Disobedience Quotes

• An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Motivational, Respect, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Freedom, Libertarian Party, Historical

  Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.23, Heron Dance Press

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• The cost of obedience is small compared with the cost of disobedience.

  Saint Augustine

  Cost, Obedience

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• Human history begins with man's act of disobedience which is at the same time the beginning of his freedom and the development of his reason.

  Erich Fromm

  Freedom, Men, Liberty

  "Psychoanalysis and Religion".

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• Today's difficulties are often a result of yesterday's disobedience.

  Priscilla Shirer

  Yesterday, Today, Results

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• If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Motivational, Religious, Freedom

  Civil Disobedience (1849) See Savio 1

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  You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.

  Malcolm X

  Inspirational, Peace, Patriotic

  Malcolm X (1990). “Malcolm X on Afro-American History”, Pathfinder Press

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• Obedience is an act of faith; disobedience is the result of unbelief.

  Edwin Louis Cole

  Obedience, Results, Unbelief

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  There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

  Elie Wiesel

  Freedom, Philosophy, Military

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.182, Schocken

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• Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Life, God

  Albert Einstein (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.423, Princeton University Press

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• Satan is ever seeking to inject that poison into our hearts to distrust God's goodness - especially in connection with his commandments. That is what really lies behind all evil, lusting and disobedience. A discontent with our position and portion, a craving from something which God has wisely held from us. Reject any suggestion that God is unduly severe with you. Resist with the utmost abhorrence anything that causes you to doubt God's love and his loving-kindness toward you. Allow nothing to make you question the Father's love for his child.

  Arthur W. Pink

  Faith, Children, Kindness

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• Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Freedom, Libertarian Party, Democracy

  Mahatma Gandhi (2012). “The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas”, p.144, Vintage

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• If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

  Desmond Tutu

  Bullying, Justice, Sides

  "The secrets of a peacemaker". Interview with Gary Younge, www.theguardian.com. May 22, 2009.

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• One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Religious, Responsibility

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.60, Beacon Press

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• DISOBEDIENCE, n. The silver lining to the cloud of servitude.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sarcastic, Clouds, Silver

  Ambrose Bierce (2001). “The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary”, p.58, University of Georgia Press

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• Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

  Oscar Wilde

  Eye, Men, History

  "The Soul of Man Under Socialism". Essay by Oscar Wilde, 1891.

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• Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your
  country, let men label you as they may.

  Mark Twain

  Country, Integrity, 4th Of July

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• Whenever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.

  Thomas Chandler Haliburton

  Power, Natural, Authority

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• If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Plant, Dies

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.83, Penguin

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• Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Thank You, Time, Children

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• I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Writing, Ideas, Evil

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• Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks, before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman empire.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Pain, Block

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.93, Beacon Press

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• To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  Leadership, Freedom, Business

  "Poems of Problems" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "Protest", (pp. 154 - 155), 1914.

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• My links with [Mahatma] Gandhi now are very political links because I do not believe there is any other politics available to us in the late twentieth century, a period of a totalitarianism linked with the market. There is really no other way you can do politics and create freedom for people without the kinds of instruments he revived. Civil disobedience is a way to create permanent democracy, perennial democracy, a direct democracy.

  Vandana Shiva

  Believe, People, Political

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  If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

  Desmond Tutu

  Bullying, Peace, Elephants

  FaceBook post by Desmond Tutu from Jan 22, 2014

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