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Refusal Quotes

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Refusal Quotes

“When people refuse to pay the price of personal responsibility for the problems of the nation, these same people end up paying the high price of irresponsibility, which is often in tragedy and sorrow.”

“(Response to King Erik XIV of Sweden's proposal of marriage:) "[W]hile we perceive ... the zeal and love of your mind towards us is not diminished, yet in part we are grieved that we cannot gratify your Serene Highness with the same kind of affection. And that indeed does not happen because we doubt in any way of your love and honour, but, as often we have testified both in words and writing, that we have never yet conceived a feeling of that kind of affection towards anyone. We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that you be pleased to set a limit to your love, that it advance not beyond the laws of friendship for the present nor disregard them in the future. ... We certainly think that if God ever direct our hearts to consideration of marriage we shall never accept or choose any absent husband how powerful and wealthy a Prince soever. But that we are not to give you an answer until we have seen your person is so far from the thing itself that we never even considered such a thing. I have always given both to your brother ... and also to your ambassador likewise the same answer with scarcely any variation of the words, that we do not conceive in our heart to take a husband but highly commend this single life, and hope that your Serene Highness will no longer spend time in waiting for us.”

Love Women Friendship Freedom Marriage Empowerment Independence Queens Self Determination Refusal Matrimony Singles Marriage Proposal Bachelorhood

Book:Collected Works

Source: Collected Works

“There is a vast difference - a constitutional difference-between restrictions imposed by the state which prohibit the intellectual commingling of students, and the refusal of individuals to commingle where the state presents no such bar.”

States Individual Differences Students Intellectual Bars Restriction Refusal

Author:Fred M. Vinson

“The nobility of our calling will always be rooted in two commitments difficult to observe: refusal to lie about what we know, and resistance to oppression.”

Knows Writing Two Lying Difficult Calling Commitment Resistance Oppression Rooted Nobility Refusal

Book:Speech of Acceptance Upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Delivered in Stockholm on the Tenth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-seven. [Translated by Justin O'Brien

Source: Speech of Acceptance Upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Delivered in Stockholm on the Tenth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-seven. [Translated by Justin O'Brien

“Feminism means having a choice. And feminism doesn't care which choices you make, either. Just that you have them. The point has never been to establish some principled refusal to give yourself to another human being. The point is to make sure you can give yourself--or not give yourself--of your free will.”

Giving Humans Mean Care Choices Human Beings Feminism Free Will Refusal Choices You Make Principled

Book:Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story

Source: Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story

“I'm English enough to feel something of a gut-reaction to modernism, to continental philosophising and anything that smacks of a refusal to pay attention to the forensics: the empirical facts on the ground.”

Feels Enough Facts Pay Attention Reactions Pay Attention Guts Refusal Modernism Smack Continental Forensics

Author:Will Self

“Science is the refusal to believe on the basis of hope.”

Believe Science Belief Evolution Bases Skepticism Refusal

Author:Carrie Snow

“REFUSAL, n. Denial of something desired; Refusals are graded in a descending scale of finality thus: the refusal absolute, the refusal condition, the refusal tentative and the refusal feminine. The last is called by some casuists the refusal assentive.”

Lasts Desire Conditions Absolutes Scales Denial Feminine Refusal Descending Finality

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)

“He who begs timidly courts a refusal.”

Court Refusal Beggar Beggary

Author:Seneca the Younger

“Modern man lives isolated in his artificial environment, not because the artificial is evil as such, but because of his lack of comprehension of the forces which make it work- of the principles which relate his gadgets to the forces of nature, to the universal order. It is not central heating which makes his existence 'unnatural,' but his refusal to take an interest in the principles behind it. By being entirely dependent on science, yet closing his mind to it, he leads the life of an urban barbarian.”

Source: The Act of Creation

“Infantile people complain and say that God is cruel or that there is no God. Mature people, however, know that there is wisdom and sometimes an eternal kindness in God's refusals.”

People Knows Sometimes Kindness Eternal Conservative Complaining Mature Refusal There Is No God Infantile

Author:Norman Vincent Peale

“Do not be ashamed of being poor, or of asking alms. Receive what is given you with humility, and accept a refusal meekly. Frequently call to mind Our Lady's journey into Egypt with her Holy Child, and of all the poverty, contempt and suffering they endured. If you follow their example you will indeed be rich amid your poverty.”

Ifs Mind Children Suffering Given Poor Accepting Poverty Rich Journey Example Humility Holy Asking Ashamed Contempt Egypt Refusal Alms

Book:Introduction to the Devout Life

Source: Introduction to the Devout Life

“Older boys often asked me to teach them “some bad words in your language”. At first I politely refused. My refusal merely increased their determination, so I solved the problem by teaching them phrases like 'man kharam' which means “I'm an idiot”. I told them that what I was teaching them was so nasty that they would have to promise never to repeat it to anyone. They would then spend all of recess running around yelling “I'm an idiot! I'm an idiot!”. I never told them the truth. I figured someday, somebody would”

Source: Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America

“Sometimes I hear the world discussed as the realm of men. This is not my experience. I have watched men fall to the ground like leaves. They were swept up as memories, and burned. History owns them. These men were petrified in both senses of the word: paralyzed and turned to stone. Their refusal to express feeling killed them. Anachronistic men. Those poor, poor boys.”

Men World Sometimes Feelings Fall Memories Poor Boys Stones Senses Realms Burned Refusal Paralyzed Poor Boy

Book:The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide

Source: The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide

“The slavery of identity comes from our refusal to face ourselves. So we must begin the exploration to self-awareness. Where do we start?”

Self Faces Awareness Identity Self Awareness Slavery Exploration Refusal

Book:How to Wish

Source: How to Wish

“Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to take an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men. As far as he is concerned he wipes out the world.”

Men World Evil Interest Sin Existence He Man Concerned Ultimate Absolutes Suicide Loyalty Wipe Refusal Oath

Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton

Source: The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton

“Socrates was the chief saint of the Stoics throughout their history ; his attitude at the time of his trial, his refusal to escape, his calmness in the face of death , and his contention that the perpetrator of injustice injures himself more than his victim, all fitted in perfectly with Stoic teaching. So did his indifference to heat and cold, his plainness in matters of food and dress, and his complete independence of all bodily comforts.”

Source: History of Western Philosophy

“Every new Fashion is a refusal to inherit, a subversion against the oppression of the preceding Fashion; Fashion experiences itself as a Right, the natural right of the present over the past.”

Past Natural Fashion Oppression Refusal Over The Past Subversion

Book:Systeme de la Mode

Source: Systeme de la Mode

“Tout refus du langage est une mort. Any refusal of language is a death.”

Language Refusal

Author:Roland Barthes

“Surely Scripture is right when it makes the sin of sins that unbelief, which is at bottom nothing else than a refusal to take the cup of salvation. Surely no sharper grief can be inflicted upon the Spirit of God than when we leave His gifts neglected and unappropriated.”

Spirit Sin Grief Salvation Bottom Scripture Cups Neglected Refusal Unbelief Spirit Of God

Book:MacLaren's Commentary- Expositions of Holy Scripture

Source: MacLaren's Commentary- Expositions of Holy Scripture

“While the Jeffersonian did not flatly deny the Creator's power to perform miracles, he admired His refusal to do so.”

Miracle Creator Deny Refusal

Book:The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson

Source: The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson

“For me, one of the most disturbing elements of the right wing's political agenda is that it believes that there is one correct spiritual and moral path for all people to follow. The danger inherent in this is its explicit refusal to accept anyone who happens to lead a different lifestyle, and the condemnation of those who differ.”

“Frivolity is the species' refusal to suffer.”

Suffering Species Refusal Frivolity

Author:John Lahr

“In its relation to the reality of daily life, the high culture of the past was many things opposition and adornment, outcry and resignation. But it was also the appearance of the realm of freedom: the refusal to behave.”

Reality Past Culture Relation Appearance Behave Realms Opposition Daily Life Refusal Resignation Adornment

Book:One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

Source: One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

“Nationalism is fraught with dangers, of course, but so is the blind refusal to recognize that attachment to one's own culture, traditions, and history is a creative, normal, and healthy part of human experience.”

Humans Culture Courses Creative Danger Healthy Normal Tradition Blind Nationalism Attachment Human Experience Refusal

Author:Anthony Daniels

“The name of God should no longer come from the mouth of man. This word that has so long been degraded by usage no longer means anything.... To use the word God is more than sloth, it is a refusal to think, a king of short cut, a hideous shorthand.”

Thinking Men Should Mean Long God Use Names Cutting Kings Mouths Refusal Hideous Sloth Usage Short Cuts Shorthand

Author:Arthur Adamov

“Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences. Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb to either charm.”

Ifs Men Humans Two Soul Philosophy Meditation Opposites Mathematics Humble Firm Gentle Charm Awe Competence Human Soul Refusal Deluded Two Opposites

Book:An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays

Source: An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays

“A refusal to believe that God loves us is the unbelief which destroys the soul.”

Believe Soul God Love Refusal Unbelief God Loves Us

Book:Discourses: Doctrinal and Practical

Source: Discourses: Doctrinal and Practical

“Government, like any other organism, refuses to acquiesce in its own extinction. This refusal, of course, involves the resistance to any effort to diminish its powers and prerogatives.”

Government Courses Effort Refuse Resistance Organisms Diminish Extinction Refusal Prerogative

Book:Minority Report

Source: Minority Report

“Also, perhaps children are sterner than grown-up people in their refusal to suffer, in their refusal, even, to feel at all.”

People Feels Children Suffering Refusal

Book:Bowen's Court & Seven Winters

Source: Bowen's Court & Seven Winters

“Just as the creative artist is not allowed to choose, neither is he permitted to turn his back on anything: a single refusal, and he is cast out of the state of grace and becomes sinful all the way through.”

Way States Artist Turns Creative Grace Casts Refusal Creative Art Creative Artists

Book:Letters on Cézanne

Source: Letters on Cézanne

“The leading characteristic of the savage state is its refusal or avoidance of industry.”

States Industry Characteristics Savages Refusal Avoidance

Author:Arthur Brisbane

“A man assumes that a woman's refusal is just part of a game. Or, at any rate, a lot of men assume that. When a man says no, it's no. When a woman says no, it's yes, or at least maybe. There is even a joke to that effect. And little by little, women begin to believe in this view of themselves.”

Men Believe Littles Games Views Effects Jokes Abuse Assuming Rate Refusal Little Women

Book:fear of flying

Source: fear of flying

“By 'coming to terms with life' I mean: the reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, by my looking death in the eye and accepting it, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or the refusal to acknowledge its inevitability. It sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we enlarge and enrich it.”

“Of course, I'm aware of the animosities destroying brain cells on both sides, and I know all about the obstinacy of the warring parties, their refusal to reach an agreement, their devotion to their own murderous hatred.”

Knows Courses Sides Party Brain Hatred Devotion Cells Agreement Destroying Both Sides Refusal Animosity Obstinacy Brain Cells

Book:The Attack

Source: The Attack

“Suffering is basically the mind's refusal to accept reality as it is.”

Mind Reality Suffering Accepting Refusal

Author:Marcus Thomas

“Perhaps that is what love is -- the momentary or prolonged refusal to think of another person in terms of power.”

Thinking Persons Term Love Is Refusal Momentary

Author:Phyllis Rose

“I understand why so many Americans are fed up with government. The 112th Congress was almost universally derided as the worst ever. It was the most polarized body since the end of Reconstruction, according to one study, and I grew embarrassed by its partisan bickering, inactivity, and refusal to address the vital challenges facing America.”

Ends Body Government America Challenges Study Worst Grew Congress Addresses Feds Embarrassed Refusal Partisans Reconstruction Fed Up Inactivity Bickering

Author:Olympia Snowe

“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because a refusal often offends, I read somewhere.”

Affair Wizards Refusal

Book:Mort: (Discworld Novel 4)

Source: Mort: (Discworld Novel 4)

“It is not for man to seek, or even to believe in, God. He only has to refuse his ultimate love to everything that is not God. This refusal does not presuppose any belief. It is enough to recognize what is obvious to any mind: that all the goods of this world, past, present, and future, real or imaginary, are finite and limited and radically incapable of satisfying the desire that perpetually burns within us for an infinite and perfect good.”

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”

Reality Stupid Integrity Tests Compromise Thought Provoking Refusal Truest Nigeria Blunt

Author:Chinua Achebe

“Show enough regret, and your refusal will inspire gratitude.”

Enough Shows Inspire Regret Gratitude Resistance Refusal

Author:Mason Cooley

“Any refusal to recognize reality, for any reason whatever, has disastrous consequences. There are no evil thoughts except one: the refusal to think. Don't ignore your own desires.... Don't sacrifice them. Examine their cause. There is a limit to how much you should have to bear.”

Thinking Should Reason Reality Desire Evil Causes Sacrifice Bears Limits Consequence Should Have Refusal Evil Thoughts

Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection

Source: Ayn Rand Novel Collection

“The very notion of tabu is one of the rightest notions in the world. Better any old tabu than none, for a man cannot be said to be"on the side of the stars" at all, unless he makes refusals.”

Men World Said Stars Sides Morality Notion Refusal

Book:Modes and Morals

Source: Modes and Morals

“In any conflict area, it is always the women who are the first point of attack. But I think the more they have seen of oppression and violence, they have gotten more brave, more strong, more fearless than they were. You see this refusal to just keep quiet and do as you are told.”

“Save the Children is often told that its aims are impossible - that there has always been child suffering and there always will be. We know. It's impossible only if we make it so. It's impossible only if we refuse to attempt it.”

Ifs Knows Children Suffering Knowing Impossible Aim Refuse Saved Attempting Refusal Save The Children

Author:Eglantyne Jebb

“Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle.”

World Matter Philosophy Views Principles Atheism Obvious Deny Refusal Overlooked

Author:Sam Harris

“At root, evangelical anti-intellectualism is both a scandal and a sin. It is a scandal in the sense of being an offense and a stumbling block that needlessly hinders serious people from considering the Christian faith and coming to Christ. It is a sin because it is a refusal, contrary to Jesus' two great commandments, to love the Lord our God with our minds. Anti-intellectualism is quite simply a sin. Evangelicals must address it as such, beyond all excuses, evasions, or rationalizations of false piety.”

“My own feeling is that one should refuse to participate in any activity that implements American aggression - thus tax refusal, draft refusal, avoidance of work that can be used by the agencies of militarism and repression, all seem to me essential.”

Should Feelings Seems Used My Own Activity Taxes Essentials Refuse Agency Aggression Refusal Repression Avoidance Militarism

Author:Noam Chomsky

“You can understand why a system would seek information - but why in hell does it offer information? Why do we strive to be understood? Why is a refusal to accept communication so painful?”

Doe Accepting Hell Information Communication Offers Understood Strive Painful Refusal

Author:James Tiptree Jr.