Differences Quotes

“Once upon a time there were two countries, at war with each other. In order to make peace after many years of conflict, they decided to build a bridge across the ocean.

But because they never learned each other’s language properly, they could never agree on the details, so the two halves of the bridge they started to build never met.

To this day the bridge extends far into the ocean from both sides, and simply ends half way, miles in the wrong direction from the meeting point.

And the two countries are still at war.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“It is only when you accept how different you all are, that you will be able to see how much the same you all are. Don't expect anybody to be the same as you, then you will see that you are in many ways the same as everybody.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.”
― Ruth Benedict

“We were quite different, but we belonged together, we were more than the sum of our two selves, we were allies, we made our own community, and that is rare in life.”
― Sándor Márai, Embers

“Understanding languages and other cultures builds bridges. It is the fastest way to bring the world closer together and to Truth. Through understanding, people will be able to see their similarities before differences.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Things look different depending on your perspective. As I see it, fighting to bridge those gaps isn't what really matters. The most important thing is to know them inside and out, as differences, and to understand why certain people are the way they are.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake

“If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if you behave properly wit those holding divergent views from you or who criticize you, then you deserve to be credited with having an excellent character. (p. 99)”
― Wahiduddin Khan, The True Jihad: The Concept of Peace, Tolerance and Non Violence in Islam

“A fruit salad is delicious precisely because each fruit maintains its own flavor.”
― Sean Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide

“God is colourblind. But we are not God. God does not need to see colour and difference. God is far bigger than all of that. We are human. We are destined to grow and learn from each other and with each other and there is no growing, there is no learning, there is no wonder and no majesty in life if we were like God. We were meant to see colour and difference.To deny these is to lack respect. To blind ourselves to these is to fool one another. To shun these is to deny ourselves growth and knowledge.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“In a general sense, I admit to valuing the worldviews of men under the age of 40 and women over the age of 30.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Harmony exists no less in difference than in likeness, if only the same key-note govern both parts.”
― Margaret Fuller

“How different other families were, the shape of them, the things they presumed, the children that grew up in them.”
― Margo Lanagan, The Brides of Rollrock Island

“Certainly there are very real differences between us of race, age, and sex. But it is not those differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognize those differences, and to examine the distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human behavior and expectation.”
― Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

“Differences were what made up the human race, similarities were what made up drones and clones.”
― Vicktor Alexander, Inconceivable

“The fact that we're all different is the one thing we all have in common.”
― Justin Young

“It is easy to surround yourself with people who think in the same ways, believe the same ideas, and live life in similar patterns. Many communities are made up of the same kind of people to the extent that we intentionally have to seek people whose stories are completely different from ours.”
― Holly Sprink, Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness

“We have held the peculiar notion that a person or society that is a little different from us, whoever we are, is somehow strange or bizarre, to be distrusted or loathed. Think of the negative connotations of words like alien or outlandish. And yet the monuments and cultures of each of our civilizations merely represent different ways of being human. An extraterrestrial visitor, looking at the differences among human beings and their societies, would find those differences trivial compared to the similarities. The Cosmos may be densely populated with intelligent beings. But the Darwinian lesson is clear: There will be no humans elsewhere. Only here. Only on this small planet. We are a rare as well as an endangered species. Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

“Do you think it will truly come to battle between them? If they should come to some accord—”
“They won’t,” Tyrion said. “They are too different and yet too much alike, and neither could ever stomach the other.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

“I wanted to tell them that they had made a mistake. I wasn’t like them. I didn’t want the same things that they wanted, and they should know this. They should know my difference, they should sense my unfathomable fucking depths.”
― Ling Ma, Severance

“Differences were meant by God not to divide but to enrich.”
― J.H. Oldham, The Church and its Function in Society

“It was becoming more and more evident that Salem was a town that celebrated individuality, a real live-and-let-live kind of place. Melody felt a gut punch of regret. Her old nose would have fit in here.
"Look!" She pointed at the multicolored car whizzing by. Its black door were from a Mercedes coupe, the white hood from a BMW; the silver trunk was Jaguar, the red convertible top was Lexus, the whitewall tires were Bentley, the sound system was Bose, and the music was classical. A hood ornament from each model dangled from the rear view mirror. Its license plate appropriately read MUTT.
"That car looks like a moving Benton ad."
"Or a pileup on Rodeo drive." Candace snapped a picture with her iPhone and e-mailed to her friends back home. They responded instantly with a shot of what they were doing. It must have involved the mall because Candace picked up her pace and began asking anyone under the age of fifty where the cool people hung out.”
― Lisi Harrison, Monster High

“لو كان العقل على قدر كلام الرجل، لكان الثرثار أكبر الناس عقلاً، ولو كان العلم على قدر حفظ المسائل لكان التلميذ أوسع من أستاذه علماً، ولو كان الجاه على قدر الفضائل لما كان للأشرار نفوذ، ولو كان المال على قدر العقل لكان أغنى الناس الحكماء، وأفقر الناس السفهاء، ولو كان الخلود على قدر نفع الناس لما خلد السفاحون والطغاة وأكثر الملوك والزعماء.”
― مصطفى السباعي, هكذا علمتني الحياة

“My parents' work ethic amazed me. How could they put in such long hours, day after day?
Part of the reason was to keep the family going - to keep me going. I realized that, although we had different values derived from different cultures and wouldn't agree on certain issues, they were good people, incredible people, and I loved and respected them.”
― Harvey Pekar, The Quitter

“Our differences are fascinating, but our similarities make us human.”
― Heather E. Heying, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life

“Don’t be so eager to be offended. The narcissism of small differences leads to the most boring conformity.”
― Todd Field: Lydia Tar

“It didn’t affect him because he couldn’t fathom how I felt. He never saw how I held or how I dealt. And when a breeze hits, his first thought is never a scent. We worked in different ways and different places, which were divided by a constellation.”
― Dominic Riccitello

“The sanctity of human life is never lessened by our difference of opinion as to how we live out those lives.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Any conversation on the left these days, it's always so competitive, it's always each person trying to outperform the person before them in terms of their oppression or their lack of privilege or their personal trauma or, like, the fact that actually they’re Jewish or actually they’re bisexual, or guess what, they’re a quarter this or that ethnicity, which gives them the right to speak or the right to take offence or whatever. It’s a marketplace! Yet again! You can dress it up in the language of sensitivity and social justice and blah blah blah, but the point of intersectionality isn’t to learn how to transcend our differences, or eliminate them, the point isn’t solidarity, it’s about shoring up your brand, cornering the market, everyone out for themselves, maximising profit and minimising risk—'

‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this,’ Amber said.

‘It locks us into our differences,’ Tony said, ‘it’s segregationist. And it’s also just advertising. It’s brand management. That’s my point. We’re still inside the fucking paradigm!”
― Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

“Isn’t everyone different? Which really makes us all the same.”
― Fiza Saeed McLynn, The Midnight Carousel

“Existing in a body that the world is not designed to accommodate can create so many avenues of empathy for others who are experiencing the same thing for a variety of reasons.”
― Hannah Bonam-Young, Out on a Limb