--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If only all the contradictory voices…" description: "\"If only all the contradictory voices shouting in my head would calm down and sing a song in unison, whatever it was I wouldn't care as long as they san..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e35/ralph-ellison-2676_calm_if-only-all-the-contradictory-voices-sho_1402994.png" --- # If only all the contradictory voices shouting in my head… ![“If only all the contradictory voices shouting in my head would calm down and sing a song in unison, whatever it was I wouldn't care as long as they sang without dissonance.” quote by Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e35/ralph-ellison-2676_calm_if-only-all-the-contradictory-voices-sho_1402994.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e35/ralph-ellison-2676_calm_if-only-all-the-contradictory-voices-sho_1402994.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e35/ralph-ellison-2676_calm_if-only-all-the-contradictory-voices-sho_1402994.png) > “If only all the contradictory voices shouting in my head would calm down and sing a song in unison, whatever it was I wouldn't care as long as they sang without dissonance.” [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Inner conflict subsides when opposing thoughts harmonize, reducing distress. **In simple terms:** Calmness comes from mental harmony. Key Takeaway Seek inner harmony. Themes conflict mindfulness inner peace Mood contemplative reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - meditation - creative writing - decision making - stressful work environments Key Concepts psychology cognitive dissonance self‑regulation Questions to Reflect On - What thoughts are clashing inside you? - How can you foster mental unity? A Different Perspective Harmony may be elusive without addressing underlying issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Calm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calm/) [Calm down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calm-down/) [Calm Sing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calm-sing-4922639/) [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Contradictory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictory/) [Contradictory Voices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictory-voices-4243470/) [Dissonance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dissonance/) [Down and](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/down-and/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Sang Dissonance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sang-dissonance-4922637/) [Shouting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shouting/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Unison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unison/) [Unison Wouldn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unison-wouldn-4922638/) [Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voice/) ## Related quotes > [“Why is history uncontested here? 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It was like hearing a piece of fabric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/they-sang-the-words-in-unison-yet-somehow-created-a-web-of-sounds/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If it works, it works,' Kat told him. 'And if it doesn't?' he asked. She looked at him. 'If it doesn't, then I've heard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ally-carter/if-it-works-it-works-kat-told-him-and-if-it-doesn-t-he-asked-she/) [Ally Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ally-carter/) > [The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/the-dream-was-always-running-ahead-of-me-to-catch-up-to-live-for-a/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [In response to skyrocketing gas prices, liberals say, practically in unison, 'We can't drill our way out of this crisis.' What does that mean?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/in-response-to-skyrocketing-gas-prices-liberals-say-practically-in/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [Oh, what a catastrophe for man when he cut himself off from the rhythm of the year, from his unison with the sun and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/oh-what-a-catastrophe-for-man-when-he-cut-himself-off-from-the-rhythm/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [For I am I: ergo, the truth of myself; my own sphinx, conflict, chaos, vortex—asymmetric to all rhythms, oblique to all paths. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-osman-spare/for-i-am-i-ergo-the-truth-of-myself-my-own-sphinx-conflict-chaos/) [Austin Osman Spare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-osman-spare/) > [Gauguin flew into a frenzy! He held my head under the X-ray machine for ten straight minutes and for several hours after I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/gauguin-flew-into-a-frenzy-he-held-my-head-under-the-x-ray-machine/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [The Chains of conformity click in tiresomely monotonous unison.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-sweet/the-chains-of-conformity-click-in-tiresomely-monotonous-unison/) [Leonard Sweet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-sweet/) ## More by Ralph Ellison > [“Civil wars...are the best wars for the writer...because they have a way of continuing long afterwl wars between nations are resolved; because, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/civil-wars-are-the-best-wars-for-the-writer-because-they-have-a-way/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“But what a feeling can come over a man just from seeing the things he believes in and hopes for symbolized in the concrete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/but-what-a-feeling-can-come-over-a-man-just-from-seeing-the-things-he/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [I suspect that all the agony that goes into writing is borne precisely because the writer longs for acceptance-but it must be acceptance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/i-suspect-that-all-the-agony-that-goes-into-writing-is-borne/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Everywhere I've turned somebody has wanted to sacrifice me for my own good—only /they/ were the ones who benefited. 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On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-practice-mindfulness-on-the-one-hand-to-be-calm-and-peaceful-on/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“After the storm, reigns the calm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simdi-onuora/after-the-storm-reigns-the-calm/) [Simdi Onuora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simdi-onuora/) > [So mightiest powers buy deepest calms are fed, And sleep, how oft, in things that gentlest be!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-procter/so-mightiest-powers-buy-deepest-calms-are-fed-and-sleep-how-oft-in/) [Bryan Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-procter/) > [KEEP CALM and HAVE A SUGAR CUBE](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/keep-calm-and-have-a-sugar-cube/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [To practice Aikido fully you must calm the spirit and go back to the origin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morihei-ueshiba/to-practice-aikido-fully-you-must-calm-the-spirit-and-go-back-to-the/) [Morihei Ueshiba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morihei-ueshiba/) > [You imagine that I look back on my life's work with calm satisfaction. But from nearby it looks quite different. There is not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/you-imagine-that-i-look-back-on-my-life-s-work-with-calm-satisfaction/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Don't get divorced after your first argument! I have a lot of friends that have one fight and that's it, they get divorced. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-ripa/don-t-get-divorced-after-your-first-argument-i-have-a-lot-of-friends/) [Kelly Ripa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-ripa/) > [The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages, only then will Israel be calm for the next 40 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ben-ari/the-goal-of-the-operation-is-to-send-gaza-back-to-the-middle-ages/) [Michael Ben-Ari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ben-ari/) > [No physiologist who calmly considers the question in connection with the general truths of his science, can long resist the conviction that different parts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/no-physiologist-who-calmly-considers-the-question-in-connection-with/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. 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