Defiance Quotes

• I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Crush, Hope

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826”, p.44, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Defiance is beautiful. The defiance of power, especially great or overwhelming power, exalts and glorifies the rebel.

  Edward Abbey

  Beautiful, Rebel, Overwhelming

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.20, RosettaBooks

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• Defiance, not obedience, is the American's answer to overbearing authority.

  Ayn Rand

  Answers, Obedience, Authority

  Ayn Rand (1984). “Philosophy: Who Needs It”, p.200, Penguin

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• In the end, it is our defiance that redeems us.

  Mark Rowlands

  Ends

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• There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.

  Walt Whitman

  Country, Tyrants, People

  Walt Whitman, Edward F. Grier (2007). “Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, Volume VI: Notes and Index”, p.2148, NYU Press

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• Creativity is an act of defiance.

  Twyla Tharp

  Art, Writing, Creativity

  Twyla Tharp, Mark Reiter (2003). “The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life”, Simon and Schuster

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• When people are very damaged, they can often meet the world with a kind of defiance.

  J. K. Rowling

  People, World, Kind

  "Rowling Draws On Personal Experience In 'Vacancy'". Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. September 26, 2012.

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• To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

  Howard Zinn

  Hope, Kindness, Future

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• With the pride of the artist, you must blow against the walls of every power that exists the small trumpet of your defiance.

  Norman Mailer

  Wall, Pride, Artist

  Norman Mailer (2013). “The Deer Park: A Novel”, p.368, Random House

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• ... it is one thing to like defiance, and another thing to like its consequences.

  George Eliot

  Rebellion, One Thing, Consequence

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.306, Penguin

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• Good work is always done in defiance of management.

  Bob Woodward

  Design, Done, Management

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• Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.

  Seneca the Younger

  Real, Evil, Suffering

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• One single act of defiance against power, against the State that seems omnipotent but is not, transforms and transfigures the human personality. At least for a time. For a while. Perhaps that is enough.

  Edward Abbey

  Personality, Enough, States

  Edward Abbey (1954). “Slumgullion stew: an Edward Abbey reader”, E P Dutton

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• When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.

  Steven Strogatz

  Tradition, Something New, New You

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• In War: Resolution; In Defeat: Defiance; In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace: Good Will.

  Winston Churchill

  Peace, War, Victory And Defeat

  "Marlborough; his life and times".

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• Comedy is defiance. It's a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it's the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale.

  Will Durst

  Happiness, Laughter, Fear

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• I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Blame, Pupils, Masters

  Leonardo Da Vinci (2015). “Thoughts on Art and Life: "Behind the Genius"”, p.118, eKitap Projesi

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• Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Struggle, Acceptance, Opposites

  "Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr: The Power of Nonviolent Action". Book by Mary King, p. 231, 1999.

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• We know that if gold, if fraud, if force can defeat us, they will all be used. And we have resolved that they shall not defeat us. We shall arm. We shall meet fraud and falsehood with defiance, and force with force, if need be.

  Denis Kearney

  Hype, Gold, Needs

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• The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured. Those special people who speak out in such a way as to shake up not only the self-assurance of their enemies, but the complacency of their friends, are precious catalysts for change.

  Howard Zinn

  Self, Speaks Out, Catalyst For Change

  Howard Zinn (2010). “You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times”, p.33, Beacon Press

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• But the safety of the world, in some sense, depends on your saying no to inhumane ideas. Standing up for one's own integrity makes you no friends. It is costly. Yet defiance of the mob, in the service of that which is right, is one of the highest expressions of courage I know.

  Gabrielle Giffords

  Integrity, Expression, Ideas

  Commencement address at Scripps College, Claremont, California, 2009.

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• Sin is not an unfortunate slip or a regrettable act; it is a posture of defiance against a holy God.

  Max Lucado

  Sin, Holy, Posture

  Max Lucado (2012). “A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God Through the Storm”, p.77, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. ... With hearts fortified ... we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that... we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Heart, Perfect, Mind

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.86, Cambridge University Press

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• It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

  William Ernest Henley

  Life, Fate, Punishment

  "Invictus" l. 13 (1888)

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• I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: Today, we are all Americans. In grief, as in defiance.

  Benjamin Netanyahu

  Grief, September, Speak

  Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech on the September 11th terrorist attacks, www.aish.com. September 20, 2001.

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