#refusal

There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings. ↗

— Dorothy Thompson

#causes #except #fear #find #happenings

When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him. ↗

— Bayard Rustin

#act #being #confers #dignity #him

Elegance is innate. It has nothing to do with being well dressed. Elegance is refusal. ↗

— Diana Vreeland

#dressed #elegance #innate #nothing #refusal

(Response to King Erik XIV of Sweden's proposal of marriage:) "[W]hile we perceive ... the zeal and love of your mind towards us is not diminished, yet in part we are grieved that we cannot gratify your Serene Highness with the same kind of affection. And that indeed does not happen because we doubt in any way of your love and honour, but, as often we have testified both in words and writing, that we have never yet conceived a feeling of that kind of affection towards anyone. We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that you be pleased to set a limit to your love, that it advance not beyond the laws of friendship for the present nor disregard them in the future. ... We certainly think that if God ever direct our hearts to consideration of marriage we shall never accept or choose any absent husband how powerful and wealthy a Prince soever. But that we are not to give you an answer until we have seen your person is so far from the thing itself that we never even considered such a thing. I have always given both to your brother ... and also to your ambassador likewise the same answer with scarcely any variation of the words, that we do not conceive in our heart to take a husband but highly commend this single life, and hope that your Serene Highness will no longer spend time in waiting for us. ↗

— Elizabeth I Tudor

#empowerment #freedom #friendship #independence #love

My characters aren't losers. They're rebels. They win by their refusal to play by everyone else's rules. ↗

— Harold Ramis

#else #everyone #losers #play #rebels

Science is the refusal to believe on the basis of hope. ↗

— Carrie P. Snow

#believe #hope #refusal #science

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all. ↗

— John Updike

#artists #behalf #content #distinguishes #entertainers

The crucial thing is to arouse the awareness that as a matter of human conscience we can never permit the people of any country to fall victim to nuclear weapons, and for each individual to express their refusal to continue living in the shadow of the threat they pose. ↗

— Daisaku Ikeda

#arouse #awareness #conscience #continue #country

It is impossible, in my mind, to distinguish between the refusal to receive a petition, or its summary rejection by some general order, and the denial of the right of petition. ↗

— Caleb Cushing

#denial #distinguish #general #impossible #mind

Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra. ↗

— Fran Lebowitz

#assure #conscious #during #firm #i