When contrasting ideas are balanced in sentences and paragraphs, they are said
to be antithesis:
"History proves that dictatorships do not grow out of strong and successful
governments, but out of the weak and helpless ones."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than
absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."
Martin Luther King, Jr. , Letter from Birmingham Jail
"We can no longer afford to take that which was good in the past and simply
call it our heritage, to discard the bad and simply think of it as a dead load
which by itself time will bury in oblivion."
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
This moderate balancing heightens the contrast of ideas. It is found often in
modern writing, though usually in formal discussions. Like the exact balance
of similar ideas, the balancing of sentences containing antithetical phrases
is exceptional today. The following passage is the climax of a long book on
the history of Roman society:
"Rome did not invent education, but she developed it on a scale unknown
before, gave it state support, and formed the curriculum that persisted till
our harassed youth. She did not invent the arch, the vault, or the dome, but
she used them with such audacity and magnificence that in some fields her architecture
has remained unequaled."
Will Durant, Caesar and Christ