Antimetabole

<h2 id="etymology">Etymology</h2>
It is derived from the <a href="/facts/Greek_language/pzDd6eIz">Greek</a> ἀντιμεταβολή (antimetabolḗ), from ἀντί (antí, 'against, opposite') and μεταβολή (metabolḗ, 'turning about, change').

<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
<ul><li>"<a href="/facts/Unus_pro_omnibus%2c_omnes_pro_uno/QhGQfcCm">Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno</a>" ("One for all, all for one")</li>
<li>"Eat to live, do not live to eat." —<a href="/facts/Socrates/djIKjImv">Socrates</a> (presumably)</li>
<li>"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." —<a href="/facts/John_F._Kennedy/1cdDaswg">John F. Kennedy</a>, 1961 inaugural address</li>
<li>"There is no 'way to peace'. Peace is the way." —<a href="/facts/A._J._Muste/sUQSlFr3">A. J. Muste</a></li>
<li>"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." —<a href="/facts/Mark_2/YUQmqFgm">Mark 2:27</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a></li>
<li>"<a href="/facts/When_the_going_gets_tough%2c_the_tough_get_going/Y94daQRr">When the going gets tough, the tough get going</a>."</li>
<li>"You need to change how you see things in order for the things you see to change."</li>
<li>"With my mind on my money and my money on my mind." —<a href="/facts/Snoop_Dogg/t9fuGW1t">Snoop Dogg</a> in the song "<a href="/facts/Gin_and_Juice/hwfnel5c">Gin and Juice</a>"</li>
<li>"In America, you can always find a party. <a href="/facts/In_Soviet_Russia/5wpTsjLw">In Soviet Russia</a>, <a href="/facts/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union/1PFHfjJE">Party</a> always finds you!" —<a href="/facts/Yakov_Smirnoff/GsGN8DHh">Yakov Smirnoff</a></li>
<li>"The great object of [Hamlet's] life is defeated by continually resolving to do, yet doing nothing but resolve." —<a href="/facts/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge/80CDXJoq">Samuel Taylor Coleridge</a> on <a href="/facts/William_Shakespeare/ohI96JTv">William Shakespeare</a>'s <a href="/facts/Hamlet/fm6AnR17">Hamlet</a></li>
<li>"We didn't land on <a href="/facts/Plymouth_Rock/NV30MYW9">Plymouth Rock</a>. The rock was landed on us." —<a href="/facts/Malcolm_X/BMf83KyG">Malcolm X</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a></li>
<li>"He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man." —<a href="/facts/Frederick_Douglass/mxnR4v2t">Frederick Douglass</a>, <a href="/facts/Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Frederick_Douglass%2c_an_American_Slave/4NY3nonn">Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a></li>
<li>"Are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo? Or are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest?"—<a href="/facts/Suguru_Geto/CIwesKGL">Suguru Geto</a>, <a href="/facts/Jujutsu_Kaisen/I2fazyUa">Jujutsu Kaisen</a></li>
<li>"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" —<a href="/facts/William_Shakespeare/ohI96JTv">William Shakespeare</a>, <a href="/facts/Macbeth/E8K4sYoC">Macbeth</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a></li>
<li>"And we'll lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example." —<a href="/facts/Joe_Biden/fe2ThfUp">Joe Biden</a>, 2021 inaugural address<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a></li>
<li>"All crime is vulgar, just as all vulgarity is crime" —<a href="/facts/Oscar_Wilde/fRCAnvGk">Oscar Wilde</a>, <a href="/facts/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray/fzKyrdJM">The Picture of Dorian Gray</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a></li>
<li>"I'm hoping that somebody pray for me, I'm praying that somebody hope for me." —<a href="/facts/JID/pvI9YdLb">JID</a> in the song "<a href="/facts/Enemy_(Imagine_Dragons_and_JID_song)/849ew6JN">Enemy</a>"</li>
<li>“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” —<a href="/facts/Benjamin_Franklin/Dmfv5URr">Benjamin Franklin</a></li>
<li>""Son, I am able," she said. "Though you scare me." "Watch" said I. "Beloved," I said, "Watch me scare you, though." Said she, "Able am I, son."" —<a href="/facts/They_Might_Be_Giants/b2EySlSs">They Might Be Giants</a>, "<a href="/facts/I_Palindrome_I/SMNyj71z">I Palindrome I</a>"</li>
<li>"<a href="/facts/Putin/DcQdxqbj">Putin</a>...wanted to see the Finlandization of <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a>. I told [the <a href="/facts/President_of_Finland/WCRjNdSo">President of Finland</a>], he's...gonna get the Natoization of Finland." —Joe Biden, in interview with Time Magazine<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Anadiplosis/71IKj1HV">Anadiplosis</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Chiasmus/oXfb8P29">Chiasmus</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Figure_of_speech/YN7PMRnx">Figure of speech</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/In_Soviet_Russia/5wpTsjLw">In Soviet Russia</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rhetoric/mB9np26l">Rhetoric</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Symploce/AmGmIX2u">Symploce</a></li></ul>

<ul><li>Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Look up antimetabole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/antimetabole.htm">Audio examples of antimetabole</a> at americanrhetoric.com</li>
<li>Lapidos, Juliet (September 5, 2008). <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2199536">"The Hottest Rhetorical Device of Campaign '08"</a>. <a href="/facts/Slate.com/wtt6BaeF">Slate.com</a>. Retrieved October 8, 2021.</li>
<li>Lapidos, Juliet (September 19, 2008). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091023071816/http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/09/19/04">"The Old Switcheroo"</a>. <a href="/facts/On_The_Media/ywETddS3">On The Media</a>. National Public Radio. Archived from <a href="http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/09/19/04">the original</a> on October 23, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2021.</li>
<li><a href="http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/%7Emarie/cgi/demo.html">Antimetabole detector</a> at lingfil.uu.se</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Fahnestock, Jeanne (1999). Rhetorical Figures in Science. Oxford University Press. pp. 123–134. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"Mark 2:23-28 NIV". Bible Gateway. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%202:23-28&version=NIV" target="_blank">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%202:23-28&version=NIV</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Malcolm X: Speech excerpt "Ballot or the Bullet"". <a href="https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C2787250" target="_blank">https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C2787250</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Douglass, Frederick (1995). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 13. ISBN 0-486-28499-9. <a href="0-486-28499-9" target="_blank">0-486-28499-9</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Act I, Scene 1, 12. <a href="/wiki/Macbeth" target="_blank">/wiki/Macbeth</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">"Inauguration Speech". The New York Times. US Capitol. January 20, 2021. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/biden-inauguration-speech-transcript.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/biden-inauguration-speech-transcript.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Wilde, Oscar (2000). The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin Classics. p. 203. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"Read the Full Transcript of President Joe Biden's Interview With TIME". Times Magazine. The White House. May 28, 2024. <a href="https://time.com/6984968/joe-biden-transcript-2024-interview/" target="_blank">https://time.com/6984968/joe-biden-transcript-2024-interview/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Antimetabole open-in-new

Antimetabole