Following Orders Quotes

• The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying.

  Joel Stein

  Army, Order, People

  "Warriors and wusses". articles.latimes.com. January 24, 2006.

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• Later, with time, I learned that although all men are capable of good and evil, the worst among them are those who, when they commit evil, do so by shielding themselves in the authority of others, in their subordination, or in the excuse of following orders. And even worse are those who believe they are justified by their God.

  Arturo Pérez-Reverte

  Believe, Men, Order

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• War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished. And it will be no defense to say, 'I was just following orders.'

  George W. Bush

  War, Order, Criminals

  Address to the Nation -- Ultimatum to Saddam Hussein, delivered 17 March 2003 from the Cross Hall at the White House

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• We were defined by what we did. What we had to do. I think this is why guys like football, and why they join the army, because as long as you are playing the game or following orders you do not have to figure out who you really are.

  Pete Hautman

  Football, Army, Thinking

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• I was only following orders," the Mayor mocks. "The refuge of scoundrels since the dawn of time.

  Patrick Ness

  Order, Dawn, Excuse

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• Peope, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It's easy to be a cog in a machine: you don't have to think, you have no responsibility. You're just following orders, doing as you're told.

  Ilona Andrews

  Responsibility, Thinking, Order

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• Do our government's poorly paid contract killers deserve our 'support' for blindly following orders?

  Ted Rall

  Government, Order, Support

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• We’ve always assumed The Aegis is all-knowing highly trained and organized but it’s nothing but a cult, isn’t it ? The weak and uneducated being led by those with their own agendas. Brainwashed lemmings following orders without question.

  Larissa Ione

  Order, Knowing, Agendas

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• For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff. One day, though, I realized I was no longer a believer, and realizing that, I couldn't go back.

  Alan Alda

  Order, Forever, Heaven

  Alan Alda (2009). “Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself”, p.9, Random House

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• What more fiendish proof of cosmic irresponsibility than a Nature which, having invented sex as a way to mix genes, then permits to arise, amid all its perfumed and hypnotic inducements to mate, a tireless tribe of spirochetes and viruses that torture and kill us for following orders?

  John Updike

  Sex, Health, Order

  John Updike (2012). “Self-Consciousness: Memoirs”, p.230, Random House

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• We relinquished our freedom that day, and we were more than happy to see it go. From that moment on we lived in true freedom, the freedom to point to someone else and say “They told me to do it! It’s their fault, not mine.” The freedom, God help us, to say “I was only following orders.”-World War Z

  Max Brooks

  War, Order, World

  Max Brooks (2006). “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War”, p.83, Broadway Books

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• When it was reported to General Washington that the army was frequently indulging in swearing, he immediately sent out the following order: The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing - a vice little known heretofore in the American army - is growing into fashion. Let the men and officers reflect "that we can not hope for the blessing of heaven on our army if we insult it by our impiety and folly."

  George Washington

  Fashion, Sorry, Army

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• Q: What’s hard for you? A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. Math is hard. Reading a map. Following orders. Carpentry. Electronics. Plumbing. Remembering things correctly. Straight lines. Sheet rock. Finding a safety pin. Patience with others. Ordering in Chinese. Stereo instructions in German.

  Tom Waits

  Reading, Math, Reality

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• Most aspects of my training didn’t agree with me. There wasn’t as much bossing around as I’d hoped for, and there was way too much following orders.

  Rachel Vincent

  Order, Training, Too Much

  Rachel Vincent (2016). “Rogue”, p.20, MIRA

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• Just go along with things and let your mind move freely. Resign yourself to what cannot be avoided and nourish what is within you - this is best. What more do you have to do to fulfill your mission? Nothing is as good as following orders (obeying fate) - that's how difficult it is!

  Burton Watson

  Moving, Fate, Order

  Burton Watson (2003). “Zhuangzi: Basic Writings”, p.57, Columbia University Press

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