Acquiescence Quotes

“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”
― Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.”
― Albert Einstein

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Civil disobedience, as I put it to the audience, was not the problem, despite the warnings of some that it threatened social stability, that it led to anarchy. The greatest danger, I argued, was civil obedience, the submission of individual conscience to governmental authority. Such obedience led to the horrors we saw in totalitarian states, and in liberal states it led to the public's acceptance of war whenever the so-called democratic government decided on it...

In such a world, the rule of law maintains things as they are. Therefore, to begin the process of change, to stop a war, to establish justice, it may be necessary to break the law, to commit acts of civil disobedience, as Southern black did, as antiwar protesters did.”
― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

“Violence does not necessarily take people by the throat and strangle them. Usually it demands no more than an ultimate allegiance from its subjects. They are required merely to become accomplices in its lies.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“We protect our minds by an elaborate system of abstractions, ambiguities, metaphors and similes from the reality we do not wish to know too clearly; we lie to ourselves, in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes”
― Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree and other essays

“It often seems as though the silent, humble servant is secretly wiser and more discerning than the haughty master; yet through dutiful (and sometimes insecure) surrender he continues to serve and carry out petty orders in loyal acquiescence.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Into every life may come tragedy and triumph. Our goal is to meet both equally with serenity and radiant acquiescence. Yet even from the storm clouds of tragedy, rainbows can appear.”
― Aleksandra Layland, Bind Not the Heart: A Windflower Saga Novella (The Windflower Saga)

“Рада успява да седне до прозореца. Гледа навън, не понася тези лица, по които розовеят като пукнати вени омразата и примирението.”
― Ружа Лазарова, Мавзолей

“To pay a price in advance, to the unjust, a price to prevent advances against your physical integrity -- that is to compromise your dignity. And dignity compromised is no longer dignity.”
― Adam Levin, The Instructions

“If your opinion is sound, and you forego it for the love of God and follow that of another, you will win great merit. I have often heard that it is safer to accept advice than to give it. It may even come about that each of two opinions is good; but to refuse to come to an agreement with others when reason or occasion demand it, is a sign of pride and obstinacy.”
― Kempis Thomas, The Imitation of Christ

“It’s a riptide. You don’t fight the current Rachel, that’s how even strong swimmers exhaust themselves and die. Swim parallel to the coast instead. The ocean’s gonna get bored of you eventually, she’ll let you go if you’re patient enough and don’t fight her.”
― Kristy McGinnis, Motion of Intervals

“Most of you,' he went on, 'already know how I have
been able to limit the area of investigation in a first
approximation. But one or two of you are not yet in
formed. For you, and to refresh everyone's memory, I'll
go over my calculations again.'
At that point he gave me a roguish and forceful look
demanding my complicity in this adroit falsehood. For
naturally everyone was still in the dark. But by this
simple ruse, each person had the impression of belonging to a minority, of being among 'one or two not yet in formed', felt himself surrounded by a convinced majority, and was eager to be quickly convinced himself.”
― René Daumal, Mount Analogue

“Our house was outside the city, off one of the blacktop roads. We had us a big dog that my daddy would keep on a chain in the front yard. A big part German shepherd. I hated that chain but we didn’t have a fence, we were right off the road there. That dog hated that chain. But he had dignity. What he’d do, he’d never go out to the length of that chain. He’d never even go out to where that chain got tight. Even if a mailman pulled up, or a salesman. Out of dignity, this dog pretended like he chose this one area to stay in that just happened to be inside the length of the chain. He just up and made it not relevant. Maybe he wasn’t pretending—maybe he really up and chose that little circle for his own world. He had a power to him. All his life on that chain. I loved that damned dog.”
― David Foster Wallace, The Pale King