
“I like offending people, because I think people who get offended should be offended.”
2010s, Audience Q&A following interview panel at Aalto University Center, 2012
“I like offending people, because I think people who get offended should be offended.”
2010s, Audience Q&A following interview panel at Aalto University Center, 2012
“Offending people is better than no reaction at all.”
«The world according to Matt Bellamy» — Kerrang! (April 2006) http://mapage.noos.fr/maa3/press/interviews_kerrangAPR06.html
“Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.”
The Washington Post (26 January 1977)
“The secret of success is to offend the greatest number of people.”
As quoted in Days with Bernard Shaw (1949) by Stephen Winsten
1940s and later
Interviewed on Hannity and Colmes, June 29 2000
Source: Here Are 13 Other Repugnant Comments Ted Nugent Should Apologize For, February 21, 2014, Eric, Hananoki, Timothy, Johnson, Media Matters for America,
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2014/02/21/here-are-13-other-repugnant-comments-ted-nugent/198174
Variant: Self-importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it - what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellowmen. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.
Source: Fire from Within
“Charm is the ability to insult people without offending them; nerdiness the reverse.”
Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 30
Free speech in an age of identity politics (2015)
Context: In plural societies, it is both inevitable and important that people offend the sensibilities of others. Inevitable, because where different beliefs are deeply held, clashes are unavoidable. Almost by definition such clashes express what it is to live in a diverse society. And so they should be openly resolved [rather] than suppressed in the name of ‘respect’ or ‘tolerance’. And important because any kind of social change or social progress means offending some deeply held sensibilities.