Oxymoron Quotes & Sayings

The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Like 'Republican party' or 'airplane food.' — Johnny Depp

If something is unbearable, then how do you bear it? It's an oxymoron. And yet I was here, wasn't I? Somehow I was bearing it. — Paula Garner

Dying isn't the only way into the Underworld, but it's the safest.
Well, that sounded like an oxymoron if I'd ever heard one. — Jennifer L. Armentrout

To calculate sacrifice is to attempt to sacrifice safely, and safe sacrifice is one of the most outrageous oxymoron's I can think of. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

I'm for democracy, but imposing democracy is an oxymoron. People have to choose democracy, and it has to come up from below. — Madeleine Albright

I am not going to say I told you so, but I did. — Nouriel Roubini

Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath. — Gail Sheehy

An idle genius is an oxymoron. — James Thornton

'Doing your own thing' and being a Christian is an oxymoron. As Christians, every day we need to be presenting ourselves before the Lord, thanking Him for His mercy and asking Him to make us more like Him by emptying us of our will, so God's will can be done. — Monica Johnson

The business of music. You know, it's an oxymoron in a sense. It's like the two things. Although we both need each other, they really don't go together. — Kelis

I guess I'm a spiritual secularist, if that's not an oxymoron. My paths of secularism and spirituality are the same: I try to do the appropriate thing at each moment. — Paul Krassner

A Bible-quoting erotica writer--you are quite the oxymoron. — Tiffany Reisz

Why do people always say change is the only constant? It so sounds Oxymoron — Bhavik Sarkhedi

First, I have the privilege of being Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is not an oxymoron I assure you. — Pat Roberts

Suffering is an oxymoron. There is unfathomable peace and satisfaction in suffering for Christ. It is as though you have searched endlessly for your purpose in life and now found it in the most unexpected place: In the death of your flesh. It is certainly a moment worth of laughter and dance. And in the end it is not suffering at all. The apostle Paul recommended that we find joy in it. Was he mad? — Ted Dekker

Fresh ideas from this group was virtually an oxymoron, Marlys thought, wriggling her butt against the comfortless chair. — John Sandford

Subtly but definitively? Isn't that an oxymoron, you moron? — Lauren Gallagher

Many 'hard' scientists regard the term 'social science' as an oxymoron. Science means hypotheses you can test, and prove or disprove. Social science is little more than observation putting on airs. — Michael Kinsley

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron. — Harold Bloom

Tell them to stand closer apart. — Samuel Goldwyn

Writers make everybody nervous but we terrify Silly Service workers. Our apartments always look like a front for something, and no matter how carefully we tidy up for guests we always seem to miss the note card that says, "Margaret has to die soon." We own the kind of books that spies use to construct codes, like The Letters of Mme. de Sevigne, and we are the only people in the world who write oxymoron in the margin of the Bible. Manuscripts in the fridge in case of fire, Strunk's Elements in the bathroom, the Laramie City Directory explained away with "It might come in handy," all strike fear in the GS-7 heart. Nobody really wants to sleep with a writer, but Silly Service workers won't even talk to us. — Florence King

By its durability this settlement proved that conservative liberty is an oxymoron, not a contradiction in terms. — Timothy C.W. Blanning

My parents divorced when I was born, and my mother is a political science professor, like a feminist Mormon, which is sort of an oxymoron. — Eliza Dushku

Instant opinion is an oxymoron. You don't get real opinions in an instant. You get reactions. — Ellen Goodman

An ironic religion
one that never claims to be absolutely true but only professes to be relatively beautiful, and never promises salvation but only proposes it as a salubrious idea. A century ago there were people who thought art was the thing that could fuse the terms of this seemingly insuperable oxymoron, and no doubt art is part of the formula. But maybe consumerism also has something to teach us about forging an ironic religion
a lesson about learning to choose, about learning the power and consequences, for good or ill, of our ever-expanding palette of choices. Perhaps ... the day will come when the true ironic religion is found, the day when humanity is filled with enough love and imagination and responsibility to become its own god and make a paradise of its world, a paradise of all the right choices. — Alex Shakar

That's the Senate Ethics Committee, an oxymoron since 1973. — Jon Stewart

'Habits & Contradictions' is the prequel to 'Setbacks.' I had all these titles already in my head before I even dropped 'em. Like 'Setbacks,' I knew that was gone be the first one; I knew 'Habits & Contradictions.' I knew 'Oxymoron.' I got two more albums that I already have the title to it, and I know how I'ma play the theme off of it. — Schoolboy Q

As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there is no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are 'lukewarm' are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven. — Francis Chan

dark light. [Not actually an oxymoron. It's the color past ultra-violet. The technical term for it is infrablack. It can be seen quite easily under experimental conditions. To perform the experiment simply select a healthy brick wall with a good run-up, and, lowering your head, charge. The color that flashes in bursts behind your eyes, behind the pain, just before you die, is infra-black.] — Neil Gaiman

Dead Max was the biggest oxymoron in history. — James Patterson

Twenty-three stories up and all I could see out the windows was grey smog. They could call it the City of the Angels if they wanted to, but if there were angels out there, they had to be flying blind. — Laurell K. Hamilton

Bad leadership is an oxymoron. — Joseph C. Rost

Knowledge management is a great oxymoron. — Thomas Petzinger

Pushy bottom--that's a bit of a stereotype."

"A Dom who isn't pushing--that's a bit of an oxymoron," Stunt challenged him. — Lyn Gala

A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to. — Banksy

It's not unsporting to thrash a cowardly cad,' said Simmons. 'Everyone knows you don't fight like a gentleman.'
'That might be called an oxymoron,' Ramses said. 'Oh
sorry. Bad form to use long words. Look it up when you get home.'
The poor devil didn't know how to fight, like a gentleman or otherwise. — Elizabeth Peters

From The Twelve Enlightenments
Observe your own body. It breathes. You breathe when you are asleep, when you are no longer conscious of your own ideas of self-identity. Who, then, is breathing? The collection of information that you mistakenly think it's you is not the main protagonist in this drama called the breath. In fact, you are not breathing; breath is naturally happening to you. You can purposely end your own life, but you cannot purposely keep your own life going. The expression, "My life" is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and mistaken assumption. You don't posses life; life expresses itself through you. Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life. — Ilchi Lee

The phrase 'domestic cat' is an oxymoron. — George Will

There's a FEW THINGS you need to get STRAIGHT about being GAY..."
"That's an OXYmoron."
"You'll be an OXYmoron if you don't listen. GAY men SUCK and FUCK. They don't go around falling in LOVE. At least not with every TOM, DICK and HARRY. — Giorge Leedy

Delhi: This place is inself an oxymoron. — Parul Wadhwa

The concept of an inactive church member is an oxymoron. Biblically, no such church member really exists. — Thom S. Rainer

Ian chuckled. "You know what the world's greatest oxymoron is?" "Happily married," Sid said wearily. — Peter F. Hamilton

An oxymoron? What's that? A moron who studies at Oxford? — Johnny Carson

Small thinking and big dreams is an oxymoron — John Paul Warren

Life is indeed precious and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm that fact. — Edward I. Koch

I took the stairs two at a time. There's a time for decorum and a time to run like a crazed vorpal's after you, except a crazed vorpal's an oxymoron. This was the time to run. — L.E. Modesitt Jr.

That's when I realize that if anyone's an oxymoron, it's me. Or maybe it's anyone who claims to follow Jesus. — Rachel Held Evans

The first is that seemingly small features of social situations can have massive effects on people's behavior; nudges are everywhere, even if we do not see them. Choice architecture, both good and bad, is pervasive and unavoidable, and it greatly affects our decisions. The second claim is that libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. Choice architects can preserve freedom of choice while also nudging people in directions that will improve their lives. — Richard H. Thaler

In a society ...
so madly in love with oxymoron's ...
ask yourself this ...
... when was the last time you ever bought anything for free? — Non Nomen

'Feminist comedy,' practically an oxymoron, had a couple of good years after WWII. Chalk it up to the forced female autonomy that occurred during wartime, when Rosie the Riveter went to work in the factories, constructing the Allies' war machines while taking charge of the finances, the home, and the children. — Grace Slick

You know, my degrees are in computer engineering. I spent a lot of time in the tech industry. And I like to say that I don't invest in tech because I spent time in it. And I saw firsthand that the durability of technology moats is many times an oxymoron. — Mohnish Pabrai

For Tozer, entertainment was simply the Church synchronizing with the world and succumbing to it. It was utter nonsense to him that the Church wanted to bring itself "up to speed" with the world around it. A worldly church was, in Tozer's thinking, an oxymoron and completely anathema. — A.W. Tozer

A cautious creative is an oxymoron. — George Lois

And I have a really great agent and I know it's almost an oxymoron to say you have a smart agent. But she is and she has a beautiful aesthetic and she has guided me. — Patricia Clarkson

You're lying through your fangs," Iggy accused.
Fang tried to play innocent
but "innocent Fang" is an oxymoron, so it didn't work. — James Patterson

The good oxymoron, to define it by a self-illustration, must be a planned inadvertency. — Wilson Follett

The human race is one of the few creatures whom can cry tears. If you look at us we are running around like small insects - all submerged in our own important errands. Everyone blind of whats going on underneath their own noses. We can be compassionate as well as evil. We can love and we can destroy. I will always wonder how the same creature can do both. Oxymoron." Everything Changes, Always. — Adrian Sandvaer

No Muslim is a terrorist. The moment they become terrorists, they are not Muslims anymore, whatever they call themselves. A ' Muslim terrorist' is an oxymoron. — M. T. Panchal

Being both entrepreneurial and social is no longer an oxymoron, but rather a tautology. — Jeremy Rifkin

Let's get one thing out of the way: Mexican immigration is an oxymoron. Mexicans are indigenous. So, in a strange way, I'm pleased that the racist folks of Arizona have
officially declared, in banning me alongside Urrea, Baca, and Castillo, that their anti-immigration laws are also anti-Indian. I'm also strangely pleased that the folks of Arizona
have officially announced their fear of an educated underclass. You give those brown kids some books about brown folks and what happens? Those brown kids change the world. In the effort to vanish our books, Arizona has actually given them enormous power. Arizona has made our books sacred documents now. — Sherman Alexie

The Term "a Criminal Lawyer" Is the Opposite of an Oxymoron — Carsten Stroud

The budget was unlimited, but I exceeded it. — Donald Trump

Private property is redundant. "Public property" is an oxymoron. All legit property is private. If property isn't private it's stolen. — Gustave De Molinari

If Lincoln were alive today he'd be turning over in his grave. — Gerald R. Ford

I learned why 'out riding alone' is an oxymoron: An equestrian is never alone, is always sensing the other being, the mysterious but also understandable living being that is the horse. — Jane Smiley

So about 80 years after the Constitution is ratified, the slaves are freed. Not so you'd really notice it of course; just kinda on paper. And that of course was at the end of the Civil War. Now there is another phrase I dearly love. That is a true oxymoron if I've ever heard one: "Civil War." Do you think anybody in this country could ever really have a civil war? "Say, pardon me?" (shoots gun) "I'm awfully sorry. Awfully sorry." — George Carlin

-perhaps by sitting down to enjoy one of the microwavable organic TV dinners(four words I never expected to see conjoined)stacked in the frozen food case. — Michael Pollan

To me, this was an oxymoron, doing a painting of a dancer. Dancers are always moving. — Jamie Wyeth

A German sense of humor is an oxymoron. — Joan Rivers

I'm a Christian. I believe that greatness has to do with the quality of love shown to the least of thy brethren and the quality of service to those who are catching hell. When you look at it in that sense, I'd say America has had great moments, but I wouldn't call it a great nation. I don't think there have been any great nations in the history of the world, because in every nation you find poor people being subjugated. So, I see the term "great nation" as a contradiction, as an oxymoron. — Cornel West

Isn't a gay Mormon like an oxymoron?'
'Do I look like an oxymoron to you?'
'An oxymormon. — David Ebershoff

Robert Torricelli, a powerful fund-raiser who helped raise more than $100 million for the Democratic party, took inappropriate gifts from a businessman, including an $8,000 gold Rolex watch, for which he was severely admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee in July. To recap: raising $100 million in contributions from gigantic corporations - ethical; taking a watch - unethical. That's the Senate Ethics Committee, an oxymoron since 1974. — Jon Stewart

Let us talk about oxymoron, common sense, for instance. — Lois Greiman

If companies want to benefit from the advantages of social norms, they need to do a better job of cultivating those norms. Medical benefits, and in particular comprehensive medical coverage, are among the best ways a company can express its side of the social exchange. But what are many companies doing? They are demanding high deductibles in their insurance plans, and at the same time are reducing the scope of benefits. Simply put, they are undermining the social contract between the company and the employees and replacing it with market norms. As companies tilt the board, and employees slide from social norms to the realm of market norms, can we blame them for jumping ship when a better offer appears? It's really no surprise that "corporate loyalty," in terms of the loyalty of employees to their companies, has become an oxymoron. — Dan Ariely

I find the term 'perfect child' to be an oxymoron. — Barbara Park

I'm still agnostic. But in the words of Elton Richards, I'm now a reverant agnostic. Which isn't an oxymoron, I swear. I now believe that whether or not there's a God, there is such a thing as sacredness. Life is sacred. The Sabbath can be a sacred day. Prayer can be a sacred ritual. There is something transcendent, beyond the everyday. It's possible that humans created this sacredness ourselves, but that doesn't take away from its power or importance. — A. J. Jacobs

Independent film is not only an oxymoron; it doesn't exist anymore. — Martha Plimpton

The term congressional hearing is an oxymoron. No congressional hearing is ever called to gather information. Rather, it is an exercise designed strictly for posturing, by people who have already made up their minds, looking for ammunition to support their positions. — Jack McDevitt

Subjective truth is an oxymoron; objective truth is redundant. Subjective truth is feathers in a wind tunnel, blowing anywhere and everywhere. Objective truth is an anvil, bolted to the floor of the wind tunnel. Subjective truth is your truth and my truth; objective truth is Jesus Christ - immovable, immutable. — Ron Brackin

Conceptual art' is an oxymoron. Concepts are articulations of fact or supposition, not attributes of quality. — Walter Darby Bannard

The very concept of an Iranian university is an oxymoron. There are no free and open places of learning in that repressive theocracy. Dissenters are not given tenure; they are murdered, after first being tortured. Blasphemy, which is broadly defined, is punished. Gays are not only excluded from Iranian universities, but are imprisoned and killed. — Alan Dershowitz

Emotional intelligence, the perfect oxymoron! — David Nicholls

Cats were not and are not tool makers the way humans became toolmakers. They are specifically adapted as obligate carnivores, This means the vegetarian cat is an oxymoron at best and a blatant lie at worst. Cats need meat. The concept of a Garden of Eden would be rather atrocious to them. — Leviak B. Kelly

Why don't you pair'em up in threes? — Yogi Berra

Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have. — John C. Maxwell

And there's no figuring out the unknowable. And there's some kind of oxymoron in that that's more moron than anything else. — Sarah Mussi

Life plays a role of oxymoron. You can't predict the actual sense of it unless you feel it. — Bhavik Sarkhedi

The phrase "a little genetic test" strikes me as an oxymoron. — Veronica Roth

The whole notion of passwords is based on an oxymoron. The idea is to have a random string that is easy to remember. Unfortunately, if it's easy to remember, it's something nonrandom like 'Susan.' And if it's random, like 'r7U2*Qnp,' then it's not easy to remember. — Bruce Schneier

The notion of children being "kindergarten ready" is a bizarre oxymoron. It's like saying you have to know how to play the piano before you can learn how to play the piano. — Peter Campbell

See, it's just a matter of looking at the lines and doing the math." "Ugh, more math. I do enough of that as it is." He laughed. "But this is fun math." "Fun math is an oxymoron." Kile — Kiera Cass

A "communist/socialist/progressive" is an oxymoron, like an "atheist/evangelical Christian/Muslim." — Hendrik Hertzberg

Sometimes, Lord, one is tempted to say that if you wanted us to behave like the lilies of the field you might have given us an organization more like theirs. But that, I suppose, is just your...grand enterprise. To make an organism which is also a spirit; to make that terrible oxymoron, a 'spiritual animal.' To take a poor primate, a beast with nerve-endings all over it, a creature with a stomach that wants to be filled, a breeding animal that wants its mate, and say, 'Now get on with it. Become a god. — C.S. Lewis

Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial. — George Will

The most formidable way to lead is to serve. And while the perplexing oxymoron of such a grinding statement absolutely cripples us, it birthed a Savior. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

Dante thought a state of eternal, rapturous contemplation, and few have proffered more specifics than that. Post-redemption theology seems an oxymoron. — Terryl L. Givens

Sadly, I don't really believe in the idea of timeless fashion. It's an oxymoron. If 'classic fashion' really never changed, we'd all still be wearing togas. — Russell Smith

As long as one writes only for oneself, writing is a free act by means of which, to use an oxymoron, one secretly opens oneself. — Elena Ferrante

An honest politician is an oxymoron. — Mark Twain

- activity holidays are a whatsit. Contradiction in terms."
"Oxymoron."
I flipped him a finger. "Same to you with knobs on. — J.L. Merrow