“Maine should be pleased that its animal
is not a waverer, and rather
than fight, lets the primed quill fall.
Shallow oppressor, intruder,
insister, you have found a resister.”
Of the porcupine, in "Apparition of Splendor"
The Poems of Marianne Moore (2003)
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Marianne Moore 59
American poet and writer 1887–1972Related quotes

p, 125
The History of Freedom in Antiquity (1877)

“Nonviolent resistance is not aimed against oppressors, but against oppression.”
1950s, Three Ways of Meeting Oppression (1958)
“It is easier to pick it up fallen than not to let it fall. Let it fall and you will pick it up.”
Es más fácil levantar la caída que no dejarla caer. Déjala caer y la levantarás.
Voces (1943)

Statement in 1950, as quoted in Asger Jorn (2002) by Arken Museum of Modern Art, p. 76
1949 - 1958, Various sources

John McCarthy (1974), quoted in: Joscha Bach (2009) Principles of Synthetic Intelligence PSI, p. 233
1970s

Letter to his father (27 November 1861)
1860s
Context: My inclination is to whip the rebellion into submission, preserving all Constitutional rights. If it cannot be whipped any other way than through a war against slavery, let it come to to that legitimately. If it is necessary that slavery should fall that the Republic may continue its existence, let slavery go.