Quotes about demand page 4
“Power concedes nothing without a demand.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
Variant: Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
“Complex problems do not demand complex solutions.”
Solution-Focused Pastoral Counseling: An Effective Short-Term Approach for Getting People Back on Track
“You are the only woman who ever answered the demands of my imagination.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Source: Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin
“He had loved too much, demanded too much, and he wore it all out.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist
Source: The Complete Short Stories
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
Source: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Context: Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change. … Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often have problems with power. There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly. You see, what happened is that some of our philosophers got off base. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites — polar opposites — so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love.
It was this misinterpretation that caused Nietzsche, who was a philosopher of the will to power, to reject the Christian concept of love. It was this same misinterpretation which induced Christian theologians to reject the Nietzschean philosophy of the will to power in the name of the Christian idea of love. Now, we've got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. And this is what we must see as we move on. What has happened is that we have had it wrong and confused in our own country, and this has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience.
This is leading a few extremists today to advocate for Negroes the same destructive and conscienceless power that they have justly abhorred in whites. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.
Henry Fielding book The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Source: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State
Source: "Reflections on Containment", Foreign Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 3 (June 1994), p. 130
“There is no end
To what a living world
Will demand of you.”
Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower
Source: Parable of the Sower
“The intensity with which young people live demands that they "blank out" as often as possible.”
Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist
Source: Lover Reborn
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Smooth Talking Stranger
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Source: The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
Autobiographical Notes (1952)
Context: I don't like people who like me because I'm a Negro; neither do I like people who find in the same accident grounds for contempt. I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or may even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one's own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one aright. I consider that I have many responsibilities, but none greater than this: to last, as Hemingway says, and get my work done.
I want to be an honest man and a good writer.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
Context: I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Either/Or Part I, Swenson Translation p. 19 Variations include: People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid. People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
1840s, Either/Or (1843)
“The demands that good people make are upon themselves;
Those that bad people make are upon others.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker
On his plans for his autobiography Laterna Magica, as quoted in "Who is he really?" http://www.ingmarbergman.se/universe.asp?guid=4F72F9D3-43BB-405D-B42B-3D091B8FAF3A <br class="br">Source: The Magic Lantern
“One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.”
Jonathan Stroud book The Amulet of Samarkand
Source: The Amulet of Samarkand
“My Life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American aviator and author
“Respect was earned, not demanded, but dignity was taught by example.”
Julie Garwood (1946) American writer
Source: The Prize
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher
Source: The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter
Source: A Life At Work: The Joy Of Discovering What You Were Born To Do
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine
Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
“I demand unconditional love and complete freedom. That is why I am terrible.”
Tomaž Šalamun (1941–2014) Slovene poet, born in 1941 in Zagreb, Croatia
“Sometimes success demands a certain refined insanity.”
Isobelle Carmody book The Keeping Place
Source: The Keeping Place
“The impossible is the least that one can demand.”
James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time
Source: The Fire Next Time
“It’s pretty simple, the ethical life. It’s just demanding.”
Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist
Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex
Bk. 2, Pt.. 4, Ch. 3: Sexual Initiation. p. 396
The Second Sex (1949)
Josef Pieper (1904–1997) German philosopher
Source: Leisure, the Basis of Culture (1948), The Philosophical Act, pp. 64–65
Source: Leisure: The Basis Of Culture
Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist
Source: Weirdos From Another Planet: Calvin & Hobbes Series: Book Six: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
Elizabeth Peters (1927–2013) American author and egyptologist
Max DePree (1924–2017) American businessman and writer
Source: Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community
“Life demands honesty, the ability to face, admit, and express oneself.”
Starhawk (1951) American author, activist and Neopagan
