“Resist much, obey little.”

— Walt Whitman , book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Walt Whitman 181

American poet, essayist and journalist 1819–1892

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“TO the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever after-ward resumes its liberty.”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

“The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

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“The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is, to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when to be obeyed.”

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“Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.”

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Though sometimes credited to Ziglar on the internet, this is credited to Marie Fraser in Quote Unquote (1977) by Lloyd Cory
Misattributed

“Never was there a greater mistake. It is the only resistance which in these days of military discipline resists with any result. There is not a tyrant in the civilized world today who would not do anything in his power to precipitate a bloody revolution rather than see himself confronted by any large fraction of his subjects determined not to obey.”

Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (1854–1939) American journalist and anarchist

Individual Liberty (1926), Passive Resistance
Context: "Passive resistance," said Ferdinand Lassalle, with an obtuseness thoroughly German, "is the resistance which does not resist." Never was there a greater mistake. It is the only resistance which in these days of military discipline resists with any result. There is not a tyrant in the civilized world today who would not do anything in his power to precipitate a bloody revolution rather than see himself confronted by any large fraction of his subjects determined not to obey. An insurrection is easily quelled; but no army is willing or able to train its guns on inoffensive people who do not even gather in the streets but stay at home and stand back on their rights. Neither the ballot nor the bayonet is to play any great part in the coming struggle; passive resistance is the instrument by which the revolutionary force is destined to secure in the last great conflict the people's rights forever.