Defiance Quotes

• I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Crush, Hope

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826”, p.44, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Defiance is beautiful. The defiance of power, especially great or overwhelming power, exalts and glorifies the rebel.

  Edward Abbey

  Beautiful, Rebel, Overwhelming

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.20, RosettaBooks

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• In the end, it is our defiance that redeems us.

  Mark Rowlands

  Ends

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• Defiance, not obedience, is the American's answer to overbearing authority.

  Ayn Rand

  Answers, Obedience, Authority

  Ayn Rand (1984). “Philosophy: Who Needs It”, p.200, Penguin

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• There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.

  Walt Whitman

  Country, Tyrants, People

  Walt Whitman, Edward F. Grier (2007). “Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, Volume VI: Notes and Index”, p.2148, NYU Press

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• When people are very damaged, they can often meet the world with a kind of defiance.

  J. K. Rowling

  People, World, Kind

  "Rowling Draws On Personal Experience In 'Vacancy'". Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. September 26, 2012.

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• With the pride of the artist, you must blow against the walls of every power that exists the small trumpet of your defiance.

  Norman Mailer

  Wall, Pride, Artist

  Norman Mailer (2013). “The Deer Park: A Novel”, p.368, Random House

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• To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

  Howard Zinn

  Hope, Kindness, Future

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• Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. ... With hearts fortified ... we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that... we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Heart, Perfect, Mind

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.86, Cambridge University Press

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• One single act of defiance against power, against the State that seems omnipotent but is not, transforms and transfigures the human personality. At least for a time. For a while. Perhaps that is enough.

  Edward Abbey

  Personality, Enough, States

  Edward Abbey (1954). “Slumgullion stew: an Edward Abbey reader”, E P Dutton

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• Comedy is defiance. It's a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it's the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale.

  Will Durst

  Happiness, Laughter, Fear

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• In War: Resolution; In Defeat: Defiance; In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace: Good Will.

  Winston Churchill

  Peace, War, Victory And Defeat

  "Marlborough; his life and times".

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• Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.

  Seneca the Younger

  Real, Evil, Suffering

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.

  Steven Strogatz

  Tradition, Something New, New You

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• Good work is always done in defiance of management.

  Bob Woodward

  Design, Done, Management

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• I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Blame, Pupils, Masters

  Leonardo Da Vinci (2015). “Thoughts on Art and Life: "Behind the Genius"”, p.118, eKitap Projesi

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• But the safety of the world, in some sense, depends on your saying no to inhumane ideas. Standing up for one's own integrity makes you no friends. It is costly. Yet defiance of the mob, in the service of that which is right, is one of the highest expressions of courage I know.

  Gabrielle Giffords

  Integrity, Expression, Ideas

  Commencement address at Scripps College, Claremont, California, 2009.

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• Sin is not an unfortunate slip or a regrettable act; it is a posture of defiance against a holy God.

  Max Lucado

  Sin, Holy, Posture

  Max Lucado (2012). “A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God Through the Storm”, p.77, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• I think it's an American curse that most of us think we are special. ... everyone believes themselves to be superior to the majority of the population in some way. Sometimes it's their looks, other times their perceived sex appeal (often in obvious defiance of their looks), and other times it is their real or imagined talent for acting, writing, painting or banging on the drums. And because people are so susceptible to flattery, there exists an entire industry made up of scam artists whose sole goal is to fleece the flatterable.

  Fay Faron

  Sex, Real, Believe

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• The grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit.

  J. I. Packer

  Grace, Merit, Guilty

  J. I. Packer, Carolyn Nystrom (2004). “Knowing God Through the Year”, p.196, InterVarsity Press

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• We know that if gold, if fraud, if force can defeat us, they will all be used. And we have resolved that they shall not defeat us. We shall arm. We shall meet fraud and falsehood with defiance, and force with force, if need be.

  Denis Kearney

  Hype, Gold, Needs

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• Social opinion is like a sharp knife. There are foolish people who regard it only with terror, and dare not touch or meddle with it. There are more foolish people, who, in rashness or defiance, seize it by the blade, and get cut and mangled for their pains. And there are wise people, who grasp it discreetly and boldly by the handle, and use it to carve out their own purposes.

  Anna Brownell Jameson

  Wise, Pain, Cutting

  Anna Brownell Jameson (1877). “A commonplace book of thoughts, memories and fancies, original and selected”, p.23

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• There is no person in this room whose basic rights are not involved in any successful defiance to the carrying out of court orders.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Successful, Rights, Order

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1959). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958”, p.397, Best Books on

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• Shock, confusion, fear, anger, grief, and defiance. On Sept. 11, 2001, and for the three days following the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, President George W. Bush led with raw emotion that reflected the public's whipsawing stages of acceptance.

  Ron Fournier

  Grief, Anger, Acceptance

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• Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of humankind pass by.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Eye, Pride, Lord

  'The Traveller' (1764) l. 327

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