Disobedience Quotes - Page 11

• Such expression is impossible in a cramped atmosphere. As I have no desire to offer civil disobedience I cannot write freely. As the author of satyagraha I cannot, consistently with my profession, suppress the vital part of myself for the sake of being able to write on permissible subjects. ... It would be like dealing with the trunk without the head.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Writing, Expression, Atmosphere

  Mahatma Gandhi (1951). “Satyagraha: Non-violent Resistance”

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• A state is absolute in the sense which I have in mind when it claims the right to a monopoly of all the force within the community, to make war, to make peace, to conscript life, to tax, to establish and disestablish property, to define crime, to punish disobedience, to control education, to supervise the family, to regulate personal habits, and to censor opinions. The modern state claims all of these powers, and, in the matter of theory, there is no real difference in the size of the claim between communists, fascists, and Democrats.

  Walter Lippmann

  Real, War, Differences

  Walter Lippmann (1960). “A Preface To Morals”, p.80, Transaction Publishers

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• If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Wisdom, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (1942). “Civil Disobedience”, p.7, Hayes Barton Press

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• Accepting yourself as you are is an act of civil disobedience.

  Francesca Martinez

  Accepting Yourself, Accepting, Civil Disobedience

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• Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Machines, Life Is, Friction

  Henry David Thoreau (1942). “Civil Disobedience”, p.9, Hayes Barton Press

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• . . . we should be men first, and subjects afterward.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Respect, Men, Firsts

  Civil Disobedience (1849)

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• Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Citizens, Lawlessness, Sacred

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

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• Unjust laws have to be fought ideologically; they cannot be fought or corrected by means of mere disobedience and futile martyrdom.

  Ayn Rand

  Mean, Law, Unjust

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.225, Penguin

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• If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth

  Henry David Thoreau

  Government, Let It Go, Machines

  Civil Disobedience (1849) See Savio 1

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• There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

  Aaron Swartz

  Light, Law, Justice

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

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• Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

  Benedict of Nursia

  Children, Father, Heart

  "Rule of St. Benedict". Book by Benedict of Nursia, c. AD 480–550.

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• All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Voting, Moral, Vote

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Selected Essays of Henry David Thoreau”, p.101, Simon and Schuster

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• Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity.

  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

  Disappointment, Procrastination, Frustration

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• I don't advocate civil disobedience. I do advocate the role of an informed citizen to try to overturn when a court makes a mistake and gets an issue wrong.

  Rick Santorum

  Mistake, Issues, Trying

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• Disobedience to conscience is voluntary; bad poetry, on the other hand, is usually not made on purpose.

  C. S. Lewis

  Hands, Purpose, Made

  C.S. Lewis (2005). “A Preface to Paradise Lost”, p.11, Atlantic Publishers & Dist

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• Disobedience to conscience makes conscience blind.

  C. S. Lewis

  Blind, Conscience

  C.S. Lewis (2005). “A Preface to Paradise Lost”, p.11, Atlantic Publishers & Dist

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• The students I've been with these twenty years are looking for a world where it becomes a little easier to love and a lot harder to hate, where learning nonviolence means that we dedicate our hearts, minds, time, and money to a commitment that the force of love, the force of truth, the force of justice, and the force of organized resistance to corrupt power are seen as sane and the force of fists, guns, armies, and bombs insane.

  Colman McCarthy

  Hate, Heart, Mean

  Colman McCarthy (2002). “I'd Rather Teach Peace”

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• When that devil's bullet lodged itself inside the body of Martin Luther King, he had already begun an astonishing mobilization of poor, Black, white, latino Americans who had nothing to lose. They would challenge our government to eliminate exploitative, merciless, and war-mongering policies, nationwide, or else "tie up the country" through "means of civil disobedience." Dr. King intended to organize those legions into "coercive direct actions" that would make of Babylon a dysfunctional behemoth begging for relief. Is it any wonder he was killed?

  June Jordan

  Country, Kings, War

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• I hate the word proper. If you tell me a thing is not proper, I immediately feel the most rabid desire to go 'neck and heels' into it.

  Fanny Fern

  Hate, Desire, Necks

  Fanny Fern (1873). “Fanny Fern [pseud.]: A Memorial Volume. Containing Her Select Writings and a Memoir”, p.497

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• The way of the Lord is the way of happiness. ‘Wickedness never was happiness’ [Alma 41:10]. Transgression never was happiness. Sin never was happiness. Disobedience never was happiness. The way of happiness is following the way of the Lord. I believe this with all my heart.

  Gordon B. Hinckley

  Believe, Heart, Wickedness

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• Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everylasting benefit.

  Richard G. Scott

  Inspirational, Sympathy, God

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• Civil disobedience is the only nonviolent escape from the soul-destroying heat of violence.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Soul, Violence, Heat

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• Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.

  Howard Zinn

  Meaningful, Truth, Law

  Howard Zinn (1997). “The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy”, p.383, Seven Stories Press

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• Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.

  Howard Zinn

  Inspirational, Death, Running

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• An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Law

  Mahatma Gandhi (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.88, New Directions Publishing

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