Refusal Quotes - Page 10

• The unification of opposites which characterizes the commercial and political style is one of the many ways in which discourse and communication make themselves immune against the expression of protest and refusal.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Communication, Expression, Opposites

  Herbert Marcuse (2012). “One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society”, p.90, Beacon Press

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• In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service.

  John Stuart Mill

  Political, Age, Example

  John Stuart Mill (1989). “J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings”, p.67, Cambridge University Press

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• There is a vast difference - a constitutional difference-between restrictions imposed by the state which prohibit the intellectual commingling of students, and the refusal of individuals to commingle where the state presents no such bar.

  Fred M. Vinson

  Differences, Intellectual, Bars

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• The nobility of our calling will always be rooted in two commitments difficult to observe: refusal to lie about what we know, and resistance to oppression.

  Albert Camus

  Lying, Commitment, Writing

  Albert Camus (1960). “Speech of Acceptance Upon the Award of the Nobel Prize for Literature: Delivered in Stockholm on the Tenth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-seven. [Translated by Justin O'Brien”

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• I'm English enough to feel something of a gut-reaction to modernism, to continental philosophising and anything that smacks of a refusal to pay attention to the forensics: the empirical facts on the ground.

  Will Self

  Attention, Pay, Facts

  "Will Self: modernism and me" by Will Self, www.theguardian.com. August 3, 2012.

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• REFUSAL, n. Denial of something desired; Refusals are graded in a descending scale of finality thus: the refusal absolute, the refusal condition, the refusal tentative and the refusal feminine. The last is called by some casuists the refusal assentive.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Desire, Denial, Lasts

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)”, p.2495, Delphi Classics

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• There is something underwhelming about scholarly hate mail - the sad literary allusions, the refusal to use contractions.

  Brock Clarke

  Hate, Use, Mail

  Brock Clarke (2007). “An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England: A Novel”, Algonquin Books

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• "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.

  Mary J. Miller

  Smart, Reading, Writing

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Tout refus du langage est une mort. Any refusal of language is a death.

  Roland Barthes

  Language

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• Surely Scripture is right when it makes the sin of sins that unbelief, which is at bottom nothing else than a refusal to take the cup of salvation. Surely no sharper grief can be inflicted upon the Spirit of God than when we leave His gifts neglected and unappropriated.

  Alexander MacLaren

  Grief, Scripture, Cups

  Alexander MacLaren “MacLaren's Commentary- Expositions of Holy Scripture”, Delmarva Publications, Inc.

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• While the Jeffersonian did not flatly deny the Creator's power to perform miracles, he admired His refusal to do so.

  Daniel J. Boorstin

  Miracle, Deny, Creator

  Daniel J. Boorstin (1993). “The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson”, p.41, University of Chicago Press

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• For me, one of the most disturbing elements of the right wing's political agenda is that it believes that there is one correct spiritual and moral path for all people to follow. The danger inherent in this is its explicit refusal to accept anyone who happens to lead a different lifestyle, and the condemnation of those who differ.

  Barbra Streisand

  Spiritual, Believe, Wings

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• Frivolity is the species' refusal to suffer.

  John Lahr

  Suffering, Species, Frivolity

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• In its relation to the reality of daily life, the high culture of the past was many things opposition and adornment, outcry and resignation. But it was also the appearance of the realm of freedom: the refusal to behave.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Past, Reality, Culture

  Herbert Marcuse (2013). “One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society”, p.75, Routledge

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• Nationalism is fraught with dangers, of course, but so is the blind refusal to recognize that attachment to one's own culture, traditions, and history is a creative, normal, and healthy part of human experience.

  Anthony Daniels

  Attachment, Creative, Healthy

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• The name of God should no longer come from the mouth of man. This word that has so long been degraded by usage no longer means anything.... To use the word God is more than sloth, it is a refusal to think, a king of short cut, a hideous shorthand.

  Arthur Adamov

  God, Kings, Mean

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• Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences. Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb to either charm.

  Leo Strauss

  Philosophy, Humble, Men

  Leo Strauss, Hilail Gildin (1989). “An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays”, p.39, Wayne State University Press

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• A refusal to believe that God loves us is the unbelief which destroys the soul.

  Edward Norris Kirk

  Believe, Soul, God Love

  Edward Norris Kirk (1857). “Discourses: Doctrinal and Practical”, p.21

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• Government, like any other organism, refuses to acquiesce in its own extinction. This refusal, of course, involves the resistance to any effort to diminish its powers and prerogatives.

  H. L. Mencken

  Government, Effort, Resistance

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.204, Knopf

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• Also, perhaps children are sterner than grown-up people in their refusal to suffer, in their refusal, even, to feel at all.

  Elizabeth Bowen

  Children, People, Suffering

  Elizabeth Bowen (2015). “Bowen's Court & Seven Winters”, p.205, Random House

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• Just as the creative artist is not allowed to choose, neither is he permitted to turn his back on anything: a single refusal, and he is cast out of the state of grace and becomes sinful all the way through.

  Rainer Maria Rilke

  Artist, Creative, Grace

  Rainer Maria Rilke (2002). “Letters on Cézanne”, p.60, Macmillan

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• The leading characteristic of the savage state is its refusal or avoidance of industry.

  Arthur Brisbane

  Savages, Characteristics, States

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• Of course, I'm aware of the animosities destroying brain cells on both sides, and I know all about the obstinacy of the warring parties, their refusal to reach an agreement, their devotion to their own murderous hatred.

  Yasmina Khadra

  Party, Agreement, Cells

  Yasmina Khadra (2005). “The Attack”, Nan A. Talese

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• Suffering is basically the mind's refusal to accept reality as it is.

  Marcus Thomas

  Reality, Mind, Suffering

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• Perhaps that is what love is -- the momentary or prolonged refusal to think of another person in terms of power.

  Phyllis Rose

  Love Is, Thinking, Term

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