Irreverence Quotes

• It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  "'The Ascent of Man' ('Knowledge or Certainty')". Documentary TV Mini-Series, Episode 11, 1973.

  101 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.

  Mark Twain

  Freedom, Champion, Liberty

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.405, Courier Corporation

  75 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

  Brendan Behan

  Summer, Beer, Winter

  "Brendan Behan Dies in Dublin", www.nytimes.com. March 21, 1964.

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are four qualities essential to a great jazzman. they are taste, courage, individuality, and irreverence.

  Stan Getz

  Individuality, Quality, Essentials

  30 Copy quote

• Curiosity and irreverence go together. Curiosity cannot exist without the other. Curiosity asks, "Is this true?" "Just because this has always been the way, is the best or right way of life, the best or right religion, political or economic value, morality?" To the questioner, nothing is sacred. He detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality, rebels against any repression of a free, open search of ideas no matter where they may lead. He is challenging, insulting, agitating, discrediting. He stirs unrest.

  Saul Alinsky

  Ideas, Economic Value, Political

  24 Copy quote

• A discriminating irreverence is the creator and protector of human liberty.

  Mark Twain

  Freedom, Liberty, Humans

  Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.1479, Delphi Classics

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence is the lifeblood of freedom.

  Simon Schama

  "Charlie Hebdo shooting: police release names and photos of two brothers wanted for the attack - as it happened" by Ben Doherty, Helen Davidson, www.theguardian.com. January 8, 2015.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.

  William S. Burroughs

  Hero, Thinking, Blow

  William S. Burroughs (2007). “Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader”, p.339, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• True irreverence is disrespect for another man's god.

  Mark Twain

  Men, Disrespect, Another Man

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.405, Courier Corporation

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• Impiety. Your irreverence toward my deity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Respect, Deities

  Ambrose Bierce (2009). “The Devil's Dictionary: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.190, ReadHowYouWant.com

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Alas, irreverence has been subsumed by mere grossness, at least in the so-called mass media. What we have now - to quote myself at my most pretentious - is a nimiety of scurrility with a concomitant exiguity of taste.

  Tom Lehrer

  Funny, Media, Television

  "Rhino Records" Online Chat, June 17, 1997.

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence is our only sacred cow.

  Paul Krassner

  Cows, Sacred, Sacred Cows

  Paul Krassner (2011). “One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Journalist”, p.22, Seven Stories Press

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence is a way of playing hooky and remaining present at the same time.

  Mary Ruefle

  Way

  Mary Ruefle (2012). “Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures”, p.217, Wave Books

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence is easy - whats hard is wit.

  Tom Lehrer

  Easy, Wit, Hard

  "Rhino Records" Online Chat, June 17, 1997.

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• The greatest gift that Oxford gives her sons is, I truly believe, a genial irreverence toward learning, and from that irreverence love may spring.

  Robertson Davies

  Love, Spring, Believe

  "Shakespeare over the Port". Book by Robertson Davies, 1960.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The very basis of creative work is irreverence! The very basis of creative work is bold experimentation. There has never been a creator of lasting importance who has not also been an innovator.

  Eric Temple Bell

  Creative, Importance, Bases

  8 Copy quote

• In America few people will trust you unless you are irreverent.

  Norman Mailer

  Trust, America, People

  1963 The Presidential Papers, preface.

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• New York, thy name is irreverence and hyperbole. And grandeur.

  Ada Louise Huxtable

  New York, Names, Hyperbole

  Ada Louise Huxtable (1976). “Kicked a building lately?”, Crown

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every act of irreverence for life, every act which neglects life, which is indifferent to and wastes life, is a step towards the love of death. This choice man must make at every minute. Never were the consequences of the wrong choice as total and as irreversible as they are today. Never was the warning of the Bible so urgent: 'I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, that you and your children may live.'

  Erich Fromm

  Children, Blessing, Men

  Erich Fromm (1963). “War Within Man: A Psychological Enquiry Into the Roots of Destructiveness”

  37 Copy quote

  Show source

• If we had reverence for our life, our life would take at once religious form. But as it is, in our filthy irreverence, it remains a disgusting slough, where each one of us goes so thoroughly disguised in dirt that we are all alike and indistinguishab

  D. H. Lawrence

  Religious, Dirt, Form

  D. H. Lawrence, Bruce Steele (1985). “Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays”, p.122, Cambridge University Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Irreverence not only shows disrespect to Deity but also makes it hard for the Spirit to teach us the things we need to know.

  L. Lionel Kendrick

  Disrespect, Needs, Deities

  4 Copy quote

• The more repression there is, the more need there is for irreverence toward those who are responsible for that repression. But too often sarcasm passes for irony, name-calling passes for insight, bleeped-out four-letter words pass for wit, and lowest-common-denominator jokes pass for analysis. Satire should have a point of view. It doesn't have to get a belly laugh. It does have to present criticism.

  Paul Krassner

  Humor, Sarcasm, Views

  "In The Jester's Court". Interview with David Kupfer, thesunmagazine.org. February 2009.

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• With a character like a Captain Jack, who can essentially set up these verbal land mines around him, and just keep passing the "absurdity ball" around and the "irreverence ball" around, and keep people guessing and keep people confused, there's great safety in that. Me, myself, personally, I learn from it. It's a real pleasure, and I do need him.

  Johnny Depp

  Confused, Real, Character

  5 Copy quote

• Irreverence is a declaration of independence.

  Barbara Sher

  Independence, Declaration Of Independence, Declaration

  11 Copy quote

• What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous.

  Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

  Deception, Needs, Rebirth

  24 Copy quote