I've always hated being bashed with crap about obedience by my sheeple TBM morgbot family members. I'd love to memorize a dozen zingers to make them writhe. Anybody else feel that way? Here's a couple faves:

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Oscar Wilde

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” Henry David Thoreau

What's that poem from The Blindside?

never saw it. Pray and let the spirit reveal it unto you so you can share:)

I believe the copyright is expired on this so I can copy it here:
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

1.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,
J. E. Tilton and Company, Boston, 1870

"We have heard men who hold the priesthood remark that they would do anything they were told to do by those who preside over them -- even if they knew it was wrong. But such obedience as this is worse than folly to us. It is slavery in the extreme. The man who would thus willingly degrade himself should not claim a rank among intelligent beings until he turns from his folly.
"A man of God would despise this idea. Others, in the extreme exercise of their almighty authority have taught that such obedience was necessary, and that no matter what the Saints were told to do by their presidents, they should do it without any questions.
"When Elders [leaders] of Israel will so far indulge in these extreme notions of obedience as to teach them to the people, it is generally because they [the leaders] have it in their hearts to do wrong themselves."

-- Joseph Smith, Jr.
Millenial Star, Archive Volume 14, Number 38, Pages 593-595

This is one of my favorite quotes - one of these days I'm going to get up the nerve to post it on Facebook.

"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right."

And I've shamelessly adopted it and passed it on when it's been appropriate...

>“From my childhood, obedience was something I could not get out of my system. When I entered the armed service at the age of twenty-seven, I found being obedient not a bit more difficult than it had been during my life to that point. It was unthinkable that I would not follow orders.”

>“Now that I look back, I realize that a life predicated on being obedient and taking orders is a very comfortable life indeed. Living in such a way reduces to a minimum one's need to think.”

Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962): Eichmann was executed by the Israeli government--after being captured in South America and spirited out of Argentina--for his role in Hitler's "Final Solution." As one who is generally opposed to capital punishment, I've never raised my voice against the Israeli actions.

the New Testament Jesus had his cousin baptize Him in the Jordan river as an act of defiance against the over priced ceremonial bath business that elitest priests run at the local temple.
Of course, MORmONS claim that Jesus' baptism was an act of submission, those MORmON DUMB ASSES get just about everything WRONG!

Just kidding

I dug this up because I remember how much it inspired me... I need some serious inspiration right now! Anyone else have more to add here?

I dug this up because I remembered how much it inspired me. Man, I could use some serious inspiration right now! Can anyone add to this?

Ah, that's where my reply went.

Jesus himself never used the words "obey" or "obedient". So it must not be a virtue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2012 07:25PM by suckafoo.

"Well-behaved women seldom make history." —Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

+1

Blame someone else and get on with your life. ~ Alan Woods

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues. - Elizabeth Taylor

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.”

wow, auto filter, nice!

"Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience."
Mary Wollstonecraft

In honor of the recently-departed Helen Gurley Brown, her famous motto:

"Good girls go to heaven--bad girls go everywhere."

Thanks for the wonderful thought-provoking quotes and poetry already posted.

I googled "obedience" and most of the results were about training dogs.

Enough said.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2012 10:35PM by canadianfriend.

I like this thread.

“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience."

more... http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/163932-civil-disobedience-is-not-our-problem-our-problem-is-civil

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

"It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees." Delores Ibarruri

"Once I decide to do something, I can't have people telling me I can't. If there is a roadblock, you jump over it, walk around it, crawl under it." Kitty Kelly

"I think the reward for conformity is everyone likes you but yourself." Rita Mae Brown

Even according to the bible, we are able to think and love and feel only because of Eve's disobedience.

Thank God she wasn't a Mormon in good standing, ha ha.