“I was conscripted to military service, and my gut feeling was to refuse to serve. I did not want to kill other people. This seemed to me wrong, if not in principle, so at least in practice.” PeopleIfsWantFeelingsPrinciplesPracticeMilitaryRefuseGutsGut FeelingsMilitary Service Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“My conjecture is that most people will refuse to let go, even when their lives have become boring (at least in comparisons with possible lives lived by new generations). If this happens, there will eventually be no room for new generations. A kind of collective irrationality will lead to a bleak life for the last generation that decides to stay around. Unless we put and end to the human race (through global warming, for example), before this happens, individual egoism will block the path to a better world.” PeopleIfsWorldHumansKindEndsHappensLastsIndividualRoomsRacePathGenerationsExampleLetting GoRefuseBoringBlockHuman RaceGlobal WarmingCollectivesComparisonEgoismNew GenerationBleakIrrationalityConjecture Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I'm going to quit music. Then the government of Japan asked me to write a piano concerto - that was an offer I couldn't refuse, so that brought me back to music again.” WritingGovernmentOffersRefuseQuittingPianoJapan Author:Yoshiki
“If you look at my collaborations, it is very much in line with all these others in the sense that it is a building of community, particularly among artists of color. This is what I learned from the example of elder African-American artists, which is where it is all coming from; to refuse to be silenced.” IfsLooksArtistCommunityLinesExampleBuildingColorRefuseAfrican AmericanCollaborationElders Author:Vijay Iyer
“Some artists respond to critics' questions about their art. I think Bob Dylan would alwys refuse to respond to questions of that sort, he always has.” ThinkingArtArtistCriticsRefuseBobDylan Author:Richard F. Thomas
“Ordinary Americans can't pollute for free. You can't dump your trash on the sidewalk or throw all your refuse into your neighbor's yard. I don't understand why corporate polluters should be allowed to dump megatons of carbon, the most dangerous pollution in the history of the world, into our thin shell of an atmosphere, and not pay a penny to do it.” WorldShouldPayDangerousOrdinaryRefuseNeighborCorporateAtmospherePollutionShellsYardsCarbonWorld HistoryTrashPenniesDumpSidewalk Author:Van Jones
“What literature brings to our times is always the fact that literature refuses to bring any simple or easy answers.” FactsLiteratureEasySimpleAnswersRefuseOur TimeEasy Answers Author:Sjon
“I refuse to indulge in small talk. And compliments, if at all, I save for after the job is done.” IfsDoneJobsRefuseComplimentIndulgeIndulge InSmall Talk Author:Indira Gandhi
“We have no salaries. When one says he is from a good Catholic family and says he wants to help us, why should we refuse his offer?” WantShouldHelpingOffersCatholicRefuseSalaryCatholic Family Author:Mother Teresa
“In Calcutta alone, we have given more than 1,000 children in adoption. I cannot calculate how many babies we get a year. But we never refuse anybody. Everybody is most welcome.” YearsChildrenGivenBabyRefuseWelcomeAdoptionCalcutta Author:Mother Teresa
“It's not my concern. It's your concern. I just keep working. I keep posing certain questions and I think there are times when people think "What happened to the Judith Butler I used to know?" or "She's not doing gender trouble. Does that mean she refuses it or she's disavowed it?" And I would say no. I have not refused or disavowed anything.” PeopleThinkingKnowsMeanDoeUsedCertainHappenedTroubleConcernRefuseGenderButlersPosing Author:Judith Butler
“I think the first thing parents need to start doing is absolutely refuse to cooperate with any psychological evaluation of children in school. Schools should not be mental hospitals. Parents should say that the only tests they want their children to have are those respecting their academic subjects and nothing else.” ThinkingWantNeedsShouldFirstsChildrenSchoolParentSubjectsTestsRefusePsychologicalHospitalsAcademicEvaluation Author:Peter Breggin
“Parents must refuse to cooperate with any psychological evaluation of their children in school.” ChildrenSchoolParentRefusePsychologicalEvaluation Author:Peter Breggin
“[Sigmund ] Freud did not under-stand that the dream is a highly creative act, written in the universal language of symbolism, and only secondarily does censorship distort those parts that the subject refuses to accept even in sleep.” DoeDreamLanguageSleepAcceptingCreativeWrittenSubjectsUniversalRefuseCensorshipSymbolismUniversal Language Author:Erich Fromm
“Despite the repeated attacks on American citizens by illegal aliens released from our jails, DHS refuses to stop freeing violent criminals who are in our country illegally.” CountryCitizensRefuseCriminalsViolentDespiteOur CountryAliensIllegalJailAmerican CitizensIllegal AliensViolent Criminals Author:Matt Salmon
“Over the last fifteen years, every single person the U.S. has tried to extradite from Sweden has been extradited, and they refuse to provide a guarantee [that won't happen].” YearsPersonsHas BeensHappensLastsRefuseGuaranteesFifteenSingle PersonGuarantees ThatSwedenFifteen Years Author:Julian Assange
“I do object to the assumption that anything that might be outside of nature is ruled out of the conversation. That's an impoverished view of the kinds of questions we humans can ask, such as "Why am I here?", "What happens after we die?", "Is there a God?" If you refuse to acknowledge their appropriateness, you end up with a zero probability of God after examining the natural world because it doesn't convince you on a proof basis.” IfsWorldHumansKindEndsMightHappensDiesAsksNaturalViewsObjectsConversationBasesRefuseProofAcknowledgeAssumptionConvinceZeroProbabilityNatural WorldExaminingAppropriateness Author:Richard Dawkins
“This is the large range of issues we have to discuss [with Shinzō Abe] and make a decision on each one of them. Look, after the resumption of the negotiating process in 2000, we did not refuse to consistently work toward signing this peace treaty.” LooksProcessDecisionIssuesRefuseRangeConsistentlyTreatiesSigningNegotiatingAbePeace TreatiesResumption Author:Vladimir Putin
“I told [ David Lange] he was crazy, because you can't have an alliance relationship if you refuse access to their ships. And the Americans wanted to punish him very severely and I intervened there and softened them somewhat. They wanted to really take some tough, reactive measures to New Zealand.” IfsWantedCrazyToughRefuseAccessShipsAlliancesNew Zealand Author:Bob Hawke
“Sometimes I walk into a situation and I know somebody is going to provoke me - not maybe, I know he will provoke me - I know he will provoke me! And there are times when I simply refuse to be provoked. And the other times you have to use that superior knowledge to carry on at work without distraction, and don't allow yourself to be distracted.” KnowsSometimesUseWalksSituationRefuseSuperiorsDistractionProvokingDistractedProvoked Author:Kofi Annan
“Suppose that I see a hungry child in the street, and I am able to offer the child some food. Am I morally culpable if I refuse to do so? Am I morally culpable if I choose not to do what I easily can about the fact that 1000 children die every hour from easily preventable disease, according to UNICEF? Or the fact that the government of my own "free and open society" is engaged in monstrous crimes that can easily be mitigated or terminated? Is it even possible to debate these questions?” IfsChildrenFactsGovernmentAbleDiesHoursMy OwnStreetsCrimeOffersDiseaseRefuseDebateHungryEngagedMonstrousUnicef Author:Noam Chomsky
“I think at every moment in the last probably 100 years, when the institutional church had the opportunity to do the right thing, they did the wrong thing. They're a dying institution in many parts of the world because they refuse to ordain women or married people. And now they're a dying institution because some of their members did enormous harm to young people and instead of responding aggressively with humility, and with love, and with the confession of wrongdoing, they tried to spin it as though they were a political party, and that's just deplorable.” PeopleThinkingWorldYearsMomentsLastsYoungPoliticalOpportunityChurchPartyDyingHumilityMembersMarriedInstitutionsRefuseHarmEnormousRight ThingConfessionPolitical PartiesWrong ThingsRespondingWrongdoing Author:Anna Quindlen
“We refuse to believe that this present world is the sum total of human existence.” WorldBelieveHumansExistenceRefuseHuman Existence Author:Max Lucado
“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.” PeopleWaySelfHappensFormStruggleDeterminationRefuseGenderRadicalConstructionSelf DeterminationSolidarityRefusalTransAssignments Author:Judith Butler
“You can say to this unemployed family, people are indigent, that they must pay for water and this and that and refuse removal and so on. They have no money. We may very well say that, but does the municipality have the capacity to do it? So, that's why we said that we need to have a thorough look at the functioning of local government and that will include the financing. So that this poor person does indeed access that water.” PeopleNeedsWellsLooksMayPersonsDoeSaidGovernmentWaterPoorPayCapacityRefuseAccessLocalsNo MoneyThoroughUnemployedRemovalFinancingLocal GovernmentMunicipality Author:Thabo Mbeki
“My wife and I have long discussions about [George] Carlin, and we refuse to accept that he died an atheist. It's just, confounding. When I talked to Kelly [George Carlin's daughter] about it, she said that George Carlin once took her at about 12 years old and said, "I've figured it out." And he says it in one of his specials sort of - he goes, "We're all energy and we're all connected. That goldfish you have, you, me, that boot laying in the street, we're all pieces of light to a giant electron.” YearsLongSaidLightEnergyAcceptingPiecesWifeStreetsDaughterDiedAtheistRefuseConnectedMy WifeDiscussionGiantsBootsElectronsGoldfishConfounding Author:Jay Mohr
“Politicians refuse to modernize schools, they cut out midnight basketball, but build all these new jails. First class jails, second class schools. This is zero tolerance.” FirstsSchoolClassCuttingPoliticianBasketballRefuseToleranceJailZeroMidnightFirst ClassZero Tolerance Author:Jesse Jackson
“Everybody knows that the United Nations is not the Secretary-General; he has an important position, but the United Nations is the states within this organization, and to be frank, most of the people say only the five permanent members; this is the United Nations because they have the veto, they can do whatever they want and they can refuse whatever they want, and if there's a reform that is very much needed for this organization.” PeopleIfsKnowsWantImportantStatesNationsCan DoUnitedFivePositionNeededMembersOrganizationRefuseReformPermanentFrankSecretaryUnited NationsVeto Author:Bashar al-Assad
“If you're a so-called minority writer, the temptation is to write for the majority... I refuse to do that.” IfsWritingMajorityRefuseTemptationMinorities Author:Nguyen Viet Thang
“In a country lacking leaders, in Africa, for instance, how could a native educated in Europe refuse to become a professor, even at the price of his literary vocation?” CountryLeaderEuropeRefuseEducatedInstanceNativeProfessorsLackingVocation Author:Jean-Paul Sartre
“I am 100 percent on the side of insisting that white people step up to a different level of consciousness and commitment and the great gifts of the West and the great gifts of white culture and white community be used for a better purpose than this nonsense of supporting Trump. I insist on that. I refuse to accept that. I refuse to accept that we are going to give over 60 million people over to this guy.” PeopleGivingDifferentUsedPurposeGuyCultureSidesCommunityWhiteLevelsConsciousnessAcceptingStepsMillionsTrumpPercentCommitmentWestRefuseNonsenseThis GuyStep UpDifferent LevelsInsistingGreat Gifts Author:Van Jones
“If I didn't have that deep grounding, it would be very easy for me to just be someone who is consumed with anger and hatred. And that would be Trump's great victory: to turn us into replicas of him, just on the other side of a wall screen. I refuse to let me or my family or my movement or my friends be turned into the opposite of Trump. I want to be the antidote for Trump.” IfsWantWould BeTurnsEasySidesMovementWallTrumpVictoryMy FriendsMy FamilyHatredOppositesLet MeRefuseScreensConsumedAntidoteGroundingGreat VictoryReplica Author:Van Jones
“Our proposal had more than just money. We would increase their staff and keep their headquarters, their brand and their management in place. We made them a comprehensive offer they couldn't refuse. Shareholders simply receive cash, but with the staff and management, we had to show that we could share the same vision. Employees would probably resent us if money were all [we offered].” IfsMadeShowsVisionShareOffersIncreaseManagementRefuseBrandsEmployeeCashStaffProposalComprehensiveResentShareholdersHeadquarters Author:Masayoshi Son
“If you're going to offer a position of great power and importance to somebody, you're not gonna do that publicly unless you know they're gonna accept it, because to refuse it is a rebuke.” IfsKnowsAcceptingPositionOffersImportanceRefuseGreat PowerRebuke Author:Rush Limbaugh
“There are at least 23 countries that refuse to take their people back after they've been ordered to leave the United States. Including large numbers of violent criminals, they won't take them back. So we say, OK, we'll keep them. Not going to happen with me, not going to happen with me.” PeopleCountryStatesHappensUnitedNumbersUnited StatesIncludingRefuseCriminalsViolentLarge NumbersViolent Criminals Author:Donald Trump
“The colonial regime makes sure, often with the help of surrogates, that radical leaders and those honest principled intellectuals and activists who refuse to compromise their principles of independence are eliminated, so that the postcolonial regime (and especially its resources) remains accessible. The result has been a disaster for the (post)colonial world.” WorldHas BeensHelpingResultsLeaderPrinciplesHonestResourcesIndependenceRemainsRefuseDisasterCompromiseRadicalPostsActivistRegimesPrincipledSurrogates Author:Nigel Gibson
“To refuse everything, to say, even when there is something which really should be done, "Ah, that's no longer feminist," is a pessimistic, even masochistic tendency in women, the result of having been habituated to inertia, to pessimism.” ShouldDoneResultsFeministRefuseTendenciesPessimismPessimisticInertiaMasochistic Author:Simone de Beauvoir
“In terms of America, I think any profound consideration is bound to return us to the notion of twins because, though you certainly can contend there are many Americas, our history has been binary from the beginning, with its hairline fracture down the country's center between what American has wanted to be and what America has been. That fracture is slavery, of course. To some extent it's still slavery, in that collectively we refuse to come to grips with the American fact of slavery.” ThinkingHas BeensStillsCountryFactsWantedAmericaCoursesTermReturnSlaveryProfoundNotionBoundsRefuseConsiderationTwinsBinaryFracture Author:Steve Erickson
“Hume's paradox does hold: power is in the hands of the governed. If they refuse to accept it, you're in trouble, no matter how many guns you have.” IfsDoeMatterHandsAcceptingTroubleGunRefuseParadoxHume Author:Noam Chomsky
“The fanatical Communist refuses to believe any unfavorable report or evidence about Russia, nor will he be disillusioned by seeing with his own eyes the cruel misery inside the Soviet promised land. It is the true believer's ability to "shut his eyes and stop his ears" to facts that do not deserve to be either seen or heard which is the source of his unequaled fortitude and constancy. He cannot be frightened by danger, nor disheartened by obstacles, nor baffled by contradictions because he denies their existence.” BelieveFactsEyeAbilityExistenceSeeingHeardLandDangerSourceEvidenceDeserveEarsMiseryRefuseObstaclesDenyBelieverRussiaHis EyesReportsContradictionFrightenedCommunistSovietFortitudeConstancyTrue BelieverDisillusionedPromised LandBaffledDisheartened Author:Eric Hoffer
“Our [black people's] path is clear: We refuse to be inferior. We want to be exactly what Allah (God) has desired for us to be and we can't be that in their [white people's] house. We either have to take over their house or go and build a house of our own.” PeopleWantHouseBlackWhitePathClearRefuseBlack PeopleInferiors Author:Louis Farrakhan
“In a way all writers are writing against death, because writing is an attempt to defy the passage of time, to refuse to let the past disappear and be forgotten, and to refuse to let the present become the past - to try to keep living another day, to try to talk your way into life, or seduce your way into it.” WayWritingTryingPastForgottenRefuseDisappearPassagesAnother DaySeducingPassage Of Time Author:Elif Batuman
“We cannot anticipate the moral circumstances under which we will live. And therefore [I refuse] to say that I will not live in a moral circumstance that requires violence.” MoralViolenceCircumstancesRefuseAnticipate Author:George Friedman
“The fact that I don't get big offers, it means that I don't refuse them. And I say no occasionally to bands, if I find them not very interesting to me. Or sounds like a copy of something else, I will say no. But 97% of the time, I say yes thank you to any jobs I'm offered.” IfsMeanFactsBigsJobsSoundInterestingOffersBandRefuseCopiesVery Interesting Author:Gordon Raphael
“We need to put limits on how much an individual, group or business can spend on influencing an individual legislator or a whole set of legislators. Look at the vast sums that the NRA spends on getting all legislators to be soft on gun control. Legislators find it hard to refuse the NRA's largess when they need contributions to their political campaign wherever they can get them.” NeedsLooksHardWholePoliticalIndividualGroupsInfluenceLimitsGunRefuseCampaignsContributionGun ControlLegislatorsNraPolitical Campaign Author:Philip Kotler
“Sometimes I walk into a situation and I know somebody is going to provoke me - not maybe, I know he will provoke me - I know he will provoke me! And there are times when I simply refuse to be provoked. And the other times you have to use that superior knowledge to carry on at work without distraction, and don't allow yourself to be distracted. I laugh a lot inside and outside, and at myself sometimes.” KnowsSometimesUseWalksSituationLaughingRefuseSuperiorsDistractionProvokingDistractedProvokedInside And Outside Author:Kofi Annan
“I don't see myself as successful because I've worked on only a handful of films. The way I look at it, if you're really, really lucky, if you consistently work hard over the course of ten years, if you refuse to take no for an answer, if you surround yourself with great mentors and are a sponge, willing to learn, then you're bound for something to happen.” IfsWayYearsLooksHardHappensFilmCoursesAnswersSuccessfulWillingHard WorkLuckyTenBoundsRefuseGreat MenSurroundMentorConsistentlyHandfulSurround YourselfSpongesWilling To Learn Author:Haley Bennett
“I refuse, whenever possible, to do shows on a Monday. I don't do gigs on a Monday, because nobody laughs on Mondays. Everybody wants Monday to be over. I just won't do 'em. But the rest of the time, in all honesty, it doesn't matter where you are: if something's funny, people laugh.” PeopleIfsWantMatterShowsLaughingHonestyRefuseEmsWhere You AreMondayGigsFunny People Author:John Bishop
“I don't believe in failure. I believe every setback is an opportunity to learn, regroup, get stronger, and try again. This is my motto: Rejection is God's protection. When people feel that they have failed, it's usually because somebody or something caused them to feel that way and taste defeat. I refuse to dwell on that. Yes, it sucks at first, and the feeling is valid, but it all happens for a reason. Let go.” PeopleWayFeelsTryingFirstsBelieveReasonFeelingsHappensOpportunityI BelieveTasteLetting GoStrongerDon't BelieveDefeatRefuseProtectionRejectionMottoTry AgainSetbackMy MottoHappens For A ReasonOpportunities To Learn Author:Roselyn Sanchez