They say it takes two to tango—but it also takes two to have an argument.
Psychologists believe that having conflicts is healthy for all types of relationships. This is because of the resolution that comes afterwards. You get to settle your differences and open your minds to accept other perspectives.
Resolving conflicts enhances your ability to be more flexible and considerate, and also improves your listening and understanding skills. Hearing and listening to what the other person has to say is crucial in maintaining a healthy relationship.
In this post, we have gathered the best conflict quotes that can help you resolve arguments in your life. These quotes are from prominent people who believe that conflicts are meant to be resolved.
But before we go to these quotes, let us first discuss how reading them can help you deal with your future conflicts.
Why Read Conflict Quotes?
All relationships have their ups and downs. There are times when conflicts are inevitable and the only thing left to do is compromise.
But it’s not always easy to compromise and reconcile with someone. Sometimes, pride gets in the way, and you’d rather not talk to that particular person for hours, days, or even weeks. It’s hard
to admit that you may have bee wrong—or, even if you were right, that you were too harsh in standing your ground.
This is where conflict quotes come in. Reading these quotes can make you feel a lot better, especially when dealing with the other person. They will help you realize that there’s nothing wrong with having conflicts, and that there’s always a way to solve them.
Reading conflict quotes—especially those from prominent figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Desmond Tutu—can help you remember what it means to be human. It’s all right to feel the way you do, because your feelings are valid. And ultimately, they can help you resolve your conflicts and move on with life.
And so, without further ado, let’s check out these quotes!
- “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” – William James
- “Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” – Ronald Reagan
- “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine
- “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.” – William Ellery Channing
- “When you have a conflict, that means that there are truths that have to be addressed on each side of the conflict. And when you have a conflict, then it's an educational process to try to resolve the conflict. And to resolve that, you have to get people on both sides of the conflict involved so that they can dialogue.” – Dolores Huerta
- “Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose, and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war.” – William S. Burroughs
- “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.” – Lao Tzu
- “Conflict is good in a negotiation process… it's the clash of two ideas, which then, all being well, produces a third idea.” – Luke Roberts
- “There's no story if there isn't some conflict. The memorable things are usually not how pulled together everybody is. I think everybody feels lonely and trapped sometimes. I would think it's more or less the norm.” – Wes Anderson
- “Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago.” – Horace Mann
- “Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out. In Paradise, there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.” – Margaret Atwood
- “There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success.” – Phil Knight
- “I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people's lives when they go in one direction, not another.” – Joyce Carol Oates
- “God's love is too great to be confined to any one side of a conflict or to any one religion.” – Desmond Tutu
- “Two conflicting forces cannot exist in one human heart. When doubt reigns, faith cannot abide. Where hatred rules, love is crowded out. Where selfishness rules, there love cannot dwell. When worry is present, trust cannot crowd its way in.” – Billy Graham
- “It takes two to keep the marriage vow. It takes two to have an agreement. It takes two to resolve conflict. Bottom line? Both of you need to want to work it out.” – Tabitha M.
- “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” – M. Scott Peck
- “Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.” – Saul Alinsky
- “The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself.” – Garth Brooks
- “Conflict is the beginning of consciousness.” – M. Esther Harding
- “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” – Marian Wright Edelman
- “Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to a greater depth of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities, which flourish in the tensions that engender them.” – Karl Jaspers
- “You can’t comfort the afflicted without afflicting the comfortable.” – Princess Diana
- “It is the eternal struggle between these two principles—right and wrong. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. It is the same spirit that says, ”You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Instead of suppressing conflicts, specific channels could be created to make this conflict explicit, and specific methods could be set up by which the conflict is resolved.” – Albert Low
- “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie
- “I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” – Elie Weisel
- “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
- “It's always more interesting to take on someone that's going to have hidden sides or a fatal flaw because there's going to be more to play with – more conflict, internally or in and around them – but it's probably the thing of finding the positive in there.” – Aidan Gillen
- “Nagasaki and Hiroshima remind us to put peace first every day; to work on conflict prevention and resolution, reconciliation, and dialogue; and to tackle the roots of conflict and violence.” – Antonio Guterres
- “Conflict is very much a state of mind. If you’re not in that state of mind, it doesn’t bother you.” – Yotam Ottolenghi
- “Be leery of silence. It doesn't mean you won the argument. Often, people are just busy reloading their guns.” – Shannon L. Alder
- “We don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.” – Steve Goodier
- “Respectful communication under conflict or opposition is an essential and truly awe-inspiring ability.” – Bryant McGill
- “Conflict can and should be handled constructively; when it is, relationships benefit. Conflict avoidance is *not* the hallmark of a good relationship. On the contrary, it is a symptom of serious problems and of poor communication.” – Harriet B. Braiker
- “Bravery is the choice to show up and listen to another person, be it a loved one or perceived foe, even when it is uncomfortable, painful, or the last thing you want to do.” – Alaric Hutchinson
- “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Winston Churchill
- “A willingness to trust and openly listen to alternative ideas and views is essential for collaboration to be successful.” – Dale Eilerman
- “If we manage conflict constructively, we harness its energy for creativity and development.” – Kenneth Kaye
- “In a conflict, being willing to change allows you to move from a point of view to a viewing point—a higher, more expansive place, from which you can see both sides.” – Thomas Crum
- “At the heart of every story is conflict – whether external or internal, make it a good one, and remember that this problem is going to shape your character, leaving her forever changed.” – Jennifer McMahon
- “Basically, every character I’ve ever played, I’ve based entirely on internal conflict. And I love doing that because I think it’s very human.” – James McAvoy
- “I think what makes people fascinating is conflict, it’s drama, it’s the human condition. Nobody wants to watch perfection.” – Nicolas Cage
- “Life feels more vivid in a conflict zone. It is clear what matters, and who you can count on, for what.” – Alan Huffman
- “The best fiction is geared towards conflict. We learn most about our characters through tension when they are put up against insurmountable obstacles. This is true in real life.” – Sufjan Stevens
- “Reconciliation is wonderful, but it’s not always possible, because it depends on a godly response from both parties. Forgiveness however depends only on us. We can forgive even if the offending party is unresponsive.” – Michael Hare
- “Conformity is painful. You know, it's too tight. Conformity leads to rebellion. So a desire for happiness is in direct conflict with a desire for freedom.” – Thomas Jane
- “We have the potential to help people out of poverty, out of disease, out of slavery and out of conflict. Too often, we turn the other way because we think there's nothing we can do.” – Alicia Keys
- “Great art is the expression of a solution of the conflict between the demands of the world without and that within.” – Edith Hamilton
- “To be on the same page, we need to be in the same book.” – Rahul Guhathakurta
- “Conflict forces us to be fully present because it shatters our ego—stripping away all hope of escape or sugar coating. It removes everything that is nonessential to our authentic being; it removes all superficial layers. Conflict is painful because it wakes us up out of our created illusions. And if we lean into it, conflict can be the catalyst to our enlightenment.” – Alison Hutchinson
- “I don’t think anyone ever gets completely used to conflict. If it’s not a little uncomfortable, then it’s not real. The key is to keep doing it anyway.” – Patrick Lencioni
Final Thoughts on Conflict Quotes
Having conflicts with other people is part of the human experience. If you feel like you don’t agree with what someone has to say, don’t be afraid to voice your opinions. Your feelings are valid and there is no need to be scared.
However, it is important to know that after the conflict, there has to be a resolution. Don’t let your feelings fester inside of you. Instead, find a common ground and work things out. As the old saying goes, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.”
And if you want more eye-opening quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 105 Empathy Quotes That Demonstrate Compassion for Others
- 91 Ungrateful Quotes for Dealing with Thankless People
- 73 Haters Quotes for Dealing with Negative People
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
