Top 66 Defy Quotes

Whenever counterterrorism professionals see punditry and media make grand pronunciations on terrorism that defy all demonstrable evidence, an unrepeatable oath is usually muttered.

A lot of people think jugglers defy gravity or do stuff. Well, I kind of, from my childhood and golf and all that, it’s a process of joining with forces.

I defy any British actor to deny they’ve not stood in front of the mirror and said: ‘Bond, James Bond.’

The Senate Majority Leader has the unilateral ability to stand up and say, ‘If you defy Congress, if you defy the Constitution, if you defy the American people, none of your nominees will be confirmed.’

I had to convince the investor that Scotland and Montana look completely alike. He couldnt believe it. But they actually do. I defy anybody to tell when were in Montana and when were in Scotland.

The perfect pop song is a 20th-century creation; it’s not a sonnet, it’s not an opera, it’s something short – three and a half minutes by nature – and has this ability to travel and to defy class and economic structures.

There is no more potent weapon in any profession than a woman with a feminine exterior and a will of steel, and I defy you to find one man who will disagree.

I hate to say ‘chain restaurant,’ but we’re sort of a corporation now. How do we defy that concept, where people assume each restaurant can’t be good?

There’s a set of rules out there somewhere that says it all ends by 40. I hope to be able to defy that because I truly love my work.

As an Asst. Secretary of State, I often urged authoritarian governments around the world not to use emergency powers to defy their legislatures, courts, and laws.

There is no reason to protect illegal-alien criminals from deportation. And cities that defy the law should face serious consequences.

I defy you to find any real will, any reasoning force, outside of life. And everything is there; there is, in the world, no other will than this force which impels everything to life, a life even broader and higher.

It is remarkable that this people, though unarmed, dares attack an armed foe; the infantry defy the cavalry, and by their activity and courage generally prove victors.

There are things about our world that almost by their nature defy our ability to comprehend them. Some people use a religious register to deal with that – they call it God and that’s a way of domesticating it.

But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine. But it is nice to defy the odds.

Peoples do not defy repression and death, nor do they remain for nights on end protesting energetically, just because of merely formal matters.

I like showing people I can do something they wouldn’t have pegged me as being able to do. I’ve always wanted to defy expectations.

I admire many actors, though I don’t think there’s anyone whose career I would want to mirror sort of by the beats. What I’m really looking to do is constantly defy expectations. I’m very curious to see if you can actually have a character actor and a movie star’s career combined.

I remember watching the Tony Awards as a young girl, thinking I would never get that far but, in my heart, wanting so badly to perform on Broadway and defy the expectations of my small town.

What I try to do is defy expectations in terms of boundaries, whether it is high or low art, pop culture, or fine-art culture. My work is about reconciling myriad cultural influences and bringing them into one picture.

I have watched men suffer the anguish of imprisonment, defy appalling human cruelty… break for a moment, then recover inhuman strength to defy their enemies once more.

I don’t write political plays in the sense that I’m writing essays that are kind of disguised as plays. I would really defy anyone to watch any of my plays and say ‘Well, here’s the point.’

I defy anyone in the world to trade with me.

I love doing action. Since I’m not 21, there’s some, ‘Let me get to the gym so I can do it.’ But I love to defy expectations.

Society tells you that when you’re old you have to retire. You have to defy that.

Sometimes great, banned works defy the censor’s description and impose themselves on the world – ‘Ulysses,’ ‘Lolita,’ the ‘Arabian Nights.’

We all have challenges. We have to face them, embrace them, defy them, and conquer them.

Drag has come a long way and people are respecting it, and giving drag queens and other people who defy gender norms more chances than they’ve ever been given before, but it’s thanks to people like RuPaul, especially, who set that momentum going.

If the day comes where I can have my own action figure… I defy any actor to say that’s not a good day.

I defy you to agitate any fellow with a full stomach.

I have worked really hard to defy categorization, to break down a taxonomy whenever it comes my way.

After engaging in acts of war against another nation, there exists a degree of uncertainty in terms of the enemy’s reactions. War inspires an unpredictable psychology and evokes strong emotions that defy systems analysis quantification.

What, man, defy the devil. Consider, he’s an enemy to mankind.

The Supreme Court overrules, distinguishes, and upholds prior precedents. Sometimes it ignores them. But it does not – cannot – ‘defy’ them.

It was my first time in prison. I was there to volunteer with Defy Ventures, along with 500 teammates Tara Graham, Brian Wang, and Aerin Lim. While I didn’t feel particularly scared about going to prison, I had no idea what to expect.

Toxic people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them, and others seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons.

Guys like O.J. Simpson and Tony Dorsett can take the ball and run through the line, but I defy them to follow me over a 70-foot cliff or let a horse drag them a few hundred feet. Nobody can beat a stunt man for overall athletic ability.

But I would defy anyone to go back over the years and tell me anyone whose career I’ve ruined, anyone whom I’ve driven out of the service, anyone I’ve fired from a job.

The student will try to defy the master. Always.

If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!

I think that sometimes when they see me in a movie they expect me to be something nasty. I mean, I play a lot of villains and you show up and they think maybe… That’s why it’s good to defy expectations sometimes.

Mehmet was the first sultan, and one of the first Muslims anywhere, to defy religious tradition by allowing his portrait to be made.

Vivian Abenshushan and Veronica Gerber write brilliant books that defy generic conventions.

Rosa Parks was a woman of strength, conviction, and morality. Her action on December 1, 1955, to defy the law made her a leading figure in our nation’s civil rights history.

America tends to assume Silicon Valley-style innovators can drive quick and transformative changes, but even Silicon Valley’s would-be masters of the universe have discovered that energy transitions are subject to time spans and technical constraints that defy their reach.

The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.

The mental act of sensation which issues in reflex movement is so simple as to defy analysis.

Defy the limitations people put on you.

She doesn’t do the things heroines are supposed to. Which is rather Jane Austen’s point – Fanny is her subversive heroine. She is gentle and self-doubting and utterly feminine; and given the right circumstances, she would defy an army.

The way we can allow ourselves to do what we need to, no matter what others may say or do, is to choose love and defy fear.

I defy anyone – and I have said this to the Germans – to build a solid, articulated, and viable Europe without France’s consent.

Knowing that you’re the one who’s been rejected, God it makes you feel isolated. I defy anybody not to be a bit upset. I felt as though I’d walked into the house trailing all this baggage.

I defy anyone to finish Halldor Laxness’s ‘Independent People’ without wetting the pages with tears.

I love people that willfully defy what you’re supposed to be and create their own definition of their selves.

Everything I have done or attempted to do for Scotland has always been for her benefit, never my own and I defy anyone to prove otherwise.

I defy anyone to watch interviews with Ted Bundy and not be taken by him. He was very handsome and charming and extremely intelligent and, you know, that can exist.

This is magic we’re talking about. It’s supposed to go places science can’t, defy logic, wink at technology, fill us all with the sensawunda that comes of gazing upon a fictional world and seeing something truly different from our own.

It is only in sorrow bad weather masters us; in joy we face the storm and defy it.

I defy anybody to be of service to another human being and not have the most peaceful night of sleep you’ve had in a long, long time.