Quotes about Defiance

I find that whatever is old corrupts, and the past turns to snakes. The reverence for the deeds of our ancestors is a treacherous sentiment. Their merit was not to reverence the old, but to honor the present moment; and we falsely make them excuses of the very habit which they hated and defied.

But I'm afraid you have it backward. It is better to live on one's feet than die on one's knees. That is the way the saying goes.

Havermeyer was a lead bombardier who never missed. Yossarian was a lead bombardier who had been demoted because he no longer gave a damn whether he missed or not. He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive.

God has defied the purity laws! In doing so the God of the trance has violated Israel's definition of chosenness. All of the old certitudes about chosenness are coming unglued. There is no distinction between pure and impure, clean and unclean. So is there no distinction any longer between chosen and unchosen?

It took guts to ignore public opinion and so what you thought was right.

It took guts to ignore public opinion and do what you thought was right.

At a certain point, when there's a barrier between you and what's right, eventually you have to decide you're not going to allow yourself to be subjugated.

What is imprisonment to the man who is fearless of death itself?

The man or the woman who can display the nonviolence of the brave can easily stand against as external invasion.

Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!

Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.