Best Refusal Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 4

“The Mayans were right, as it turns out, when they predicted the world would end in 2012. It was just a select world: the G.O.P. universe of arrogant, uptight, entitled, bossy, retrogressive white guys. [...] Instead of smallpox, plagues, drought and Conquistadors, the Republican decline will be traced to a stubborn refusal to adapt to a world where poor people and sick people and black people and brown people and female people and gay people count.”

Source: An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England: A Novel

“I didn't go to drama school because, from the first refusal I then, as I said, a couple of weeks later, was offered a professional job, where I am immensely grateful to the journey.”

Firsts Said School Jobs Journey Week Couple Drama Grateful Refusal

Author:Ben Kingsley

“My art history papers were really politics. They were about the manifestation of culture through the eye of political events. So there was always that refusal to settle in one place, or one discipline or medium.”

Art Eye Political Culture Events Discipline Paper Mediums Settling Manifestation Papers Refusal Through The Eyes Art History

Author:Roselee Goldberg

“"There is no analysis here," the most brutal of them wrote. Now I wonder if my papers lacked critical thought, or if it was really more about my inability/refusal to write in the convoluted style that they wanted me to. I remember the initial shock upon reading my peers' papers. I seriously could not understand them, and I couldn't understand why the writing had to be so unclear in order to be considered smart.”

Ifs Writing Wanted Remember Order Reading Wonder Style Paper Smart Critical Analysis Shock Brutal Peers Papers Inability Initials Refusal Unclear Convoluted

Author:Mary J. Miller

“A refusal of nature as a model is a tradition that goes right back to Oscar Wilde.”

Models Tradition Oscars Refusal Wilde

Author:Todd Haynes

“One cannot always bestow all manner of things upon everybody. To refuse a request for just cause is as praiseworthy as to grant a request that is worthy. It is for this reason that the "no" of some people pleases more than the "yes" of others. A refusal accompanied by sweet words and a civil manner gives more satisfaction to a true heart than a favor given with bad grace.”

People Giving Heart Reason Given Causes Grace Sweet Please Satisfaction Refuse Worthy Favors Grants Request Refusal Praiseworthy True Heart Sweet Words

Author:Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

“We gain power in our refusal to accept less than we deserve.”

Accepting Deserve Gains Refusal

Author:Amber Hollibaugh

“Obviously, I don't want to minimize the patriarchal nature of our media, our government and our culture as a whole. But I think it's our refusal as women to own our power that is our biggest problem, both individually and collectively. The linchpin that holds the current system in place is the slumber of women.”

Thinking Want Whole Problem Government Culture Media Currents Refusal Slumber

Author:Marianne Williamson

“The policies that Hillary [Clinton] advocates are going to be more of the same, whether you're looking at her cozy relationships with the banks, her refusal to support Glass-Steagall, her vagueness about what actually she's going to do about the control of the big banks.”

Bigs Support Policy Clinton Glasses Refusal Cozy Vagueness

Author:Jill Stein

“It is an admirable skill to able to sweeten a refusal with civil words which atone for the favor which we are not able to grant.”

Able Skills Favors Grants Refusal Admirable

Author:Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

“There are absolute atheists ... Absolute atheism is in no way a mere absence of belief in God. It is rather a refusal of God, a fight against God, a challenge to God.”

Way Fighting Belief Challenges Atheism Absolutes Mere Atheist Absence Refusal Belief In God

Author:Jacques Maritain

“Recently, [Diana Wilson] went on a hunger strike to protest Dow Chemical's refusal to accept responsibility for a 1984 chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, caused by a company they now own, Union Carbide. In the past, Diane's hunger strikes had been lonely affairs, but this time friends and co-conspirators from around the country took turns joining her on her flatbed truck under the hot Texas sun, greeting Dow workers as they entered the plant.”

“In my acquaintance with John Rawls, I found him to be a simple and honest man, who just by chance also happened to be the greatest moral philosopher of the twentieth century. I would like to think that I could emulate at least his modesty - his refusal to exaggerate his perception of himself and his place in the larger scheme of things - even if my work never compares with his in its importance.”

Ifs Thinking Men Found Chance Simple Moral Happened Century Honest Perception Importance Philosopher Compare Modesty Schemes Acquaintance Twentieth Century Refusal Honest Man Emulate

Author:Allen W. Wood

“You probably know the name of Rosa Parks. You probably know that her refusal to move to the colored section in the back of a city bus sparked the Montgomery bus boycotts, one of the pivotal moments in the American civil rights movement.”

Knows Moments Moving Names Cities Rights Movement Civil Rights Parks Bus Sections Refusal Civil Rights Movement Rosa Boycott Pivotal Montgomery Pivotal Moments City Bus

Author:Michel Martin

“If we're trying to get the perfect house, the perfect relationship or the perfect job, it's likely there's some kind of fear driving us beyond the natural wish to improve. It's really the refusal to acknowledge that life - including ourselves - is simply not perfect.”

Ifs Trying Kind Jobs House Wish Natural Perfect Including Driving Acknowledge Refusal Not Perfect Perfect Relationship Perfect Job

Author:Roger Housden

“There were over 40,000 pages of FBI documents of which only about half are currently available to scholars and researchers. I think that this 40th anniversary of the assassination is a good opportunity for us to say that now is the time to declassify all FBI material on Malcolm X. There really is a need for us to challenge the US government for its refusal to open up its own archives 40 years after the death of Malcolm.”

Thinking Needs Years Government Opportunity Challenges Half Materials Pages Available Scholar Documents Refusal Fbi Researchers Assassination Archives Good Opportunity 40th Anniversary

Author:Manning Marable

“The real reason we haven't had peace is because of a persistent refusal of the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border.”

Real States Reason Havens Borders Palestinian Persistent Refusal

Author:Benjamin Netanyahu

“A different kind of pleasure surfaced in the aftermath, the pleasure of seeing the towers fall time and again, the experience of being entranced by the visual spectacle, and then also the very graphic forms of public mourning for exemplary citizens (taking place at the same time as the refusal to mourn the undocumented, the foreign, gay and lesbian lives lost there, for example). I am not sure that the guilt over the pleasure re-installed the good citizen.”

Kind Different Form Fall Lost Pleasure Seeing Example Citizens Gay Guilt All Time Not Sure Mourning Visuals Different Kinds Towers Refusal Mourn Graphic Aftermath Good Citizen Exemplary

Author:Judith Butler

“Gender assignment is a "construction" and yet many genderqueer and trans people refuse those assignments in part or in full. That refusal opens the way for a more radical form of self-determination, one that happens in solidarity with others who are undergoing a similar struggle.”

People Way Self Happens Form Struggle Determination Refuse Gender Radical Construction Self Determination Solidarity Refusal Trans Assignments

Author:Judith Butler

“The strike and its outcome had an enormous impact on the system of education and on our lives as well. The strike began as a response to the college's refusal to hire Professor Nathan Hare [the so-called father of black studies], and certainly unified the college around issues of justice. These issues were reflected in many communities: the Asian American community, Hispanic community, Native American community.”

“There's more roles now to fill since Trump's in. There's this refusal of power. I think progressives are actually literally uncomfortable with the exercise of power, because of what you learn. When you're too educated you understand the total disconnect of the exercise of power.”

Thinking Roles Trump Exercise Educated Uncomfortable Refusal

Author:Cody Wilson

“I don't have the Big Idea. I don't have the arrogance to even want to have the Big Idea. But I believe the physics of resisting power is as old as the physics of accumulating power. That's what keeps the balance in the universe... the refusal to obey.”

Want Believe Ideas Bigs Universe I Believe Balance Physics Arrogance Refusal Resisting Big Ideas

Author:Arundhati Roy

“I think it is less the limited amount of information than the filters that information about the Middle East must pass through before being fairly addressed in the mainstream media. In more intellectual and geopolitical terms, the perceptions of the region are distorted by a combination of Orientalism and the priorities of the state of Israel, including the refusal to discuss the relevance of Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal in the context of addressing Iran on its nuclear program.”

“At the moment we have a critical situation in Greece. Even as we speak, where there is an open attempt by the EU to destroy Syriza by splitting it. There is a German obstinacy and utter refusal to seriously consider an alternative. The reason isn't even a lack of money, because money swims around the EU coffers endlessly, and they could write off the debt tomorrow if they wanted. But they don't want to do so, because of the election of a left-wing government. They want to punish Syriza in public, to humiliate it so that this model doesn't go any further than Greece.”

Ifs Want Writing Reason Moments Government Wanted Left Speak Situation Tomorrow Models Election Wings Critical Debt Alternatives Swim Greece Refusal Left Wing Humiliate Splitting Obstinacy

Author:Tariq Ali

“Capitalism is in crisis both morally, due to widening disparities of income and wealth and disclosures of abusive practices, and ecologically, due to its refusal to make business adjustments in accounting procedures that pass the consequences of emissions to the public and the future.”

Wealth Practice Capitalism Consequence Crisis Dues Income Procedures Refusal Adjustment Emissions Accounting Abusive Disparity Disclosure

Author:Richard A. Falk

“That is my job as an intellectual, as an extension of my vocation: to engage in a serious reckoning with the present manifestation of both white supremacy, white refusal to acknowledge culpability, and the attempts of black people to re-describe the harm and trauma we've endured, as well as to say afresh what it is that must be done if we are to be conscientious.”

“Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.”

Evil Roots Oneself Boredom Good Life Bores Refusal Funny Boredom

Author:Soren Kierkegaard

“A right delayed is a right denied.”

Inspirational Political Politics Rights Words Of Wisdom Refuse Civil Rights African American Denial Rejection Rejects Denied Delay Refusal Delayed

Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.”

Inspirational Real Mathematics Math Real Life Mathematical Refusal Algebra Stand Firm Mathematics And Science Maths Funny

Author:Fran Lebowitz

“Perhaps the surest test of an individual's integrity is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self-respect.”

Inspirational Self Individual Self Esteem Integrity Respect Tests Damage Self Respect Say Anything Refusal Dignity And Respect Damage Is Done Self Respect And Dignity

Author:Thomas S. Monson

“There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.”

May War Political Results Situation Civilization Consequence Tyranny Imperfect Aggression Historic Inheritance Refusal

Book:Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr

Source: Love and Justice: Selections from the Shorter Writings of Reinhold Niebuhr

“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.”

Form Political Politics Denial Procrastination Delay Refusal Express Yourself Criminal Mind Murphys Law Parkinson's

Author:C. Northcote Parkinson

“Thousands of people may have been killed by hurricane Katrina and many more could die in its aftermath because of the President's refusal to heed the calls of governors for help in repairing the infrastructure in their states.”

People May Has Beens States Helping Dies President Governors Infrastructure Refusal Hurricanes Heed Aftermath Katrina Hurricane Katrina Repairing

Author:Charles Rangel

“A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.”

Desire Praise Workout Refusal

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.”

Humans Individual Human Beings Society Dignity Human Rights Acknowledge Protest Refusal Disobedience Civil Disobedience Acknowledge You

Author:Bayard Rustin

“Refusal to believe until proof is given is a rational position; denial of all outside of our own limited experience is absurd.”

Believe Given Position Ignorance Proof Rational Absurd Denial Refusal

Book:Why I Became a Theosophist

Source: Why I Became a Theosophist

“Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain. Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain. Whatever the substance you are addicted to - alcohol, food, legal or illegal drugs, or a person - you are using something or somebody to cover up your pain.”

Persons Ends Pain Faces Moving Drug Addiction Alcohol Arise Substance Unconscious Illegal Refusal Cover Ups Illegal Drugs Power Of Now Book

Book:The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

“The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.”

Artist Literature Risk Obsession Willingness Excess Behalf Refusal Entertainers Adventurer

Book:Assorted Prose

Source: Assorted Prose

“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.”

People Love Understanding Class Struggle Positive Revolution Mouths Everyday Everyday Life Rebellious Corpses Refusal Constraints Subversive Referring Class Struggle Constrain

Book:Situationism: A Compendium

Source: Situationism: A Compendium

“Elegance is innate. It has nothing to do with being well dressed. Elegance is refusal.”

Wells Elegance Innate Refusal Well Dressed

Author:Diana Vreeland

“America is the only developed nation that has a 2,000-mile border with a developing nation, and the government's refusal to control that border is why there are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona and why the nation, sensibly insisting on first things first, resists 'comprehensive' immigration reform.”

“Evil is the refusal to see one's self in others.”

Self Evil Refusal

Author:Richard Powers

“Re-vision – the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction – is for woman more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival. Until we understand the assumptions in which we are drenched we cannot know ourselves. And this drive to self-knowledge, for women, is more than a search for identity: it is part of our refusal of the self-destructiveness of male-dominated society.”

Knows Self Eye Vision Seeing Identity Survival Males Critical Assumption Chapters Looking Back Self Knowledge Entering Refusal Destructiveness Search For Identity

Author:Adrienne Rich

“All logical arguments can be defeated by the simple refusal to reason logically”

Reason Religion Simple Argument Logical Defeated Refusal Logical Arguments

Book:Dreams of a Final Theory

Source: Dreams of a Final Theory

“I finished my first book seventy-six years ago. I offered it to every publisher on the English-speaking earth I had ever heard of. Their refusals were unanimous: and it did not get into print until, fifty years later; publishers would publish anything that had my name on it.”

Years Firsts Book Earth Names Heard Six Years Ago Finished Fifty Print Publishers Seventies Publish Refusal English Speaking

Author:George Bernard Shaw

“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.”

Pain Happiness Artist Evil Interesting Trouble Stupid Habit Terrible Intellectual Boredom Considering Refusal Bad Habits Treason Banality Pendants

Author:Ursula K. Le Guin

“The same chemicals were used in the cooking as were used on the composition of her own being: only those which caused the most violent reaction, contradiction, and teasing, the refusal to answer questions but the love of putting them, and all the strong spices of human relationship which bore a relation to black pepper, paprika, soybean sauce, ketchup and red peppers.”

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Refusal Quotes