The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.
John Updike

There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.
Reinhold Niebuhr

There is a vast difference - a constitutional difference-between restrictions imposed by the state which prohibit the intellectual commingling of students, and the refusal of individuals to commingle where the state presents no such bar.
Frederick M. Vinson

There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings.
Dorothy Thompson

Thousands of people may have been killed by hurricane Katrina and many more could die in its aftermath because of the President's refusal to heed the calls of governors for help in repairing the infrastructure in their states.
Charles Rangel

When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.
Bayard Rustin

Why is it that many contemporary male thinkers, especially men of color, repudiate the imperialist legacy of Columbus but affirm dimensions of that legacy by their refusal to repudiate patriarchy?
bell hooks

Words signify man's refusal to accept the world as it is.
Herbert Kaufman