Top 60 Provocative Quotes

I believe UNAIDS’ provocative leadership has been critical in addressing the AIDS epidemic and converting it from a death sentence to a chronic health condition.

I like to create provocative imagery. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it goes awry.

I’ve always had to move between a couple of years of unemployment, where offers are not provocative enough to take, and seasons where I work nonstop for a year. It’s always been an erratic rhythm.

When someone sets out to be controversial or provocative or shocking as an end in itself, I don’t think that’s a noble goal.

It has been very erotic and provocative for people to wonder about my feelings for women.

When we were a quiet, little-noticed channel telling stories from Russia, our audience was negligible. When we started being really provocative… our audience started to grow.

Cop shows are by definition melodramatic; they’re larger than life. They create very stark contrasts and conflicts emotionally. They’re provocative, assuming they grapple with – to the extent that cop shows are mirrors of the culture.

I have nothing but the highest regard for ‘Salon’ and its commitment to independent and provocative journalism.

The less lines, the better. I am the silent film actor, but not in a slapstick sort of way. Film is an image-based medium, so whatever you can say without the words is far more provocative and punctuating. If the lines are not funny or if they don’t advance the story, sometimes it’s hard. I hate talk in movies.

Comedies always need to be provocative and catch your attention in a way that dramas don’t have to.

Father’s ideals became part of me and still are today. His reserve, deeply rooted liberal views, his provocative humour, his passion for work and love of risk are also mine.

The reason why everything I do is so different is not because I’m trying to be provocative; it’s simply a reflection of whatever was happening to me at the time I wrote that particular record.

So there’s nothing more provocative than taking a genre that everybody who’s cool hates – and then making it cool.

Pop music seems to be the way radio programming has chosen to support female artists. They have chosen not to support a more provocative voice from women, which I find disappointing.

Why is there such passion for any sort of gossipy, provocative sensual stuff? It sells!

In Israel, we are sorry for the loss of life of Turkish citizens in May 2010, when Israel confronted a provocative flotilla of ships bound for Gaza. I am sure that the proper way to express these sentiments to the Turkish government and the Turkish people can be found.

Let us consider that swearing is a sin of all others peculiarly clamorous, and provocative of Divine judgment.

Darwin wasn’t just provocative in saying that we descend from the apes – he didn’t go far enough. We are apes in every way, from our long arms and tailless bodies to our habits and temperament.

I know I’m not the greatest singer or dancer, but that doesn’t interest me. I’m interested in being provocative and pushing people’s buttons.

My provocative statement is that we desperately need a serious, scientific theory of cities and scientific theory means quantifiable, relying on underlying generic principles that can be made in a – put into a predictive framework. That’s the quest.

I want to give haute couture a kind of wink, a sense of humour – to introduce the whole sense of freedom one sees in the street into high fashion; to give couture the same provocative and arrogant look as punk – but, of course, with luxury and dignity and style.

I enjoy provocative things that are questionable.

I was raised by strong women, and the role models I had in music and cinema were strong, too – liberated and provocative.

I don’t think Fox News or Rush Limbaugh need Clinton it turns out. I think there’s a hunger out there for – whether it’s on the left or right – a more lively and provocative type of political journalism. I think Salon and Fox on the other side have both benefited from that.

But you can still find good films if you read your local film critics and are willing to drive a bit. You have to be a proactive film viewer to have the most provocative cinema life.

That human beings seek their own well-being and that of those close to them is not an especially provocative discovery. What is important is that this universal aspect of human nature persists no matter what economic system is in place; it merely expresses itself in different forms.

Most of us who work as professional futurists never really stop gathering information – you never know when a provocative, potentially disruptive new development might appear.

Some candidates need to say provocative things that make noise to break through the media muffle and get themselves noticed.

I naturally want to be provocative.

I’m a closeted nerd. I studied Richard Dawkins. I watched every lecture. He’s sort of the leading scientific atheist of our time. He’s very provocative. His whole thing is science over spirituality.

Once I hit 45, there was a real downturn. But I got an incredibly provocative, delicious lead role in a television series called ‘Saving Grace,’ and I loved the character.

To find a script that works with provocative ideas is hard to find.

You speak to the press at the Tour every day, but most often in a negative sense. Ninety per cent of the questions you are asked in the post-race press conferences are challenging or provocative, so you have to justify yourself; you have to try to give the right answers about every topic across the board.

I like films that are edgy, provocative, non-formula and original.

In the entertainment world, you can have more of a personality and be yourself. You don’t have to look like a standard of beauty. You can have something provocative to say.

The use of military force against Iran would be very dangerous. It would be very provocative. The only thing worse would be Iran being a nuclear power.

If feminism was a dress, it would be that essential little black number, reached for in times of need; different for everyone but a steady constant in a woman’s life. Outspoken or understated, demure or provocative, worn to reflect the mood, the personality, the time.

Imagery is powerful. Imagery is provocative – satellite imagery much more so because it is from space, and it allows us to get this perspective that we don’t have to have otherwise.

I was born in 1949, and by the time I was 10, I figured out that my hope chest was not aimed in the same direction everybody else’s was. And that life was going to be very, very complicated. And that I could either be provocative and declamatory, or shy, retiring and scared.

The success of ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’ have bolstered our confidence to make edgy, more daring, provocative bold movies that audiences will embrace.

‘UnREAL’ has always been provocative and bitingly honest, which makes the show what it is.

It’s difficult to stay relevant for many years, but I’ve somehow managed to do so. I’m honest and provocative.

A crowded ferry ride away from Tanzania’s coastal city, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar is a marvel for the senses. Every sight and smell is provocative, inspiring a sense of the old and new.

Because I always try natural looks, I want to try something very strong, bold, and provocative – something bad girl, kind of.

There are some critics that will just write provocative stuff to get attention, but I would say most of the time that’s not the case.

Shows in the ’70s and ’80s were a lot more provocative. Shows that are coming out now – like ‘Black-Ish,’ ‘The Carmichael Show’ – are showcasing people of color in a new way. It’s not stereotypical.

It is true that I am often startled and even angered and repulsed by the strange directions and provocative content of new forms that seem to pop up every few months.

We should not judge Islam by terrorists. All civilizations and cultures produce terrorists. Every time there is a flag-burning, killing, or provocative films, I’m worried, not because something radical will happen, and this time, some people are killed. We’re very sorry for that.

In the ’80s and ’90s, I was really interested in, moved by, exhilarated by, and troubled by rap in all the ways a white person from Brookline, Massachusetts should be. That was music that was making trouble, and it was interesting and provocative trouble.

Growing up, I’ve been shamed a lot. Being a curvy girl, being young and seeing the skinny girls wear short shorts because it’s cause it’s hot outside, but I want to put on shorts and it’s provocative, or I want to put on a tank top and it’s provocative.

We’re not trying to push the real provocative edge.

I don’t want the public perceiving us as the taunting, provocative ghost hunters. We do that only to the bad spirits who we know are attacking the living.

I’ve moved laterally, as opposed to vertically. I was never a superstar. I’ve always had to move between a couple of years of unemployment, where offers are not provocative enough to take, and seasons where I work nonstop for a year.

I hope Gunter Grass will continue helping the SPD in campaigns and that he will otherwise remain with us as a provocative literary figure, as well.