Insubordination Quotes

• Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Curiosity, Form, Thrive

  "Reading Lolita in Tehran". Book by Azar Nafisi, 2003.

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• When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, Strong, War

  Sun Tzu (2012). “The Art of War”, p.55, Courier Corporation

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• Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, 1 but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganisation; (6) rout.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, War, Army

  Sun Tzu (2012). “Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text”, p.137, Tuttle Publishing

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• Every great work of art ... is a celebration, an act of insubordination against the betrayals, horrors and infidelities of life.

  Azar Nafisi

  Art, Betrayal, Infidelity

  Azar Nafisi (2003). “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books”, p.47, Random House

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• Insubordination may only be the evidence of a strong mind.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Strong, War, Mind

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• Love of goodness without love of learning degenerates into simple-mindedness. Love of knowledge without love of learning degenerates into utter lack of principle. Love of faithfulness without love of learning degenerates into injurious disregard of consequences. Love of uprightness without love of learning degenerates into harshness. Love of courage without love of learning degenerates into insubordination. Love of strong character without love of learning degenerates into mere recklessness.

  Confucius

  Love, Strong, Learning

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• People try to persuade us that the objections against Christianity spring from doubt. That is a complete misunderstanding. The objections against Christianity spring from insubordination, the dislike of obedience, rebellion against all authority. As a result, people have hitherto been beating the air in their struggle against objections, because they have fought intellectually with doubt instead of fighting morally with rebellion.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Spring, Struggle, Fighting

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• The way in which modern German poetry follows theories reminds me of pupils who, scolded by their teacher for their insubordination, justify themselves by saying that they invented new rules of propriety according to which they are quite well- behaved.

  Franz Grillparzer

  Teacher, Poetry, Way

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• In all great works of fiction, regardless of the grim reality they present, there is an affirmation of life against the transience of that life, an essential defiance. This affirmation lies in the way the author takes control of reality by retelling it in his own way, thus creating a new world. Every great work of art, I would declare pompously, is a celebration, an act of insubordination against the betrayals, horrors and infidelities of life. The perfection and beauty of form rebels against the ugliness and shabbiness of the subject matter.

  Azar Nafisi

  Art, Betrayal, Lying

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• Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Fire, Light, Soul

  Lolita pt. 1, ch. 1 (1955)

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• Too much rigidity on the part of teachers should be followed by a brisk spirit of insubordination on the part of the taught.

  Agnes Repplier

  Teacher, Too Much, Taught

  Agnes Repplier (1891). “Points of View”, Boston Houghton, Mifflin 1893.

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• Play! Invent the world! Invent reality!

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Reality, Play, World

  Vladimir Nabokov (2012). “Look at the Harlequins!”, Penguin UK

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• One can understand why Surrealism was not afraid to make for itself a tenet of total revolt, complete insubordination, of sabotage according to rule, and why it still expects nothing save from violence.

  Andre Breton

  Violence, Expect Nothing, Surrealism

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