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Provoke the unexpected. Expect it. -- Robert Bresson
Provoke The years to bring the inevitable yoke. -- William Wordsworth
Thou breeze, That mak'st an organ of the mighty sea, Obedient to thy wilful phantasies, Provoke him not to scorn; but soft and low, As pious maid awakes her aged sire, On tiptoe stealing, whisper in his ear The tidings of the young god's victory. -- Hartley Coleridge
I like to provoke. I'm very French. -- Carine Roitfeld
The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions. -- Edward Norton
A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent. -- Elie Wiesel
To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature. -- Ernst Fischer
I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It's time to move on from Stripperville. -- Marina and the Diamonds
If you want to provoke, you should provoke someone who is stronger than you, otherwise you are misusing your power. -- Lars von Trier
Of all the logical impasses, unknowings, paradoxes, and terrors that provoke laughter, death by its finality and unsolvable mystery is paramount. -- Andrew Hudgins
When a man fails to see the truth of certain generally accepted views, there is no law compelling him to provoke animosity by announcing his dissent. -- George Henry Lewes
I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness. -- Henry David Thoreau
We provoke a shark every time we enter the water where sharks happen to be, for we forget: The ocean is not our territory - it's theirs. -- Peter Benchley
What did our nation ever do to provoke these madly vicious enemies? What is seen as injustice in one place is seen as just requital in the other. -- Mary Douglas
It'll keep you alive for another 10 years if you get yourself a laugh once a day: either provoke it, or look around in the wildest laboratory in the world, the public. -- Jerry Lewis
And it will fall out as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore, you will provoke another; and that which removes the one ill symptom produces others. -- Thomas More
The obvious objections to the execution of Saddam Hussein are valid and well aired. His death will provoke violent strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and between Iraqis in general and the American occupation forces. -- Richard Dawkins
When I was a ten-year old bookworm and used to kiss the dust jacket pictures of authors as if they were icons, it used to amaze me that these remote people could provoke me to love. -- Erica Jong
I am not a self-help writer. I am a self-problem writer. When people read my books, I provoke some things. I cannot justify my work. I do my work; it is up to them to classify it, to judge. -- Paulo Coelho
I don't just want to sing about simplistic things all the time. It's good to have a mix of songs that have a real depth, and that provoke and challenge people, and then songs that are fun and people can enjoy. -- Marina and the Diamonds
On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage
No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used, not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. -- Vladimir Putin
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
If one accepts Hezbollah's self-description as a resistance movement, in which case one must, in light of the fact that Hezbollah never ceases to provoke, view Israel's mere existence as a continuing act of aggression, then Hezbollah has indeed shown that it can initiate conflict, resist, and survive. -- Mark Helprin
The bad thing about being a famous comedian is that every now and then someone approaches me to tell an old joke. Don't tell me jokes - I have that. People also say the weirdest things, sometimes sarcastic things, and even evil things. They like to provoke to get a reaction. -- Robin Williams
If I wanted to make a quick buck, there's far easier ways of doing it. What I want is to provoke people. If you want a hit song, all you need to do is rewrite an old song. It might have been proven to work, but you won't be remembered the same way. -- Avicii
I think a writer's job is to provoke questions. I like to think that if someone's read a book of mine, they've had - I don't know what - the literary equivalent of a shower. Something that would start them thinking in a slightly different way, perhaps. That's what I think writers are for. -- Doris Lessing
I think cinema should provoke thoughts, sure, but using it as I soapbox I think is the wrong place. I never want to be part of something like that, where there's an agenda there that's not about telling a story, where its someone getting on a soapbox and preaching their own beliefs onto somebody. -- Jeremy Renner
In all of my work I'm trying to create a dialogue, in which I want to provoke the recipients, stimulate them to use their own imaginations. I don't just say things recipients want to hear, flatter their egos or comfort them by agreeing with them. I have to provoke them, to take them as seriously as I take myself. -- Michael Haneke
Writers should provoke disagreement. -- V. S. Naipaul
To be interesting, one has to provoke. -- Salvador Dali
Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Convention and restriction release inhibition and provoke the imagination. -- Walter Darby Bannard
Some clothes provoke more feelings in me than people. -- Carolina Soto
Disobedience that is wholly civil should never provoke retaliation. -- Mahatma Gandhi
As history shows, childless women in America eventually provoke hysteria. -- Michelle Goldberg
I would like to provoke ambiguous responses in my readers. -- James Ellroy
If you want to grow, find men who provoke you. -- Joshua Harris
Storytellers broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us. -- Robert Redford
The slightest cooperation with God's grace can provoke a massive spiritual change. -- Robert Barron
A good story should provoke discussion, debate, argumentand the occasional bar fight. -- J. Michael Strazynski
Spiritual strength and passion, when accompanied by bad manners, only provoke loathing. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
Value judgments have value only to the extent that they provoke opposition. -- Marty Rubin
I like to do movies that provoke rather than reinforce conservative values. -- Steve Coogan
A good story should provoke discussion, debate, argument...and the occasional bar fight. -- J. Michael Straczynski
Ideas that require people to reorganize their picture of the world provoke hostility. -- James Gleick
It has always been the task of the new generation to provoke changes. -- Ludwig von Mises
My hope is to shed light, provoke thought, entertain, and move through dance. -- Dwight Rhoden
The works of nature first acquire a meaning in the commentaries they provoke. -- George Santayana
A threat need not provoke a response if it is not taken up. -- Paulo Coelho
[Arabs are] a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack. -- Edward Gibbon
The greatest danger of bombs is in the explosion of stupidity that they provoke. -- Octave Mirbeau
Give us a genuine Christianity that may provoke persecution, but will not provoke contempt. -- A. C. Dixon
The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke action. -- Jacques Ellul
Music oft hath such a charm To make bad good, and good provoke to harm. -- William Shakespeare
It's the admirer and the watcher who provoke us to all the inanities we commit. -- Seneca the Younger
My aim was not to fool. My aim was to provoke thought and stir emotion. -- Casey Affleck
One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith. -- Pope Francis
One sin, I know, another doth provoke. Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke. -- William Shakespeare
You can't provoke, you can't insult the faith of others, you can't make fun of faith, -- Pope Francis
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death? -- Thomas Gray
To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature. -- Ernst Fischer
My nature is to provoke, that's true. I can't help myself. But it's always with good intentions. -- Madonna Ciccone
Silence is the best reply to those who provoke you. Smile is like icing on the cake. -- Saru Singhal
The frequent repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does not subdue, the reason of mankind.... -- Edward Gibbon
One of the chief values reading history, this is the author, is its capacity to "provoke renegade thoughts". -- Andrew Roberts
I think the evangelicals want to provoke an immense global disaster to precipitate the second coming of Christ. -- Randall Robinson
The moon is nothing But a circumambulating aphrodisiac Divinely subsidized to provoke the world Into a rising birth-rate -- Christopher Fry
In the process of trial and error, Our failed attempts are meant to destroy arrogance and provoke humility -- Master Jin Kwon
That's the real power of art, I think. Not to chide but to provoke challenge. Otherwise why bother? -- Gregory Maguire
Works of art imitate and provoke other works of art, the process is the source of art itself. -- Edward Hirsch
Peace is not sought in order to provoke war, but war is waged in order to attain peace. -- Saint Augustine
I expect to be great. I expect to do what hasn't been done. I expect to provoke change. -- Deion Sanders
You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. -- Pope Francis
Many men provoke others to overreach them by excessive suspicion; their extraordinary distrust in some sort justifies the deceit. -- Seneca the Younger
I think cinema should provoke thoughts, sure, but using it as I soapbox I think is the wrong place. -- Jeremy Renner
Let us proportion our alms to our ability, lest we provoke God to proportion His blessings to our alms. -- William Beveridge
The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination and make their surroundings more exciting. -- Verner Panton
Personal freedom has grown greatly within China, and that will provoke ever more points of conflict between the individual and state. -- Milton Friedman
Those that achieve anything that looks beyond the vision and thinking of their peers provoke jealousy and hatred disguised as the ordinary. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
Like comedy, horror has an ability to provoke thought and further the conversation on real social issues in a very powerful way. -- Jordan Peele
The animadversions of critics are commonly such as may easily provoke the sedatest writer to some quickness of resentment and asperity of reply. -- Samuel Johnson
I believe in any country, matters that relate to its territory would, of course, provoke strong sentiments amongst the people of that country. -- Naoto Kan
The animadversions of critics are commonly such as may easily provoke the sedatest writer to some quickness of resentment and asperity of reply -- Samuel Johnson
Anything one can do to provoke and inspire an interest in the works of Shakespeare in a young audience is fair game. Anything. -- Tim Crouch
[I provoke] the system [to] show its true face ... so that through its own acts of terrorism ... the masses will rise against it. -- Ulrike Meinhof
Do I provoke as a method of investigation? Of course. That's the essence of architecture. Do I do it with gusto? I do. -- Thom Mayne
Wounds and hardships provoke our courage, and when our fortunes are at the lowest, our wits and minds are commonly at the best. -- Pierre Charron
There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I'm not giving them the satisfaction. -- Mary J. Blige
The charges are false and despicable. I have not received a fair hearing. This is un-American. All the lawyering will provoke an untoward outcome. -- Catherine Crier
Hillary Clinton's ready to pivot to Asia and provoke China. So are the Republicans. It's on domestic issues that there will be a gridlock. -- Ralph Nader
During high school, I would purposely lose tennis and squash matches to escape the agony of anxiety that competitive situations would provoke in me. -- Scott Stossel
Hate is able to provoke disorders, to ruin a social organization, to cast a country into a period of bloody revolutions; but it produces nothing. -- Georges Sorel
I feel like great TED Talks are ones that are a little bit subject to interpretation, that do provoke further conversation - and potentially controversy. -- Damon Lindelof
Art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, in a constant search for truth. -- Barbra Streisand
I try with my pictures to raise a question, to provoke a debate, so that we can discuss problems together and come up with solutions. -- Sebastiao Salgado
Since governmental quotas expand bureaucratic power, provoke a backlash and are unfair to individuals, we need to find a better way to increase minority opportunities. -- Marvin Olasky
This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly nonsensical furor. -- Vaclav Havel
Madison Avenue is full of masochists who unconsciously provoke rejection by their clients. I know brilliant men who have lost every account they have ever handled. -- David Ogilvy
Literature is by definition opinionated. It is bound to provoke the arguments in many quarters, not excluding the hometown or even the family of the author. -- Kurt Vonnegut
Teaching is a creative profession, not a delivery system. Great teachers do [pass on information], but what great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage. -- Ken Robinson
I don't think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice. I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion. -- Spike Lee
I like poems that affect me emotionally and also provoke me to further, deeper thought. I enjoy challenge, but not, I think, for its own sake. -- James Arthur
As a director, it's my job to provoke, and when people decided 'The Room' be called a phenomenon, or whatever you call it, it's fine with me. -- Tommy Wiseau
The starting-point for all systems of aesthetics must be the personal experience of a peculiar emotion. The objects that provoke this emotion we call works of art. -- Clive Bell
Some people write to please, to soothe, to console. Others to provoke, to challenge, to exasperate and infuriate. I've always found the second approach the more pleasing. -- Edward Abbey
Art does not exist only to entertain -- but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, in a constant search for the truth. -- Barbra Streisand
What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. -- Sebastiao Salgado
Whether you want to entertain or to provoke, to break hearts or reassure them, what you bring to your writing must consist of your longings and disappointments. -- Rafael Yglesias
I don't want anyone to appreciate the light or the palette of tones. I want my pictures to inform, to provoke discussion - and to raise money. -- Sebastiao Salgado
Violence can succeed, as Americans know well from the conquest of the national territory. But at terrible cost. It can also provoke violence in response, and often does. -- Noam Chomsky
I love that you can be laughing one minute and crying the next, and then be shocked the next. I like things that provoke emotions to such extremes. -- Courteney Cox
Everybody knew that you should never provoke a rattlesnake, much less tie it into a bow. But that didn't stop Judd. What did stop him was the rattlesnake. -- Demetri Martin
Every heart is the lair of a ferocious animal. The greatest wrong that you can put upon a man is to provoke him to let out his beast. -- Ambrose Bierce
Controversial daily radio host. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence. -- Michael Savage
Rules, whether they govern sexual morality or financial probity, regardless of whether they are justifiable or undesirable, always provoke bold recalcitrants to devise clever, defiant ways to breach them. -- Richard Davenport-Hines
A truly successful army is one that, because of its strength and ability and dedication, will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it. -- Ronald Reagan
If something comes at me of course I'm gonna handle my business but I'm not the type to provoke the bullshit so I don't really get a lot of that. -- Rakim
Can storied urn, or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death? -- Thomas Gray
Socrates worked towards making people question themselves. He like to provoke self-interrogation but wasn't particularly interested in the answers that emerged; he just like to set off the thought process. -- Eric Cantona

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