Compelled Quotes

• It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no longer compelled, as among the Egyptians, to succeed to his father's craft.

  Honore de Balzac

  Father, Men, Bakers

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  I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.

  Clara Barton

  Military, War, Nursing

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• Whatever truth we feel compelled to withhold, no matter how unthinkable it is to imagine ourselves telling it, not to is a way of spiritually holding our breath. You can only do it for so long.

  Mark Nepo

  Long, Matter, Way

  Mark Nepo (2000). “The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have”, p.410, Conari Press

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• To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means the freedom to rob others without interruption. To still others it means the leisure to devour the goods of the earth without being compelled to interrupt their pleasures to feed those whom their greed is starving. And to practically everybody peace simply means the absence of any physical violence that might cast a shadow over lives devoted to the satisfaction of their animal appetites for comfort and pleasure.

  Thomas Merton

  Mean, Men, Animal

  Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, p.122, New Directions Publishing

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• We live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom: our body.

  Marcel Proust

  Different, Body, Kingdoms

  Marcel Proust (2006). “Remembrance of Things Past”, p.1104, Wordsworth Editions

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• You can never fully put your finger on the reason why you're suddenly, inexplicably compelled to explore one life as opposed to another.

  Daniel Day-Lewis

  Life, Roles, Cinema

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• When I started doing these advocacy groups, it sort of propelled and compelled me to write songs, because otherwise I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, music-wise. I wasn't particularly motivated to write songs. But this level of humanity and spirit that I witnessed greatly impacted and so inspired me, so that I felt this sort of renewed vigor to write music. As far as how grounding it is, yeah, it's the ultimate amount of perspective.

  Thao Nguyen

  Wise, Song, Writing

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Respect, Self Esteem, Self

  "The Insulted and the Injured". Book by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1861.

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• I tell aspiring writers that you have to find what you must write. When you find it, you will know, because the subject matter won’t let you go. It’s not enough to write simply because you think it would be neat to be published. You have to be compelled to write. If you’re not, nothing else that you do matters.

  Rick Riordan

  Writing, Thinking, Would Be

  "Advice For Writers". Q&A, rickriordan.com.

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• Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the world? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted? And If I am compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I want to see him.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Philosophy, Umpires, Directors

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• It may be a procession of faithful failures that enriches the soil of godly success. Faithful actions are not religious acts. They are not even necessary actions undertaken by people of faith. Faithful actions, whether they are marked by success or they end in failure, are actions that are compelled by goodness.

  Desmond Tutu

  Religious, Godly, People

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• Pythagoras asks that we not let a friend go lightly, for whatever reason. Instead, we should stay with a friend as long as we can, until we're compelled to abandon him completely against our will. It's a serious thing to toss away money, but to cast aside a person is even more serious. Nothing in human life is more rarely found, nothing more dearly possessed. No loss is more chilling or more dangerous than that of a friend.

  Thomas Moore

  Friendship, Loss, Long

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• The fact that I loved Jesus was beginning to interfere with the plans I once had for my life and certainly with the plans others had for me. My heart had been apprehended by a great love, a love that compelled me to live differently.

  Katie Davis

  Jesus, Heart, Great Love

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• Virtue and merit can become their opposites if they are exacted or compelled.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Opposites, Merit, Virtue

  Christopher Hitchens (2009). “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, p.139, Basic Books

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• Champions are propelled by desire, not compelled by fear

  Denis Waitley

  Achievement, Champion, Desire

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• It's a mission for me to make sure that philanthropy doesn't feel like a vintage hand-me-down from mom or dad. I want people to feel compelled to do something positive because they just love it, they're excited about it, and it's cool.

  Usher

  Mom, Dad, Hands

  Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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• Tis hard with respect to Beauty, that its possessor should not have a life enjoyment of it, but be compelled to resign it after, at the most, some forty years lease

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Respect, Years, Enjoy Life

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1859). “The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century”, p.206

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• Because war and preparations for war have acquired legitimacy, and because of the tremendous proliferation of arms through production and export, so that they are now available more or less to all and sundry, right down to handguns and stilettos, the cult of violence has by now so permeated relations between people that we are compelled to witness as well an increase in everyday violence.

  Alva Myrdal

  War, People, Preparation

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• The day that a woman who is passing before you sheds a light upon you as she goes, you are lost, you love. You have then but one thing to do: to think of her so earnestly that she will be compelled to think of you.

  Victor Hugo

  Love You, Being In Love, Thinking

  Victor Hugo (1862). “Saint Denis”, p.65

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• Surely, I must at all times attempt to obey the law of the state. But when the will of God and the will of the state conflict, I am compelled to follow the will of God.

  Bayard Rustin

  Law, Conflict, States

  Bayard Rustin (2012). “I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters”, p.11, City Lights Publishers

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• With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves.

  John Dickinson

  Perseverance, Heart, Reflection

  John Dickinson (1891). “The Life and Writings of John Dickinson”

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• I am compelled to continuously see the bright side. It is in my DNA. My kids look at me and say: 'Mom, you're so happy!' And I do feel happy. I feel joyful inside. I can't explain it.

  Goldie

  Mom, Kids, Dna

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• The fear of capitalism has compelled socialism to widen freedom, and the fear of socialism has compelled capitalism to increase equality. East is West and West is East, and soon the twain will meet.

  Will Durant

  East, West, Socialism

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1968). “The lessons of history”, Simon & Schuster

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• Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage : for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune : so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

  Baruch Spinoza

  Lying, Men, Names

  Baruch Spinoza (1981). “Ethics”, p.163, Commodius Vicus

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• It is essential that the revelation we receive, the conception of an image which embraces a certain thing, which has no sense in itself, which has no subject, which means 'absolutely nothing' from the logical point of view.. ..should speak so strongly in us, evoke such agony or joy, that we feel compelled to paint.

  Giorgio de Chirico

  Mean, Views, Desire

  "Letters of the great artists - from Ghiberti to Gainsborough" by Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, (p. 232), 1963.

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