Top 40 Counterproductive Quotes

The NBA actually encourages balanced living. Realistically, basketball only takes up about six hours of your day before it becomes 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.

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.

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.

I’ve found that if I tell somebody ‘Eat this and don’t do that,’ it’s not only not helpful, it’s counterproductive because even more than being healthy, we want to feel free and in control, and as soon as somebody tells us to do something, there’s a tendency to do just the opposite.

Only one time have I had Twitter open when I was doing a game, and after that I took it off my phone. I said, ‘This is so counterproductive. I’m actually reacting to people reacting to what I’m saying, and it can’t work that way.’

Trying to balance the budget through defense cuts is both counterproductive and impossible.

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.

We need to end our country’s counterproductive regime change war policies that have undermined our national security, destroyed so many countries, and taken so many lives. We must instead focus on investing in and rebuilding our communities right here at home.

We’ve all seen comedians look like they’re reaching just a little bit too much for the laugh. This is counterproductive. The conceit of standup is that it is effortless, which makes the prospect of generating new comedy a tricky one: you are trying to be funny without looking like you are trying to be funny.

Confidence-building is not something that can go on forever. If it goes on forever then it becomes counterproductive.

Any debate among politicians about monetary policy is counterproductive.

Because war is a competition involving life and death, and in which national security and vital interests are at stake, establishing an objective other than winning is not only counterproductive, but also irresponsible and wasteful. In some circumstances, it is also unethical.

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.

Posturing is counterproductive. Posturing only works if things are screwed up.

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.

We’ve observed that people who stall in their personal growth work often have counterproductive soft addictions that stand in their way of growth and having the life they say they want. It can be a simple thing, such as watching TV instead of finishing a project.

It is to be regretted when internal considerations determine a counterproductive and irresponsible foreign policy.

Dwelling too much on the past, other than to learn specific things is counterproductive for me.

Actually, to be an effective person politically in this country, I think you have to be thirty or over, and also you have to be rich, well-placed, you have to be close to power. And I don’t think that young people, because they look young, can do much, as I think they are counterproductive.

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.

If the idea of separate human races is a mistake to begin with, then monoracial forms of identification are fictitious and counterproductive.

It would be counterproductive to tell people exactly what they are supposed to do and exactly how they are supposed to do it to a point where they become more concerned about your expectations than about completing their work in a quality way.

Sanctions historically are quite counterproductive in the sense that if you impose sanctions on your enemy, it tends to strengthen your enemy.

The war on terror, sometimes known as the ‘Global War on Terror’ or by the clunky acronym GWOT, became the lens through which the Bush administration judged almost all of its foreign policy decisions. That proved to be dangerously counterproductive on several levels.

A total nuclear freeze is counterproductive – especially now, when technology is rapidly changing and the Soviets have some important strategic advantages.

Tackling the environment should not be a licence to lecture people, because they have no excuse not to exercise, or eat their fruit and vegetables. Nannying – at least among adults – is likely to be counterproductive. Providing information is empowering; lecturing people is not. So, no excuses, no nannying.

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.

People think that you can save calories by eating fewer meals a day, but it works just the opposite: the fewer meals you eat, the more counterproductive it becomes to you being able to lose weight.

Regardless of how deplorable Trump is, using violence and physical attacks against his supporters is unacceptable and grossly counterproductive.

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.

In a sense, by closing off the idea that young Muslims, and particularly young Muslim men, can be American heroes, it increases the chance that they’ll try to be some other kind of hero. And that, I think, is entirely counterproductive.

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 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.

Attempts to settle crises by unilateral sanctions outside the framework of U.N. Security Council decisions threaten international peace and stability. Such attempts are counterproductive and contradict the norms and principles of international law.

I think most people don’t react well to being screamed at. It’s counterproductive.

We can agree that keeping serious criminals in prison is an effective means of preserving public safety, but we must also recognize that the axiom of ‘putting people in jail and throwing away the key’ does not apply to all offenders universally and can actually be counterproductive.

Whether one believes or not, religion is as real a force in the life of the world as economics or politics, and it demands fair-minded attention. Even if you think the entire religious enterprise is at best misguided and at worst counterproductive, it remains vital, inspiring great good and, sometimes, great evil.

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.

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.