Obey Quotes

“God uses one whom others would have passed over without a second glance. The history of obedience to the Great Commission is full of such examples. Behind this reality is a truth that God will use any who will submit to and obey His purpose for mission in their generation.”

— Ross Paterson

“White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.”

— Jack London

“We're presently in the midst of a third intellectual revolution. The first came with Newton: the planets obey physical laws. The second came with Darwin: biology obeys genetic laws. In today's third revolution, were coming to realize that even minds and societies emerge from interacting laws that can be regarded as computations. Everything is a computation.”

— Rudy Rucker

“I began dividing life in absolutes ... Things and people were either perfectly bad, or perfectly good, and when life didn't obey this black-and-white rule, when things or people were complex or contradictory, I pretended otherwise. I turned every defeat into a disaster, every success into an epic triumph, and separated all people into heroes or villains. Unable to bear ambiguity, I built a barricade of delusions against it.”

— J.R. Moehringer

“Similarly that is no true democracy in which the whole crowd of citizens is free to do whatever they wish or purpose, but when, in a community where it is traditional and customary to reverence the gods, to honor our parents, to respect our elders, and to obey the laws, the will of the greater number prevails, this is to be called a democracy.”

— Polybius

“The Three Laws of Robotics:
1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law;
The Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”

— Isaac Asimov

“He call us to obey, not because He needs us but because He knows we need Him.”

— John F. MacArthur Jr.

“For him morality was neither conformism nor philosophic wisdom, but living the infinite fullness of possibilities. He believed in morality's capacity for intensification, in stages of moral experience, and not merely, as most people do, in stages of moral understanding, as if it were something cut-and-dried for which people were just not pure enough. He believed in morality without believing in any specific moral system. Morality is generally understood to be a sort of police regulations for keeping life in order, and since life does not obey even these, they come to look as if they were really impossible to live up to and accordingly, in this sorry way, not really an ideal either. But morality must not be reduced to this level. Morality is imagination. This was what he wanted to make Agathe see. And his second point was: Imagination is not arbitrary. Once imagination is left to caprice, there is a price to pay.”

— Robert Musil

“You will be expected to obey orders, or this appointment can and will be terminated. Again, at the discretion of the primary. We run this by the book."
"I've always wondered. How many pages are in that book of yours?"
"And smart mouthing to the primary can result in disciplinary action."
"Darling. You know how that excites me.”

— J.D. Robb

“If we are really going to learn from others, we must decide to fully obey.”

— Ed Townsend

“If you let loose a law, it will
do as a dog does. It will obey its own nature, not yours. Such
sense as you have put into the law (or the dog) will be fulfilled.
But you will not be able to fulfil a fragment of anything you have
forgotten to put into it.”

— G.K. Chesterton

“'And it means naught to you to obey your father's orders? Where is your fealty?'
Christian felt his face flush with a surge of bitter rage. 'I keep faith with those who have kept faith with me.'
William shook his head in disbelief. 'God save me from ever having sons like you.'
'I would wish it on no man,' Christian said sincerely.”

— Eli Easton

“Obey every rule that will enhance your trust in God for greater work! Break every law that might cause a tear in your relationship with Him against your destiny!”

— Israelmore Ayivor

“Even in concept, angels are unsettling. They're like drones, totally mindlessly following the will of God. The only difference between the Heavenly angels and demons is that the demons opted to follow after a different queen bee. So, you have these eyeball speckled, part animal monsters who exist only to worship and obey God. They don't have a moral compass, they just act.”

— Thomm Quackenbush

“I have no will of my own. Never did. Limp and lily-livered, I always obey - is it possible that's attractive to women?”

— Anton Chekhov

“Standing there, I had the feeling of putting on armour, taking up secret weapons, becoming like a dreamer, invulnerable for the moment-safe in my dream. Now I could face the world, having no part in life; the presence of waiting phantoms could be forgotten. I was outside everything, surrendered unconditionally to my dream, giving no thought to my next move, prepared to obey whatever impulse next reaches me from the unseen.”

— Anna Kavan

“ACT5.29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

— Anonymous.

“I entreat students of letters and other scholars to obey their masters in things good, to imitate them, and diligently apply themselves to letters for the sake of God's honour and their own salvation and that of other men.”

— Jan Hus

“We have organized a social order which we cherish and look upon as sacred. Jesus, whom we recognize as God, comes and tells us that our social organization is wrong. We recognize him as God, but we are not willing to renounce our social institutions. What, then, are we to do? Add, if we can, the words "without a cause" to render void the command against anger; mutilate the sense of another law, as audacious prevaricators have done by substituting for the command absolutely forbidding divorce, phraseology which permits divorce; and if there is no possible way of deriving an equivocal meaning, as in the case of the commands, "Judge not, condemn not," and "Swear not at all," then with the utmost effrontery openly violate the rule while affirming that we obey it.”

— Leo Tolstoy

“So many vows ... they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other.”

— George R.R. Martin

“Every man who has at last succeeded, after long effort, in calling up the divinity which lies hidden in a woman's heart, is startled to find that he must obey the God he summoned.”

— Henry Adams

“There is not one single police officer in America that I am not afraid of and not one that I would trust to tell the truth or obey the laws they are sworn to uphold. I do not believe they protect me in any way.”

— Henry Rollins

“I will withhold death from you as long as you obey my one command. Bow down to no one. Worship no one. Not even me. Do you understand?”

— Mike Carey

“Make amends to those you've hurt, and forgive anyone who has wounded you. If He does, then obey Him immediately. But then move on. Don't continue to beat yourself up over something that God has forgiven. True, you may still have to live with consequences related to your choices. But the Father doesn't want you to live with unresolved guilt, shame, or regret. Seek Him and be free.”

— Charles F. Stanley

“The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.”

— William Shakespeare

“We should read the Bible expectantly, systematically, and obediently ... The Bible can change our lives as we read it and obey its teachings every day.”

— Billy Graham

“You can force the people to obey; you cannot force them to understand.”

— Confucius

“I have learned, as has many another better writer, to summon inspiration to my call as soon as I begin my day's stint, and not to hang around waiting for it. Inspiration is merely a pretty phrase for the zest to work. And it can be cultivated by anyone who has the patience to try. Inspiration that will not come at its possessor's summons is like a dog that cannot be trained to obey. The sooner both are gotten rid of, the better.”

— Albert Payson Terhune

“Even the Savior of the world, the Only Begotten Son of God, was obliged to come to earth and to take upon himself an earthly tabernacle. He experienced joy and sorrow, happiness and grief, lasting satisfaction and frequent disappointments. As Paul has written, "Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."”

— Alma P Burton

“If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the same way, through the Apostles ordaining their successors, and these successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their spiritual shepherds and teachers.”

— Gregory Palamas

“The devotion of democracy to education is a familiar fact. The superficial explanation is that a government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be successful unless those who elect and who obey their governors are educated. Since a democratic society repudiates the principle of external authority, it must find a substitute in voluntary disposition and interest; these can be created only by education.”

— John Dewey

“Obey your soul, have perfect faith in yourself. Never think of yourself with doubt or distrust, or as one who makes mistakes.”

— Wallace D. Wattles

“Every cleric must obey the Pope, even if he commands what is evil; for no one may judge the Pope.”

— Pope Innocent III

“Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him.”

— Aiden Wilson Tozer

“It is impossible that this gnosis resulting in the heart should be achieved by man for any other purpose than to obey God, love Him, and worship Him. This gnosis should be sought for the sake of God, not for any other reason whatsoever, unlike the remaining external acts of devotion, which can be performed for other worldly interests, such as hypocrisy, praise, and commendation.”

— Ibn Ata Allah

“We must put aside all judgment of our own, and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy Mother, the hierarchical Church.”

— Ignatius Of Loyola

“The first law that ever God gave to man was a law of pure obedience; it was a commandment naked and simple, wherein man had nothing to inquire after, or to dispute, forasmuch as to obey is the proper office of a rational soul, acknowledging a heavenly superior and benefactor. From obedience and submission spring all other virtues, as all sin does from self-opinion.”

— Michel De Montaigne

“There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.”

— Niccolo Machiavelli

“The Bible says that when we obey God's commands, we benefit. I think we naturally assume that if we look out for our own interests and concerns, we will be happy. But people who sacrifice for others will tell you that seasons of giving are the most rewarding of their lives.”

— Francis Chan

“Whoever has used what means he is capable of, for the informing of himself, with a readiness to believe and obey what shall be taught and prescribed by Jesus, his Lord and King, is a true and faithful subject of Christ s kingdom:;; and cannot be thought to fail in any thing necessary to salvation.”

— John Locke

“When Jesus is truly our Lord, He directs our lives and we gladly obey Him. Indeed, we bring every part of our lives under His lordship - our home and family, our sexuality and marriage, our job or unemployment, our money and possessions, our ambitions and recreations.”

— John Stott

“Do you think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless they love it? No, they will not. Truth is obeyed when it is loved.”

— Brigham Young

“There is good and bad in all of us and the Church uses the idea of original sin to control us by saying that, if we do not obey the bishops, we will rot in Hell.”

— Tony Benn

“Forgiveness is manifested mercy; it is live in action - not love based on a feeling, but love based on a decision, an intentional choice to obey God.”

— Joyce Meyer

“You have that within you which is ever impelling you toward the upward and advancing way; and that impelling something is the divine Principle of Power; you must obey it without question.”

— Wallace D. Wattles

“The object of our being placed upon this earth is that we may work out an exaltation, that we may prepare ourselves to go back and dwell with our Heavenly Father; and our Father, knowing the faults and failings of men has given us certain commandments to obey, and if we will examine those requirements and the things that devolve upon us we will find that they are all for our individual benefit and advancement. The school of life in which we are placed and the lessons that are given to us by our Father will make of us exactly what He desires, so that we may be prepared to dwell with Him.”

— Heber J. Grant

“If life be long I will be glad, that I may long obey; if short, yet why should I be sad to welcome to endless day?”

— Richard Baxter

“Our laws can be friendly to those who obey them, and too often useful to those who don't.”

— Cullen Hightower

“In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life.”

— Marcus Aurelius

“The day I notice a cyclist obey a stop sign is the day I'll stop enjoying watching them bounce off my hood.”

— Daniel Tosh