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Abnegation Quotes

Browse 71 quotes about Abnegation.

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Abnegation Quotes

“Avec quelque spontanéité que nous obéissions à la voix qui nous dicte cette abnégation, nous sentons bien qu'elle nous parle sur un ton impératif qui n'est pas celui de l'instinct. C'est pourquoi, quoiqu'elle se fasse entendre à l'intérieur de nos consciences, nous ne pouvons sans contradiction la regarder comme nôtre. Mais nous l'aliénons, comme nous faisons pour nos sensations; nous la projetons au dehors, nous la rapportons à un être que nous concevons comme extérieur et supérieur à nous, puisqu'il nous commande et que nous nous conformons à ses injonctions. Naturellement, tout ce qui nous paraît venir de la même origine participe au même caractère. C'est ainsi que nous avons été nécessités à imaginer un monde au-dessus de celui-ci et à le peupler de réalités d'une autre nature.”

AltruismAbnegationSocial NeedsSelf Renunciation
Book:Le Suicide
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“When we choose to have an abortion, we must do so understanding the full ramifications of what we are doing. Anything less feels to me to be hypocritical, a selfish abnegation of reality and responsibility.”

FeelsRealityUnderstandingResponsibilitySelfishAbortionHypocriticalAbnegationRamifications
Book:Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
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“As one might expect, authoritarianism will at times cause children and students to adopt rebellious positions, defiant of any limit, discipline, or authority. But it will also lead to apathy, excessive obedience, uncritical conformity, lack of resistance against authoritarian discourse, self-abnegation, and fear of freedom.”

ChildrenSelfMightCausesSocietyPositionStudentsDisciplineLimitsAuthorityResistanceObedienceConformityApathyDiscourseRebelliousAuthoritarianismAbnegation
Book:Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those who Dare Teach
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“There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call extreme self-seeking is actually self-renunciation. The miser, health addict, glory chaser and their like are not far behind the selfless in the exercise of self-sacrifice.”

SelfPassionRealizingBehindsSacrificeExerciseElementsGlorySeekingExtremesSelfishSelflessAddictSelf SacrificeRenunciationMisersAbnegationChasers
Book:The Passionate State of Mind
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“It is not to taste sweet things; but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under God's heaven as a God-made man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest day-drudge kindles into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease. Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, death, are the allurements that act on the heart of man. Kindle the inner genial life of him, you have a flame that burns up all lower considerations.”

MenWayHeartMadeShowsActionHeavenSonSweetHeroTasteDifficultyNobleEaseFlamesAspirationConsiderationAdamPoorestMartyrdomKindlesAbnegationTrue ThingsSweet ThingsWrong Man
Book:The Selected Works of Thomas Carlyle
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“The Fathers of the Church can well afford to preach the gospel of Christ. It contains nothing dangerous to the regime of authority and wealth; it stands for self-denial and self-abnegation, for penance and regret, and is absolutely inert in the face of every [in]dignity, every outrage imposed upon mankind.”

WellsSelfFacesFatherChristChurchWealthMankindDangerousRegretAuthorityDignityDenialRegimesOutrageSelf-denialPenanceAbnegation
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“The church doctrines of obedience to authority, repentance, fear of punishment, self-abnegation, acceptance of outer direction rather than inner assurance, elevation of faith over reason, and intolerance make institutionalized religion an ideal instrument of social constraint.”

SelfReasonSocialChurchAcceptanceAuthorityIdealsInstrumentsPunishmentDoctrineObedienceRepentanceIntoleranceAssuranceConstraintsElevationAbnegationObedience To Authority
Book:Freedom Under Siege: The Impact of Organized Religion on Your Liberty and Your Pocketbook
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“All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission and yielding to the control of others. All the moralities tell them that it is their nature to live for others; to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections.”

MenYearsSelfCharacterGovernmentBeliefMoralityIdealsOppositesAffectionSelf ControlSubmissionSelf WillAbnegationLive For Others
Book:The Subjection of Women
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“It costs to be a friend or to have a friend. There is nothing else in life except motherhood that costs so much. It not only costs time, affection, patience, love, but sometimes a man must even lay down his life for his friends. There is no true friendship without self-abnegation, self-sacrifice.”

MenSelfSometimesSacrificeCostLaysAffectionMotherhoodTrue FriendTrue FriendshipSelf SacrificeAbnegationPatience Love
Book:What is Worth While?
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“We could decide simply to remain absorbed in the mysterious, unformed, free-play of reality. This would be the choice of the mystic who seeks to extinguish himself in God or Nirvana—analogous perhaps to the tendency among artists to obliterate themselves with alcohol or opiates. But if we value our participation in a shared reality in which it makes sense to make sense, then such self-abnegation would deny a central element of our humanity: the need to speak and act, to share our experience with others.”

IfsNeedsSelfPlayRealityWould BeArtistValuesHumanityChoicesSpeakShareElementsDenyAlcoholTendenciesMysteriousMake SenseParticipationMysticOpiatesAbnegationFree Play
Author:Stephen Batchelor
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“Your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be requited immediately with corporal and afflicting punishments; hence, I must recommend to you prompt exactness, submissiveness, and total self-abnegation that you be enabled to heed naught but our desires; let them be your laws, fly to do their bidding, anticipate them, cause them to be born.”

SelfLawDesireCausesBornPainfulPunishmentAnticipateHeedPromptsBiddingAbnegationExactnessDelinquency
Book:120 days of sodom
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“We all have to lead our own life, and we only have the one life, and the only people who can live life not according to their own desires are those who have no desires--which is the majority, actually. People can say what they like, they can speak of abnegation, sacrifice, generosity, acceptance, and resignation, but it's all false. The norm is for people to think that they desire whatever comes to them, whatever they achieve along the way or whatever is given to them--they have no preconceived desires.”

PeopleThinkingWayDesireSpeakGivenSacrificeAchieveAcceptanceMajorityGenerosityLive LifeNormResignationAbnegation
Author:Javier Marías
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“When I look at the Abnegation lifestyle as an outsider, I think it’s beautiful. When I watch my family move in harmony; when we go to dinner parties and everyone cleans together afterward without having to be asked; when I see Caleb help strangers carry their groceries, I fall in love with this life all over again.”

ThinkingLooksHelpingTogetherBeautifulMovingFallPartyWatchesMy FamilyHarmonyFalling In LoveStrangerDinnerLifestyleThis LifeOutsidersGroceriesDinner PartyI Fall In LoveAbnegationCaleb
Book:The Divergent Series Complete Collection: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant
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“It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery. But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else.”

ThinkingDifficultBreakHabitComplexesThreadNew ThoughtAbnegationTuggingEmbroideryNew Habits
Book:The Divergent Series Complete Collection: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant
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“Yeah, well," I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be." "That's not entirely true." He smiles at me. "That girl who let someone throw knives at her to spare a friend, who hit my dad with a belt to protect me-that selfless girl, that's not you?"... "You've been paying close attention, haven't you?" "I like to observe people/" "Maybe you were cut out for Candor, Four, because you're a terrible liar.”

PeopleWellsMatterHardEnoughGirlLeftAttentionFourCuttingHavensDadTerribleProtectYeahMy DadLiarsKnivesSelflessSparesBeltsThat GirlCandorAbnegationTris Prior
Author:Veronica Roth
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“I knew by the way he looked at her that he held her in a higher regard than he held even himself. No selfishness or insecurity kept him from seeing the full extent of her goodeness, as it so often does with the rest of us. That kind of love may only be possible in Abnegation. I do not know. My father: Erudite-born, Abnegation-grown. He often found it difficult to live up to the demands of his chosen faction, just as I did. But he tried, and he knew true selflessness when he saw it.”

KnowsWayKindMayDoeFoundFatherDifficultBornSawsSeeingHigherDemandRegardChosenSelfishnessInsecuritySelflessnessFactionsKinds Of LoveEruditeAbnegation
Author:Veronica Roth
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“Whoa there, Tobias," says the man to my left. "Weren't you raised a Stiff? I thought the most you people did was... graze hands or something." "Then how do you explain all the Abnegation children?" Tobias raises his eyebrows. "They are brought into being by sheer force of will," the woman on the arm of the chair interjects. "Didn't you know that, Tobias?" "No, I wasn't aware." He grins. "My apologies.”

PeopleKnowsMenChildrenHandsLeftForceArmsRaisesRaisedChairsApologySheerEyebrowsInsurgentTobiasAbnegationTobias EatonForce Of Will
Author:Veronica Roth
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“Dauntless,' he says. 'I was born for Abnegation. I was planning on leaving Dauntless, and becoming factionless. But then I met her, and...I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision.' Her. For a moment, it's like I'm looking at a different person, sitting in Tobias's skin, one whose life is not as simple as I thought. He wanted to leave Dauntless, but he stayed because of me. He never told me that.”

PersonsDifferentMomentsWantedLife IsFeltBornSimpleDecisionBecomingMetsSittingSkinsLeavingPlanningTobiasDauntlessAbnegationTobias Eaton
Author:Veronica Roth
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“I will be my undoing, If I become my obsession. I will forget the ones I love, If I do not serve them. I will war with others, If I refuse to see them. Therefore, I choose to turn away From my reflection, To rely not on myself But on my brothers and sisters, To project always outward Until I disappear [And only God remains.]”

IfsWarTurnsForgetBrotherProjectsReflectionRemainsRefuseDisappearObsessionRelyMy BrotherBrothers And SistersUndoingAbnegation
Author:Veronica Roth
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“I realize that the decision might be simple. It will require a great act of selflessness to choose Abnegation, or a great act of courage to choose Dauntless, and maybe just choosing one over the other will prove that I belong.”

MightRealizingSimpleDecisionProveSelflessnessDauntlessAbnegationActs Of CourageChoosing One
Book:Divergent Series Ultimate Four-Book Collection: Divergent; Insurgent; Allegiant; Four
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“I wasn't good enough for abnegation," I say, "and I wanted to be free. So I chose Dauntless." "Why weren't you good enough?" "Because I was selfish." I say. "You were selfish? You aren't anymore?" "Of course I am. My mother said that everyone is selfish," I say, "but I became less selfish in Dauntless. I discovered there were people I would fight for. Die for, even.”

PeopleSaidEnoughWantedMotherDiesFightingCoursesSelfishGood EnoughDauntlessAbnegation
Author:Veronica Roth
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