Top 138 Counterproductive Quotes & Sayings
Explore popular Counterproductive quotes.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
It's counterproductive to blither on about "the" future. It's always somebody's future, and we're not who we used to be.
Race is a constant factor in American life. Yet reacting to every incident,real or imagined, is crippling, tiring, and ultimately counterproductive.
guilt politics ... I regard as conveniently paralyzing, ripe for backlash defensiveness, counterproductive, and boring.
We have tried to change regimes through a variety of means - over 80 times, by some estimates. Many of these efforts were counterproductive to U.S. interests.
A total nuclear freeze is counterproductive - especially now, when technology is rapidly changing and the Soviets have some important strategic advantages.
Everything that the administration has done has been counterproductive.
There's nothing wrong with having goals, but obsessing over them is often counterproductive because, in reality, achieving a goal isn't always what it's cracked up to be.
Trying to balance the budget through defense cuts is both counterproductive and impossible.
I certainly agree that putting everything into little genres is counterproductive. You're not going to get too many surprises if you only focus on the stuff that fits inside the box that you know.
I thought of telling him that if it wasn't for Oklahoman cowboys and Mexican whores having a bit of fun, there would've been no Texans, but that would be counterproductive.
Internal fights between various agencies, i.e. between the CIA and FBI, are highly counterproductive.
It's a terrible and tragic and counterproductive policy to avoid communicating with people who disagree with us.
The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they're an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good.
Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.
I guess I found the life as a musician too counterproductive, as so much time was spent in tour buses & remote hotel rooms. As I am moderately hyperactive, this didn't suit my temper.
I think it's counterproductive in many ways to pretend to know things you don't. You surround yourself with people who are the real experts.
The implication that depressed people are fundamentally irresponsible is a deeply damaging and counterproductive one. Winston Churchill was a depressive. He didn't just fly planes; he was in charge of the Royal Air Force.
Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive . . . [It] reeks with injustice, and is fundamentally un-American
One of the unwritten rules in a presidential news conference is that he'll answer questions. If he chooses not to, there's not much you can do about it other than make yourself look like an idiot screaming, which to me is counterproductive.
I think it's counterproductive for actors to come to the set with well-thumbed copies of the book their film is adapted from.
The habit of going to your congressman's town hall and asking questions, that's powerful in a way that shouting slogans or getting arrested is not, that is completely counterproductive.
The new Rwanda is about building an economy that delivers prosperity and opportunity for our citizens based on a robust private sector. Foreign adventures would be costly and counterproductive distractions from these challenging objectives.
I think most people don't react well to being screamed at. It's counterproductive.
It's counterproductive and self-destructive to bear grudges with people that are negative.
It is to be regretted when internal considerations determine a counterproductive and irresponsible foreign policy.
Firing someone who is investigating you is a counterproductive strategy.
Posturing is counterproductive. Posturing only works if things are screwed up.
If the idea of separate human races is a mistake to begin with, then monoracial forms of identification are fictitious and counterproductive.
When you are in the public eye, it is really counterproductive to think about how you're viewed in the eyes of others. You just have to be who you are.
Many years spent listening to the tribulations of man have persuaded me that the satisfaction of all desires is completely counterproductive to happiness. Instant and unrestrained gratification is the shortest and most direct route to unhappiness.
It was easy for some to jump on the Brexit result and use it to make a land-grab for Northern Ireland, and it was counterproductive.
Regardless of how deplorable Trump is, using violence and physical attacks against his supporters is unacceptable and grossly counterproductive.
Life teaches us that human thought almost never walks hand in hand with logic, and it is usually counterproductive to raise the point.
Flaky devotionalism, bowing and scraping and sucking up to the teacher is very phony. It is counterproductive to enlightenment and spiritual development. What is necessary is mutual respect.
Certainly, the Bush Administration will rely in the first instance on its friends, since it would be both illogical and counterproductive to reward its adversaries.
Unbounded morality ultimately becomes counterproductive even in terms of the same moral principles being sought. The law of diminishing returns applies to morality.
Confidence-building is not something that can go on forever. If it goes on forever then it becomes counterproductive.
Many are outspoken about the climate crisis, but conveniently ignore the fact that support for fossil fuels is not just incompatible with curbing emissions but dangerously counterproductive.
I believe that the boycott that we have against Cuba is counterproductive, and it also makes the twelve million or so Cuban people suffer unnecessarily just because of a foolish policy of the United States.
What makes it possible for politicians to do so many things that are economically counterproductive is that neither the public nor the media know enough of the basics to understand what's wrong with what they're saying.
I never had a policy about marriage. I got married very young in life and I always think in all relationships, I've always thought that it's counterproductive to have a theory on that.
When your victimhood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy, and working on 'individual change' becomes counterproductive, even dangerous to your identity.
Many countries, even socialist Sweden and former communist Russia, have done away with their death taxes. They found the confiscation of wealth at death to be counterproductive.
I learned from Jehovah's Witnesses that a fatalistic view is counterproductive.
Displays of force in response to mostly peaceful demonstrations can be counterproductive.
Any debate among politicians about monetary policy is counterproductive.
I would need to see changes in the Iraq governance. Otherwise I don't think strikes are going to have any impact and could be very well counterproductive.
Independent self-reliant people would be a counterproductive anachronism in the collective society of the future where people will be defined by their associations.
I believe employment regulations for women, whereby the prospective employer is not able to inquire about the interviewee's status regarding children, childcare, or indeed their intention of becoming a parent, are counterproductive.
Dwelling too much on the past, other than to learn specific things is counterproductive for me.
I think the core problem is much closer to recognizing where force is of value, where it is useful, and to distinguish that from situations in which war is not useful or is indeed counterproductive.
The NBA actually encourages balanced living. Realistically, basketball only takes up about six hours of your day before it becomes counterproductive.
We should clearly understand that only the voluntary and conscientious acceptance by a people of its guilt can ensure the healing of a nation. Unremitting reproaches from outside are counterproductive.
This modern mania for interfering in other's lives, usually under the guise of health and safety concerns, is highly irritating and counterproductive. Down with the nanny state.
I think it is inflationary. I think it actually is counterproductive in many ways. You end up costing jobs from people who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Vision without implementation is counterproductive.
Earmarks are counterproductive tools for entrenched politicians to shut down debate and buy votes.
I know that the writers I read and admire all have an influence on my work, but trying to determine to what degree any particular piece of input changes the way I think about writing seems counterproductive.
Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.
People, I think, are more interested in being offended than getting to the heart of a situation. And to go after comedians to me is so counterproductive, because comedy is kind of a medicine.
