like himself: If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. To these things do writers sink." -- G.K. Chesterton, When Doctors Agree (Audiobooksforfree.com) |
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Captain Ramsey: I understand you two are
contemplating a "blitz-out." What sort of blitz were you
contemplating?
Captain Hilts: Well, we sneak
out at night to a spot I found near the wire -- a blind spot. Then
we dig straight down three feet, take the dirt, spread it on top so
it won't make a pile, and then straight out. Ives here is a tunnel
man, so he digs in front, pushes the dirt behind him, and I stash it
behind me. Then we just burrow right through the dirt like a couple
of moles. Then by dawn we're under the wire, across the open
space, into the woods -- and gone. Captain Hilts: Oh, we got a steel rod with hinges on it and we shove it up and make air holes as we go along. Flight Lieutenant MacDonald: Now, why didn't anybody think of that before? It's so stupid it's positively brilliant. -- delivered principally by Steve McQueen, (from the movie The Great Escape) |
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"There was a little boy who didn't know if he wanted to be born. His mommy didn't know if she wanted him to be born either. They lived in a cabin, in the woods, on an island, in a lake, and there was no one else around. And in the cabin -- there was a door in the floor." -- delivered by Jeff Bridges (from the movie The Door in the Floor) |
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"I am sending you out like
sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as
doves." -- Mathew 10:16 (NIV) |
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"I think it can be said that he now
stands with our other American martyrs in the cause of freedom and
justice. His death is a terrible tragedy and sorrow -- first of all
to his family, to our nation, and to our conscience. The criminal
act that took his life brings shame to our country. An apostle
of non-violence has been the victim of violence. The cause
for which he marked and worked, I am sure, will find a new
strength." - Hubert H. Humphrey, Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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"The next time I have a
daughter, I hope it's a boy."
-- delivered by Paul Lynde (from the movie Bye Bye Birdie) |
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