Top 70 Provoke Quotes

I think the last thing you want to do as a writer, as a storyteller, is to create indifference. I don’t necessarily go out of my way to provoke, but I would much rather have a song that triggers a whole myriad of reactions than a song that inspires a shrug of the shoulder.

Bad Religion‘s tradition has always been to try and provoke people but hopefully lead them to a better sense of who they are and what they stand for. That’s supposed to make them feel better.

The most important thing is to illicit some reaction, good or bad. If some people are repellent to me, so be it. If some people are attracted to me, great. At the end, that’s the object of entertainment – you want to provoke a reaction.

You can’t get so serious as to not realize that what we do is entertainment, but when you have the chance to provoke thought or advance discussion on a topic, it’s just the icing on the cake.

I feel like great TED Talks are ones that are a little bit subject to interpretation, that do provoke further conversation – and potentially controversy.

Crime stories are often sensationalized. They can provoke lower standards.

When you face a ‘performance‘ that might provoke the ‘I’m scared‘ response, choose love and approach your opportunity as a chance to dance with God. It’s more fun than ‘Dancing with the Stars!’

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.

If I have a voice to shine light on things or draw attention or provoke, as an artist people look to – I should do that.

I don’t believe there will be anyone who will use violence or who will want to provoke violence that will tarnish the irreproachable image of the Catalan independence movement as pacifist.

Let’s find those people whose names do not cause controversy in our present and in our future. Let’s name the monuments and streets for those people whose names do not provoke conflict.

The arts stimulate imagination. They provoke thought. And then, having done that, all sorts of other things happen.

When you are on the street, if someone walks towards you it’s better to look down. But we were always looking at people in the eye to try to provoke something.

As a director, it’s my job to provoke, and when people decided ‘The Room‘ be called a phenomenon, or whatever you call it, it’s fine with me.

Marchionne has a clear vision of what F1 should represent for Ferrari, which is a purist sport that isn’t a shopping channel. I would strongly encourage the sport’s stakeholders not to provoke him.

Writers should provoke disagreement.

I think it’s cool to provoke something in people.

I think cinema should provoke thoughts, sure, but using it as I soapbox I think is the wrong place. I never want to be part of something like that, where there’s an agenda there that’s not about telling a story, where its someone getting on a soapbox and preaching their own beliefs onto somebody.

The greatest danger of bombs is in the explosion of stupidity that they provoke.

I want all my books to provoke some kind of response in the reader, to make them think something or feel something or both, and for that to become a part of them and work into their own lives.

Each of us must decide whether it is more important to be proved right or to provoke righteousness.

‘Funny Games‘ was conceived as a provocation. My other films are different. If people feel my other films are, or respond to them as provocation, then that’s quite different. ‘Funny Games’ is the only one of mine where my intention was to provoke the audience.

I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It’s time to move on from Stripperville.

I create doubt in the reader’s mind. That is what literature is for: to provoke, to raise doubts, to talk about things that are not obvious.

We provoke a shark every time we enter the water where sharks happen to be, for we forget: The ocean is not our territory – it’s theirs.

It’ll keep you alive for another 10 years if you get yourself a laugh once a day: either provoke it, or look around in the wildest laboratory in the world, the public.

When a man fails to see the truth of certain generally accepted views, there is no law compelling him to provoke animosity by announcing his dissent.

The liberal-run institution of journalism does not allow probing of real problems facing black people. That is prohibited. It might lead to actual solutions. It might provoke black people to wake up every day looking for solutions rather than excuses and meaningless verbal offenses.

Anything one can do to provoke and inspire an interest in the works of Shakespeare in a young audience is fair game. Anything.

I became an actress to provoke people and move people and to tell the stories.

I always have a notebook with me, I eavesdrop; I write down what people say. It’s very rare that one of those things will provoke a story, but I think that that kind of paying attention all the time, and keeping everything open, lets the stories come in. But where they come from is still a mystery to me.

If you engage with the police, filled with fear, you’re more likely to make really bad decisions that than provoke them to take action.

I don’t just want to sing about simplistic things all the time. It’s good to have a mix of songs that have a real depth, and that provoke and challenge people, and then songs that are fun and people can enjoy.

The United States must ensure that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons, as this poses a direct threat to our interests, including Israel, and would in all likelihood provoke a regional arms race.

After that he turned to the question of invading England. Hitler said that during the previous year he could not afford to risk a possible failure; apart from that, he had not wished to provoke the British, as he hoped to arrange peace talks.

Child Protection Services can get all up in your business if you have kids. Just strictly from a business standpoint, kids are a liability to landlords, and they actually provoke evictions.

If the North Korean Communists provoke another war, we must immediately deter it and give them a decisive counterattack at the initial place of aggression.

You’ve got to honor your relationship with your audience – that they sit down because they want to be entertained. And that doesn’t mean you can’t provoke them and antagonize them and challenge them in the course of the entertainment as long as you keep the entertainment part of the equation alive.

And it says something about our level of disassociation, that we can provoke these wars abroad but we’re not allowed to see people get killed as a result.

I try to write catchy hooks but, at the same time, things that mean something that will provoke thought.

And so we have to be careful with looking at additional stimulus that we don’t provoke an increase in the bond rate and then offset a lot of the stimulus we’ve already got.

Being in the wardrobe department meant me and a few other girls dressed the dancers during the show when they had quick changes. Thirty seconds to totally dress a sweaty dancer can be insane and provoke mucho anxiety. Doing this night after night was pretty cray, but I loved every minute of it.

To the degree you could provoke people and engage them in a unique way, your message is more likely to resonate longer. I figured out the less-than-140-character concept long before Twitter came along.

My work always comes from the same source – from movement. It doesn’t necessarily come from an outside idea, though the source can be something small or large that I’ve seen, often birds or other animals. The seeing can then provoke the imagining.

RelayRides and WhipCar, AirBnB, Roomorama and One Fine Stay are all stellar examples of how new, access-based offers entice and provoke insurance companies and banks to re-think risk, value, customers and deal terms.

Most exotic animals are not particularly interested in people, which makes it hard to provoke them. Human-rearing gets them used to and sometimes imprinted on humans, which makes them potentially dangerous.

A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent.

There’s no question that Ben Shapiro loves to provoke college students.

Of all the logical impasses, unknowings, paradoxes, and terrors that provoke laughter, death by its finality and unsolvable mystery is paramount.

I used to come up with these crazy jobs to try and provoke my parents but they said, ‘You can be anything you want.’ So I was like, ‘I want to be a garbage man’ and they were like ‘That’s OK, we’ll still love you!’

Just strictly from a business standpoint, kids are a liability to landlords, and they actually provoke evictions.

Why are these things happening in Portland? In part, it’s because we are a progressive community. Groups like Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys… they come from the outside. They come here because they know that their message is not necessarily welcomed here. They’re trying to provoke a reaction.

The bad thing about being a famous comedian is that every now and then someone approaches me to tell an old joke. Don’t tell me jokes – I have that. People also say the weirdest things, sometimes sarcastic things, and even evil things. They like to provoke to get a reaction.

Violence can succeed, as Americans know well from the conquest of the national territory. But at terrible cost. It can also provoke violence in response, and often does.

However, the combination of civil resistance, of large-scale mass activities and strikes, with a certain degree of revolutionary violence, could provoke a crisis in the enemy‘s camp that would ultimately lead to essential changes.

I use glamour as a tool, almost like armor to confidently take up space, to provoke questions and conversations about society and gender norms.

When I was a ten-year old bookworm and used to kiss the dust jacket pictures of authors as if they were icons, it used to amaze me that these remote people could provoke me to love.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used, not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists.

We are professionals, we have to set the example and not provoke anyone.

The key to acting – from what little I know about that wonderful craft – is listening, and interacting with the other person in order to achieve magic. One way to do that is almost to provoke.

I taunt and provoke, but you have to understand that I do that for a reason. I want to elicit a response. Remember that my mission is to capture on film and digital recording devices evidence of the paranormal. Many times, I can’t do that by being nice.

The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions.

Being able to provoke a different point of view to the standard current ideological or political perspective as played out in conventional newspaper or radio reportage is what a public intellectual does. But it’s not merely about being oppositional, because that’s too negative.

I think to many people the term ‘activist film’ implies a film with a single point of view – something designed to provoke outrage and urge action on a particular issue – sort of the film equivalent of a rally. ‘If a Tree Falls‘ is not that kind of film.

I use humour a lot because humour is a great equaliser. Everyone laughs at the same things if you set them up properly, and that makes everybody equal. At the end of the day, I see my job as being there to entertain as well as inform and provoke.

In all of my work I’m trying to create a dialogue, in which I want to provoke the recipients, stimulate them to use their own imaginations. I don’t just say things recipients want to hear, flatter their egos or comfort them by agreeing with them. I have to provoke them, to take them as seriously as I take myself.

I like people that challenge their art, not only in the purist way, but also in terms of how they could provoke and make something different.

The strips about the military do seem to provoke moving and thoughtful responses. It’s nice when the strip resonates, but more importantly, I need to know when I’m getting something wrong. The last thing I want to do is contribute to the suffering that wounded warriors already endure.

Chinese food tries to engage the mind, not just the palate. To provoke the intellect.

I know I will be breaking a taboo. But I’m sure that it will provoke a new discussion. It’s time things change. I feel 30 and want to look that way again.