Stubborn Quotes
More Stubborn Quotes
The law of Moses is harsh and severe, as for an enslaved and stubborn people, but it punishes theft with a fine, not death. Let us not think that in his new law of mercy, where he treats us with the tenderness of a father,God has given us greater license to be cruel to one another.
— 1516 Utopia (English translation1556), bk.1.
The stubborn spearmen still made good Their dark impenetrable wood, Each stepping where his comrade stood The instant that he fell.
— 1808 Marmion, canto 6, stanza 34.
Because Thomas is too pretty to die. And because I'm too stubborn to die. And most of all because tomorrow is Oktoberfest, Butters, and polka will never die.
jim butcher— Character: Harry Dresden, Chapter 22
The bosom-weight, your stubborn gift, That no philosophy can lift.
william wordsworth— Presentiments.
It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and hopes. There is a stubborn effort in us to set up a compact screen between consciousness and the self.
Eric Hoffer— Entry (1956)
The white population could not possibly be unaffected by those events some whites more stubborn in their defense of segregation, but others beginning to think in different ways. And the black population was transformed, having risen up in mass action for the first time, feeling its power, knowing now that if the old order could be shaken it could be toppled.
howard zinn— You Can't Be Neutral on A Moving Train (1994) Ch. 4: "My Name is Freedom": Albany, Georgia
One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict , but apt always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying .
— Morris West, in Christopher K. Germer, Ronald D. Siegel Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Guilford Press, 2012, p.214
Never lose hope, be persistent and stubborn and never give up. There are many instances in history where apparent losers suddenly turn out to be winners unexpectedly, so you should never conclude all hope is lost.
theodore kaczynski— Interview with Ted Kaczynski
It is no use for one to stand in the shade and complain that the sun does not shine upon him. He must come out resolutely on the hot and dusty field where all are compelled to antagonize with stubborn difficulties, and pertinaciously strive until he conquers, if he would deserve to be crowned.
elias lyman magoo— P. 6. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
For life, good youth, hath never an illWhich hope cannot scatter, and faith cannot kill;And stubborn realities never shall bindThe free-spreading wings of a cheerful mind.
martin farquhar tupper— Forty, l. 29-32.
If fallacies come knocking at my door,I'd rather feed, and shelter full a score,Than hide behind the black portcullis, doubt,And run the risk of barring one Truth out.And if pretension for a time deceive,And prove me one too ready to believe,Far less my shame, than if by stubborn act,I brand as lie, some great colossal Fact.
ella wheeler wilcox— Credulity
What will happen once the authentic mass man takes over, we do not know yet, although it may be a fair guess that he will have more in common with the meticulous, calculated correctness of Himmler than with the hysterical fanaticism of Hitler , will more resemble the stubborn dullness of Molotov than the sensual vindictive cruelty of Stalin .
hannah arendt— Part 3, Ch. 10, § 2
Men! Too blind to see what a stone could see, and too stubborn to be trusted to think for themselves.
robert jordan— Min Farshaw (The Dragon Reborn (15 October 1991))
I think that all artists, regardless of degree of talent, are a painful, paradoxical combination of certainty and uncertainty, of arrogance and humility, constantly in need of reassurance, and yet with a stubborn streak of faith in their own validity no matter what.
madeleine l'engle— Section 1.14
To carry on a war for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie, a war which is a hundred times more difficult, protracted and complex than the most stubborn of ordinary wars between states, and to renounce in advance any change of tack, or any utilisation of a conflict of interests (even if temporary) among one’s enemies, or any conciliation or compromise with possible allies (even if they are temporary, unstable, vacillating or conditional allies) is that not ridiculous in the extreme?
— Left-Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder (April - May 1920)
Facts are stubborn things.
alain-rené lesage— Book X, ch. 1. Earlier written by Elliot, Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35 (1747). Translated by Tobias George Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas, Book x, Chapter 1.
In tears she utter'd as the frozen snow Touch'd by the spring's mild ray, begins to flow, So just began to melt his stubborn soul, As mild-ray'd pity o'er the tyrant stole; But destiny forbade: with eager zeal, Again pretended for the public weal, Her fierce accusers urged her speedy doom; Again dark rage diffused its horrid gloom O'er stern Alonzo's brow: swift at the sign, Their swords unsheathed around her brandish'd shine. O foul disgrace, of knighthood lasting stain, By men of arms a helpless lady slain!
william julius mickle— Book III; of Inez de Castro.
Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice dies hard.
adlai stevenson— According to "The Home Book of American Quotations" (1967), by Bruce Bohle, Stevenson said this in an address to the United Nations on October 1, 1963.
It is no use for one to stand in the shade and complain that the sun does not shine upon him. He must come out resolutely on the hot and dusty field where all are compelled to antagonize with stubborn difficulties, and pertinaciously strive until he conquers, if he would deserve to be crowned.
Elias Lyman Magoon— Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895, p. 6)
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield: Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke: How jocund did they drive their team a-field! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
thomas gray— Thomas Gray, Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 7: Quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), Lemma "Agriculture" p. 18-19.
Facts are stubborn things.
— Tobias Smollett Translation of Gil Blas. Book x. Chap. 1. (1749); Also used by Jared Elliot in Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35 (1747).
Facts are stubborn things.
tobias smollett— Tobias Smollett, Translation of Gil Blas, Book X, Chapter I. Elliot, Essay on Field Husbandry, p. 35.
O Madhus?dana, the mind is an unsteady thing. Hence it is unrealistic to expect evenness out of it as your system of yoga demands. O, Ke?ava, it is easier to control the wind than to try and control the fickle, unsettling, dominant, and stubborn mind.
— Arjuna; Chapter 6, verses 33–34; The Times of India translation
And though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (c. 1610-11), Act IV, scene 4, line 831.
With rushing winds and gloomy skies, the dark and stubborn Winter dies. Far-off, unseen, Spring faintly cries, bidding her earliest child arise; March!
bayard taylor— Bayard Taylor, March. (Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations)
Oh, how often our all-wise Master puts us into a deep pit ot trial, to subdue our pride, or to tame our passions, or to break our stubborn self-will. Blessed is he who can look up into the countenance of Jesus, and honestly say: " Master, my rebellious self is dead, that Thou mayest live in me, and that 1 may live for Thee and Thee alone."
— Theodore L. Cuyler, p. 586. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
Matters of fact, which as Mr Budgell somewhere observes, are very stubborn things.
— Matthew Tindal (1733) The Will of Matthew Tindal
The bosom-weight, your stubborn gift, That no philosophy can lift.
william wordsworth— William Wordsworth, Presentiments. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 596-97.
