Provocation quotes:

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Provocation is on the opposite lane of resolution. -- Toba Beta
Provocation doesn't make me ill-tempered: it only shows me how ill-tempered I am. -- C. S. Lewis
Provocation polio. That is the truth about those outbreaks of polio. And I offer a well considered personal opinion that polio is a man made disease. -- Viera Scheibner
A movie is really provocation. It's not a message, it's not a statement. -- Ang Lee
I'm probably the most militant person you'll ever meet and I speak my mind without provocation sometimes. -- Octavia Spencer
With regards to the expansion of NATO, I see it as a mistake, even a provocation in a way. -- Sergei Lavrov
To be able to bear provocation is an argument of great reason, and to forgive it of a great mind. -- John Tillotson
Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just. -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
Some felt as if 'Charlie Hebdo' was obsessed with its 'Screw Allah' stance. It's a sort of provocation that caused a lot of debates. -- Patrick Chappatte
The provocation with Holmes is the fact that he's described by Doyle as a man without a heart - all brain... and that's very difficult to play, or even indicate. -- Jeremy Brett
People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation - much like building a mosque at Ground Zero. -- Sarah Palin
For the most part, editors no longer view 'Doonesbury' as a rolling provocation, which is fine by me. It makes no sense to intentionally antagonize the very people on whose support you most depend. -- Garry Trudeau
One of the tragedies of modern times is that people have come to believe that something said by someone in the past, perhaps for illustrative or provocation purposes, actually represents that person's beliefs at the time. -- Idries Shah
Academic scientists aren't generally interested in books for the public. So when one comes out, the authors can't expect much praise from scientists. My goal both as a singer and an instructor is to educate through provocation and entertainment. -- Greg Graffin
All anger is not sinful, because some degree of it, and on some occasions, is inevitable. But it becomes sinful and contradicts the rule of Scripture when it is conceived upon slight and inadequate provocation, and when it continues long. -- Wilson Mizner
I admit that invective is one of my pleasures. This only brings me problems in life, but that's it. I attack, I insult. I have a gift for that, for insults, for provocation. So I am tempted to use it. -- Michel Houellebecq
Art is the provocation for talking about enigma and the search for sense in human life. One can do that by telling a story or writing about a fresco by Giotto or studying how a snail climbs up a wall. -- John Berger
Through music I either tame my demons or unleash them and allow them to be what they are. I don't want the music to be about provocation, I want the music to bring you to a place where you feel at home. -- Michael Franti
You take a number of small steps which you believe are right, thinking maybe tomorrow somebody will treat this as a dangerous provocation. And then you wait. If there is no reaction, you take another step: courage is only an accumulation of small steps. -- Gyorgy Konrad
Funny Games' was conceived as a provocation. My other films are different. If people feel my other films are, or respond to them as provocation, then that's quite different. 'Funny Games' is the only one of mine where my intention was to provoke the audience. -- Michael Haneke
Some people think that my shows are just for shock value, but the provocation makes those classic pieces look different every six months. You don't need to see the same gray suit every season. But surrounding it with 40 really interesting ideas makes it feel new. -- Thom Browne
I think the Eritrean government is aware that any full-scale invasion of Ethiopia along the lines of 1998 could turn out to be suicidal... And we will not respond to any provocation short of all-out invasion. We are already engaged in a much more fruitful war - against poverty. -- Meles Zenawi
Every great artist has the sense of provocation. -- Arthur Cravan
The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation. -- Freeman Tilden
A gentlemen is one who never strikes a woman without provocation. -- H. L. Mencken
Much is said about English severity, but not a word about Irish provocation. -- Robert Peel
Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled. -- Samuel Johnson
Ask you what provocation I have had? The strong antipathy of good to bad. -- Alexander Pope
There are few who would not rather be taken in adultery than in provocation. -- Aldous Huxley
We can all be good when we have no temptation or provocation to the contrary. -- Samuel Richardson
She was on edge, feeling that she might snap or cry at the smallest provocation. -- J. K. Rowling
A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace. -- Theodore Roosevelt
I enjoy a challenge or provocation, something to think about, to talk about after it's done. -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
What is indispensable to inspiration? ...sound sleep and the provocation of a good book or a companion. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
A woman that is patient has the ability to endure provocation, pain, annoyance etc, with much calm and strength. -- Jaachynma N.E. Agu
War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Passing too eagerly upon a provocation loses the guard and lays open the body; calmness and leisure and deliberation do the business much better. -- Jeremy Collier
Funnily enough, it is the subject one dreads talking about at length one ends up talking about at length, often without the slightest provocation. -- Marisha Pessl
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If I took it away, no doubt I'd find a morningstar hidden under your pillow within a fortnight. Try not to stab your sister, whatever the provocation. -- George R. R. Martin
So natural to man is the practice of violence that our indulgence allows the slightest provocation, the most disputable right, as a sufficient ground of national hostility. -- Edward Gibbon
I am talking about anything that is a provocation - ignore it. When something falls under freedom of expression, you can read it and take a critical distance. -- Tariq Ramadan
The consciousness of one's physical self had to be repressed because, socially, the female body was so visible, an ongoing provocation and incitement of specular curiosity and fascination. -- Shirley Geok-lin Lim
Education is the food of youth, the delight of old age, the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity, and the provocation to grace in the soul. -- Saint Augustine
Those who are determined to be 'offended' will discover a provocation somewhere. We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt. -- Christopher Hitchens
A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest. -- Edward Gibbon
A film is not a documentary. And what's wonderful about film is that it's a real provocation for people. I never, ever see film as being an absolute version of the truth. -- Cate Blanchett
I suppose, yes, I've been guilty of provocation but it's also just common sense marketing - put a bottle of scent in a woman's cleavage, or between her thighs - and men will notice. -- Tom Ford
I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action. -- Rex Stout
There are also many instances where people hostile to the Soviet state are attempting by means of deceit and provocation to poison the minds of our citizens and compel them to believe in monstrous lies. -- Filipp Golikov
Anything that can hurt the convictions of another, particularly religious convictions, must be avoided. Freedom of expression must be exercised in a spirit of responsibility. I condemn all manifest provocation that might dangerously fan passions. -- Jacques Chirac

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