Subversive Quotes

• A dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.

  George Orwell

  Dirty, Naughty, Nasty

  Horizon Sept. 1941 "The Art of Donald McGill"

  91 Copy quote

  Show source

• The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive.

  Henry Miller

  Evil, Progress, Different

  Henry Miller (1970). “The Air-conditioned Nightmare”, p.172, New Directions Publishing

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.

  Henry Steele Commager

  Patriotic, Men, Thinking

  "The Problem of Dissent". "Saturday Review" Magazine, Volume 48, December 1965.

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• Sex and creativity are often seen by dictators as subversive activities.

  Erica Jong

  Sex, Creativity, Dictator

  1972 'The Artist as Housewife', in The First Ms. Reader.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• There must be renewed recognition that societies are kept stable and healthy by reform, not by thought police; this means there must be free play for so-called subversive ideas - every idea subverts the old to make way for the new. To shut off subversion is to shut off peaceful progress and to invite revolution and war.

  I. F. Stone

  War, Mean, Play

  I. F. Stone (2009). “The Best of I.F. Stone”, p.27, PublicAffairs

  62 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of the most subversive institutions in the United States is the public library.

  Bell Hooks

  Library, United States, Institutions

  bell hooks (2003). “Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem”, p.95, Simon and Schuster

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Any startling piece of work has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity.

  Leonard Cohen

  Political, Elements, Pieces

  7 Copy quote

• The Nazis hated culture itself, because it is essentially international and therefore subversive of nationalism. What they called Nazi culture was a local, perverted, nationalistic cult, by which a few major artists and many minor ones were honored for their Germanness, not their talent.

  Christopher Isherwood

  Artist, Culture, Talent

  "Christopher and His Kind". Book by Christopher Isherwood, p. 65, 1976.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought is great and swift and free.

  Bertrand Russell

  Privilege, Revolutionary, Habit

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Why Men Fight”, p.107, Routledge

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.

  George Orwell

  Funny, Dirty, Naughty

  "The Art of Donald McGill" (1941)

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• This is a good time to ask apologists for the Islamic regime, who degrades Islam? Who imposes stoning, forced marriage of underage girls and flogging for not wearing the veil? Do such practices represent Iran's ancient history and culture, its ethnic and religious diversity? Its centuries of sensual and subversive poetry?

  Azar Nafisi

  Girl, Religious, Islamic

  "Iran’s Women: Canaries in the Coal Mine" by Azar Nafisi, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 9, 2010.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit.

  Bertrand Russell

  Privilege, Habit, Institutions

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “Why Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel”, p.96, Lulu Press, Inc

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

  Erica Jong

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  "Fear of Flying". Book by Erica Jong, 1973.

  439 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is time the clergy are told that thinking men, after a close examination of that doctrine, pronounce it to be subversive of true moral development and, therefore, positively noxious.

  George Eliot

  Men, Thinking, Atheism

  4 Copy quote

• The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.

  Lionel Trilling

  Acceptance, Self, Mutation

  1965 Beyond Culture, introduction.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• The notion that Congress can change the meaning given a constitutional provision by the Court is subversive of the function of judicial review; and it is not the less so because the Court promises to allow it only when the Constitution is moved to the left.

  Robert Bork

  Promise, Judicial Review, Constitution

  Robert H. Bork (2009). “The Tempting of America”, p.93, Simon and Schuster

  86 Copy quote

  Show source

• Love is everything it's cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.

  Erica Jong

  Love, Relationship, Marriage

  erica jong (1977). “how to save your own life”

  50 Copy quote

  Show source

• People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth.

  Raoul Vaneigem

  Love, Positive, Struggle

  Guy Debord, Ivan Chtcheglov, Asger Jorn, Raoul Vaneigem, Mustapha Khayati (2014). “Situationism: A Compendium”, p.102, Bread and Circuses Publishing

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you don't risk anything you risk everything

  Mark Zuckerberg

  Motivational, Strong Women, Hippie

  56 Copy quote

• Truth is a risky proposition. It's the nature of mediocre human beings to believe that lies are necessary, that they serve a purpose, that truth is subversive, that candor is dangerous, that the very scaffold of communal life is supported by lies.

  Anne Rice

  Lying, Believe, Purpose

  Anne Rice (2013). “The Wolf Gift”, p.537, Random House

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all. Laugh, rest, slow down.

  Anne Lamott

  Spiritual, Laughter, Laughing

  Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.308, Penguin

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

  Erica Jong

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  "Fear of Flying". Book by Erica Jong, 1973.

  114 Copy quote

  Show source

• In life, if you don't risk anything, you risk everything.

  John Spence

  Strong Women, Hippie, Thinking

  32 Copy quote

• It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true

  Bertrand Russell

  Atheist, Philosophy, Believe

  Sceptical Essays (1928) "On the Value of Scepticism"

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.

  Robert Fisk

  Thinking, Government, Courageous

  The Progressive Interview with Matthew Rothschild, July 1, 1998.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source