60 Inconsistency Quotes About Our Paradoxical Lives

Consistency is an important skill when it comes to many things in life, and these inconsistency quotes illustrate why.

When we say someone is being inconsistent, it means that they do not behave in the same manner every time a similar situation occurs.

Inconsistency can cause problems in several areas of our lives, like parenting and relationships.

Your children are much more likely to learn a lesson if your boundaries are consistent.

Romantic partners and friends will feel more comfortable opening up to you if they can predict your behavior to some degree.

Inconsistency is also a problem in the workplace.

As an employee, your job is much easier when you know how your manager reacts and what they expect.

From a management perspective, it can be much easier to rely on someone who you know will get the job done with little drama and the outcome will be acceptable.

Having that employee who does unbelievable work some of the time, and less than stellar work the rest of the time can be frustrating.

This leaves people often asking two questions.

The first is, “How can I work on being less inconsistent?”

The second is, “Is inconsistency really that bad?”

Keep reading through these inconsistency quotes to find out!

Don’t forget to also check out these consistency quotes to show you how persistence pays off.

Also, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily wisdom. 

See the rest of our quote database for even more inspirational ideas and thoughts.

Short inconsistency quotes

1. “Inconsistency itself breeds vitality.” ― Kenzo Tange

You will also enjoy our article on Confused Quotes.

2. “The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.” ― James C. Collins

3. “One cannot live without inconsistency.” ― Carl Jung

4. “An inconsistency is built into the design of our mind.” ― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

5. “I’m not a fan of inconsistency.” ― Colleen Hoover

6. “Hard to trust the honesty of the inconsistent person.” ― Toba Beta

7. “Inconsistency is the jewel of the American people.” ― Susan B. Anthony

8. “To be honest, one must be inconsistent.” — H. G. Wells

9. “Inconsistency has been overpraised by people who do not expect to suffer from it.” ― Mason Cooley

10. “You cannot perform in a manner inconsistent with the way you see yourself.” — Zig Ziglar

Inconsistency quotes about consistency

11. “Inconsistency is the only thing in which men are consistent.” ― Horace Smith

12. “There is nothing constant in this world but inconsistency.” ― Jonathan Swift

13. “As far as consistency of thought goes, I prefer inconsistency.” ― John Cage

14. “A little inconsistency. We’re really young, trying to find some consistency.” ― Nick Adams

15. “I’m as proud of my inconsistencies as I am of my consistencies.” — Myles Horton

16. “The man who sees consistency in things is a wit; the man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist.” ― G. K. Chesterton

17. “A widespread meticulous consistency causes a bigger suspicion than the most obvious inconsistency does.” ― Pawan Mishra, Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy

18. “Psychotics are consistently inconsistent. The essence of sanity is to be inconsistently inconsistent.” — Larry Wall

19. “The problem with being consistent is that there are lots of ways to be consistent, and they’re all inconsistent with each other.” — Larry Wall

20. “Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently, and he lapsed ere long into an amiable indifferentism which to outward appearance differed but little from the indifferentism…” ― Samuel Butler

Inconsistent quotes about love and life

21. “It’s the real world, full of gaps and inconsistencies and anticlimaxes.” — Haruki Murakami

22. “Such is the inconsistency of real love, that it is always awake to suspicion, however unreasonable; always requiring new assurances from the object of its interest.” — Ann Radcliffe

23. “If you mix a negative attitude with chaos and sprinkle a little inconsistency over the top, you are almost guaranteed to fail.” — Shannon Sorrels

24. “Inconsistency, incompetence, and lies are all cut short by the ground. It will stop you if you can’t stop yourself.” — Mark Twight

25. “Inconsistency is the bugbear of fools! I wouldn’t give a damn for a fellow who couldn’t change his mind with a change of conditions.” — John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher

26. “I have sporadic OCD cleaning moments around the house. But then I get lazy and I’m cured. It’s a very inconsistent personality trait.” — Chris Hemsworth

27. “If they say I am inconsistent, let them say it, for it is true, because inconsistency is a part of living.” — Errol Flynn

28. “By inconsistency and frivolity we stray from the Way and show ourselves to be beginners. In this we do much harm.” — Yamamoto Tsunetomo

29. “Real life is messy, inconsistent, and it’s seldom when anything ever really gets resolved. It’s taken me a long time to realize that.” — Alan Moore

30. “We all think we know what happens after death. But maybe it’s going to be not only weird but also dorky and comic and inconsistent.” — George Saunders

Inconsistency quotes about humanity and nature

31. “And everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters.” — Jane Austen

32. “I’m inconsistent because I’m human.” — Daniel Tammet

33. “Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.” — Joseph Addison

34. “Do not be proud of your inconsistency. It is a pity, it is a pity that we should be equipped like this. It is a pity that Man cannot be at the same time impressive and truthful.” — E. M. Forster

35. “There is no lapse in His character or inconsistency in His nature. Our God is everything he says He is … for now and all eternity.” — Matt Redman

36. “Nothing that isn’t a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency.” — Joseph Addison

37. “On a wrong road, inconsistency is inevitable; if it were not so, mankind would be sacrificed. A false principle never has been, and never will be, carried out to the end.” — Frederic Bastiat

38. “For, so inconsistent is human nature, especially in the ideal, that not to undertake a thing at all seems better than to undertake and come short.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe

39. “It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.” — Thomas B. Macaulay

40. “Naturalism aimed at giving the primitive wishes full play but failed because these wishes are too primitive, too infantile, too inconsistent with themselves to be satisfied even by the greatest license.” — John Desmond Bernal

Praise for inconsistency quotes

41. “The inconsistency of genius is a consistent theme of creativity.” — Jonah Lehrer

42. “We are never more true to ourselves than when we are inconsistent.” — Oscar Wilde

43. “Of course, I’m inconsistent! Only logicians and cretins are consistent!” — Tom Robbins

44. “Nature is full for us of seeming inconsistencies and glad surprises.” — Margaret E. Barber

45. “No sensible man ever imputes inconsistency to another for changing his minds.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

46. “There are those who would misteach us that to stick in a rut is consistency – and a virtue, and that to climb out of the rut is inconsistency – and a vice.” — Mark Twain

47. “Only when you give up being consistent will you find the truth! Inconsistency makes you free to discover other roads.” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

48. “Tolstoy’s so-called inconsistencies were a sign of his development and his passionate regard for truth.” — Mahatma Gandhi

49. “Inconsistency is a great door for the change and for the progression! Never hesitate to be inconsistent!” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

50. “The personality is defined by its inconsistencies, not its consistencies. It’s what makes us unique and who we are.” — Sherrilyn Kenyon

Inconsistency Quotes and Sayings

51. “Hard to trust honesty of inconsistent person.” — Toba Beta

52. “My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given moment.” — Mahatma Gandhi

53. “In practice, such trifles as contradictions in principle are easily set aside; the faculty of ignoring them makes the practical man.” — Henry Adams

54. “The writer who’s afraid to contradict himself will never write anything.” ― Marty Rubin

55. “Superficiality results in vacillating inconsistency, and emotions for the narcissistic person range from intense to detached on a regular basis.” — Ramani Durvasula

56. “An inconsistent political philosophy is that which feeds our battle yet starves our victory.”
― Mike Klepper

57. ” We despise all reverences and all objects of reverence which are outside the pale of our list of sacred things. And yet, with strange inconsistency, we are shocked when other people despise and defile the things which are holy to us.” — Mark Twain

58. “Every character is in some respects uniform, and in others inconsistent.” — Fulke Greville

59. The bull’s eye is located dead center in our inconsistency. That’s where the enemy plans to bring us down.” — Beth Moore

60. “This imputation of inconsistency is one to which every sound politician and every honest thinker must sooner or later subject himself. The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinion.” — James Rusell

Answering questions about inconsistency

If you want to improve your level of consistency, there are a few steps you can start implementing today.

They are not difficult steps, but they will take some commitment and retrospection on your part.

The first step is to clearly state your priorities, using your vision and goals.

This is true for both work and your personal life.

Once you know what your priorities are, treat them as such.

This means they should be the focal point used to make decisions on how to spend your time.

Your actions should match whatever your priorities are.

You can use a tool called “see-say” to help stay aligned with this.

What other people see you do, should match the words you say.

Consistency will help you gain momentum.

Now, you might have noticed that some of these inconsistency quotes point to some advantages or good reasons to be inconsistent.

That leaves many people wondering if inconsistency is really a bad thing.

I think the idea here is that life is paradoxical and complex.

It can be hard to hold a single viewpoint in every situation, and the ability to think outside the box, or change your mind is highly sought after.

I think behaviors like hard work, accountability, time management, and goal setting are things that need to remain consistent.

As are values like kindness, gratitude, and empathy.

However, I can see the benefits of acknowledging that contradiction is necessary for growth and change.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these inconsistency quotes and sayings?

Do you think that inconsistency is a bad thing?

Let us know in the comment section below.