Quotes & Sayings About Stubbornness

Well, I can admire stubbornness in a man. There is little to a man who's too easily biddable. — Robert Jordan

Man is the vainest of all
creatures that have their being upon earth. As long as heaven
vouchsafes him health and strength, he thinks that he shall come to
no harm hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sorrow upon
him, he bears it as he needs must, and makes the best of it; for
God Almighty gives men their daily minds day by day. I know all
about it, for I was a rich man once, and did much wrong in the
stubbornness of my pride, and in the confidence that my father and
my brothers would support me; therefore let a man fear God in all
things always, and take the good that heaven may see fit to send
him without vainglory. — Homer

If you are to survive, you need to put your stubbornness aside and listen to me."
"Oh, I just love that idea. — Devon Monk

Do I forget, or do I refuse to remember? — Craig D. Lounsbrough

Good politicians know when to move on, sooner or later. — Richard Brookhiser

He could be boastful in a way pleasantly at odds with his native fatalism, and his youthful stubbornness had a way of ameliorating into a sort of wounded dignity, which was centered in the darting passes of his deep-set, dark eyes. — Dan Lopez

I am determined to make the most of this life that I have, damn it - it's that kind of stubbornness I think we all need more of. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Excellence, he is known as the Mule. He is spoken of little, in a factual sense, but I have gathered the scraps and fragments of knowledge and winnowed out the most probable of them. He is apparently a man of neither birth nor standing. His father, unknown. His mother, dead in childbirth. His upbringing, that of a vagabond. His education, that of the tramp worlds, and the backwash alleys of space. He has no name other than that of the Mule, a name reportedly applied by himself to himself, and signifying, by popular explanation, his immense physical strength, and stubbornness of purpose. — Isaac Asimov

Behind the studied blankness of her gaze, revolt must have been simmering. I recognized that surliness, that stubbornness, that captive-princess indignation, which must be kept hidden until enough weapons have been collected. — Margaret Atwood

There is nothing like the whites of someone's eyes to convince you how very true what you believe is, how very much you must act on it. — Jennine Capo Crucet

I'm not some tortured, abandoned creature, Wayne," Marasi said, finding herself smiling at her distorted reflection in a ladle. "I'm not sitting around pining and dreaming for someone else to decide if I should be happy. There's nothing there. Whether that's due to actual lack of affection on his part, or more to stubbornness, I don't care. I've moved on. — Brandon Sanderson

It's not courage so much as stubbornness," Alice said frankly. Her lips curled back from her teeth in a grim smile. "I don't like to lose. — Django Wexler

Arin, you're not listening. You're not thinking clearly."
"You're right. I haven't been thinking clearly, not for a long time. But I understand now." Arin pushed his tiles away. His winning hand scattered out of line. "You have changed, Kestrel. I don't know who you are anymore. And I don't want to. — Marie Rutkoski

We watch Paracelsus in Basle as though seeing a man run headlong toward a precipice. Like an indestructible lunatic, he will do so again and again throughout his life. — Philip Ball

I couldn't stop the snort that escaped me. If he really was friends with Cinder, it was no wonder why. They were two peas in a pod."
He arched a brow at me and folded his arms stiffly over his chest. "I thought you just said Cinder was one of the greatest characters of all time."
I matched his stubbornness. "Every great character makes mistakes. Cinder was wise by the end and able to rule over his people only because Ellamara taught him how to think beyond himself. He was a great character, but - "
"I know, I know," Brian interrupted with an over-the-top sight. "Ellamara was the real hero. — Kelly Oram

Wow ... At least I can rest assured that you definitely can't read my mind," I remarked. "Clearly you know nothing about me ... because the surest way to keep me from doing something is to tell me I have no other choice. — M.A. George

Survival required a certain degree of stubbornness. — Sarah M. Eden

God has given me a mule-like stubbornness to stick with a difficult problem and the intuitive powers to conceptualize complex hypothetical situations in my mind. — Albert Einstein

Few could match her wisdom, and fewer still her stubbornness. — Peter V. Brett

Gibson Goode to Archy: You're just being stubborn now. Stubbornness in the service of a mistaken notion is a vanity and a sin. — Michael Chabon

The utter absence of proof for a proposition is proof of a successful conspiracy to destroy all proof. — George F. Will

I know that I've pushed him too far, but I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, I can't push him far enough, because right then, all I want is to break him. To break through that goddamned stubbornness and somehow get it through his head that the only way to save himself - to save us - is to put forward a defense. — J. Kenner

Part of what impelled him was stubbornness; resentment, even. The system had filed him among the rejects, and what he was studying was considered - at the decision-making levels, the levels of real power - an archaic waste of time. Well then, he would pursue the superfluous as an end in itself. He would be its champion, its defender and preserver. Who was it who'd said that all art was completely useless? Jimmy couldn't recall, but hooray for him, whoever he was. The more obsolete a book was, the more eagerly Jimmy would add it to his inner collection. — Margaret Atwood

I made my life, the same way it looks like you're gonna make yours - out of pride and stubbornness and too much anger. You better think hard, Ruth Anne, about what you want and who you're mad at. You better think hard. — Dorothy Allison

God's will is hard only when it comes up against our stubbornness, then it is as cruel as a ploughshare and as devastating as an earthquake. — Oswald Chambers

Stubbornness is a virtue if you are right. — Tony Dungy

I whirled and locked gazes with him, shucked my pride, doffed my prickly alpha stubbornness and said, You are my world, Jericho Barrons. Not him. Never him. — Karen Marie Moning

Clinging to him desperately, Sara kept her mouth at his ear. "Listen to me." All she could do was play her last card. Her voice trembled with emotion. "You can't change the truth. You can act as though you're deaf and blind, you can walk away from me forever, but the truth will still be there, and you can't make it go away. I love you." She felt an involuntary tremor run through him. "I love you," she repeated. "Don't lie to either of us by pretending you're leaving for my good. All you'll do is deny us both a chance at happiness. I'll long for you every day and night, but at least my conscience will be clear. I haven't held anything back from you, out of fear or pride or stubbornness." She felt the incredible tautness of his muscles, as if he were carved from marble. "For once have the strength not to walk away,"she whispered. "Stay with me. Let me love you, Derek. — Lisa Kleypas

It takes a special kind of stubbornness to succeed as an entrepreneur — Sophia Amoruso

But their strength is the strength of numbers and of stubbornness and persistence; do not underestimate it. — Robin McKinley

I love my mother. My mother made sure, her stubbornness - she made sure we was going to eat. She made sure we had Christmases. That was my mother. My father wasn't there for that. — Tracy Morgan

My donkeys are Jack and Don Quixote. They're very smart, very cautious. Much of what people consider stubbornness in donkeys is actually cautiousness. — Bonnie Jo Campbell

We must be willing to place all that we have
not just our possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but also our ambition and pride and stubbornness and vanity
we must place it all on the altar of God, kneel there in silent submission, and willingly walk away. — Jeffrey R. Holland

When you're out of willpower you call on stubbornness, that's the trick. — Henri Matisse

A warrior of light respects the main teaching of the I Ching: 'To persevere is favourable.'
He knows that perseverance is not the same thing as insistence. There are
times when battles go on longer than necessary, draining him of strength and
enthusiasm.
At such moments, the warrior thinks: 'A prolonged war finally destroys the
victors too.'
Then he withdraws his forces from the battlefield and allows himself a
respite. He perseveres in his desire, but knows he must wait for the best moment to attack.
A warrior always returns to the fray. He never does so out of stubbornness,
but because he has noticed a change in the weather. — Paulo Coelho

Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side. — Richelle E. Goodrich

No driven man hears unwanted counsel. — Janny Wurts

Howard Roark stood as a role model for me - as exactly the way I already was living. Even at that tender age [18] I already felt that. And it was intuitive or instinctive or inbred stubbornness or whatever; but I had already made those choices and suffered for them. — Neil Peart

It's only by being obstinate that anything is got, or done. — Rumer Godden

If you are looking for something, don't go sit on the seashore and expect it to come and find you; you must search, search, search with all the stubbornness in you! — Konstantin Stanislavski

Stubbornness and stupidity are twins. — Sophocles

Very well," said the Voice, in a tone of relief. "Then I'm going to throw flints at you till you think differently. — H.G.Wells

Obstinacy is the sister of constancy, at least in vigor and stability. — Michel De Montaigne

What's the reach on these ear buds?" Zane asked. He refused to slow down, and for once Nick was glad for the man's stubbornness.
"You got to be in a mile range of the hand unit," Digger answered. "If Ty's got his unit on him, we should be able to hear him and he should be able to hear us."
"So we can't hear him, that means he dropped his radio?" Owen asked.
"Or his ear bud. Or he went into the drink. Or he's underground. Or he's behind lots of concrete. Or somewhere the signal's getting jacked."
"Digger!"
"What? They ain't military grade. Damn. — Abigail Roux

-"This is incredible Ryn. It is. But-"
-"No." He turns around. "No buts. You think I'm going to hurt you? You think I'm going to get bored and run off with some Undergrounder the first chance I get? You obviously have no idea how amazing you are. You, Violet Fairdale, are incredible, and I want you. Every part of you. I want your stubbornness and your sarcasm and your competitive spirit. I want you challenging me and fighting beside me. I want to hold you and kiss you and so much more because there's no one else in the world who knows me like you do. You have always been the one for me, even when we couldn't stand each other. You're beautiful and hot and sexy all at once, and you're more intelligent than any girl I've met. I love the fact that I've known you all my life. It just feels right when you're beside me. It feel like I've been lost in the desert for years, and ... I've finally come home. — Rachel Morgan

to understand him, the temper and the challenge, the brokenness and the stubbornness, — Lisa-Jo Baker

To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture. — Thomas Paine

He might have gotten his way in the hallway earlier, but now he's on my turf. He isn't gonna push me around. — Melyssa Winchester

Yet curiosity grabbed stubbornness by the throat and pimp-slapped it a few times. — Cecy Robson

He was now beginning to wonder whether the jigsaw was the correct metaphor for relationships between me and women after all. It didn't take account of the sheer stubbornness of human beings, their determination to affix themselves to another even if they didn't fit. They didn't care about jutting off at weird angles, and they didn't care about phone booths and Mary, Queen of Scots. They were motivated not by seamless and sensible matching, but by eyes, mouths, smiles, minds, breasts and chests and bottoms, wit, kindness, charm, romantic history and all sorts of other things that made straight edges impossible to achieve. — Nick Hornby

the society in which the people of God will seek to implement this justice is one that remains sinful. It is in fact fortunate that, as Jesus puts it, the Torah is written for people who have stubborn wills. The Torah seeks to pull people toward God's creation intent, but it makes realistic allowance for their stubbornness (e.g., Mt 19:1-12). The empire and every other society remains a mixed entity, which makes the First Testament distinctively useful in this connection. Further, — John E. Goldingay

It's an unfortunate fact that I'm easily discouraged. But the fortunate truth is I'm stubborn as hell and near impossible to sway in my resolve. — Richelle E. Goodrich

I don't think I have the stomach Veronica has. I think I have the determination and the stubbornness and a little bit of the go-get-em. But I think I'm about 20 percent more girl than Veronica is. There's a lot of Veronica that hits home with me, the sort of feisty area. But I think that I have a little bit more girl. I'd scream my head off if I saw a body in the freezer. — Kristen Bell

People's shortcomings should be treated with tact; if you expose them crudely, this is attacking weakness with a weakness. When people are stubborn, it requires skill to influence them; if you treat them with anger and spite, this is treating stubbornness with stubbornness. — Zicheng Hong

An interesting parade of expressions passed across Drake's face.

I ran across the floor to him, putting my hands on his chest as I leaned into him. "Trust goes both ways, Drake. You have to learn to trust that I know what I'm doing."

"It's not your abilities I doubt," he said slowly, his eyes dark. "It is not easy to let you go in this manner."

"I know it's not. But it'll get easier. OK?"

The anger on his face faded into annoyance, which did a brief tango with stubbornness, and finally morphed into resignation.

I gave him a swift kiss. "That was a hell of a battle you fought, but I appreciate your faith in me."

"I have always had faith in you, kincsem. It is all others I distrust. — Katie MacAlister

The chains that keep you bound to the past are not the actions of another person. They are your own anger, stubbornness, lack of compassion, jealousy and blaming others for your choices. It is not other people that keep you trapped; it is the entitled role of victim that you enjoy wearing. There is a familiarness to pain that you enjoy because you get a payoff from it. When you figure out what that payoff is then you will finally be on the road to freedom. — Shannon L. Alder

If you plan to build walls around me, know this - I will walk through them. — Richelle E. Goodrich

I think my stubbornness has served me well. I just knew at an early age what I wanted to do and I was determined to be able to make it happen, no matter how long it took. — Caroline Leavitt

When arrogant hands once seize power, the ruler thinks authority resides in stubbornness. — Seneca.

Ian closed his eyes. Beth watched emotions flicker across his face, the uncertainty, the stubbornness, the raw pain he'd lived with for so long. He didn't always know how to express his emotions, but that didn't mean he didn't feel them deeply.
When Ian slowly opened his eyes, he guided his gaze directly to Beth's. His golden eyes shimmered and sparkled, pupils ringed with green. He held her gaze steadily, not blinking, or shifting away.
"I love you," he said.
Beth caught her breath, and sudden tears blurred her vision.
"Love you," Ian repeated. His gaze bore into hers harder than Hart's ever could hope to. "Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you ... — Jennifer Ashley

You promoted me for my ruthless stubbornness and dog-headed determination, not my tech savvy. Plus, I'm a damn good shot. — Katherine McIntyre

I do have trouble starting books. I have ideas that I have trouble starting to write. But I'm the kind of person who tends to finish everything she starts out of sheer stubbornness. — Cynthia Voigt

Question everything, even the question mark, that shepherd's crook floating in the air above that small round rock

If you - stubbornly - still wish to be unhappy,
maybe you can grasp it. — Dick Allen

Stubborness we deprecate,
Firmness we condone,
The former is our neighbors trait,
The latter is our own. — John Wooden

Obstinacy is ever most positive when it is most in the wrong. — Suzanne Curchod

A hard head makes a soft ass. — Will Leamon

The charm of Ronald Reagan is not just that he kept telling us screwy things, it was that he believed them all. No wonder we trusted him, he never lied to us ... His stubbornness, even defiance, in the face of facts ('stupid things,' he once called them in a memorable slip) was nothing short of splendid ... This is the man who proved that ignorance is no handicap to the presidency. — Molly Ivins

D'Alembert was always surrounded by controversy ... he was the lightning rod which drew sparks from all the foes of the philosophes ... Unfortunately he carried this ... pugnacity into his scientific research and once he had entered a controversy, he argued his cause with vigour and stubbornness. He closed his mind to the possibility that he might be wrong ... — Jean Le Rond D'Alembert

A man will do more for his stubbornness than for his religion or his country. — E.W. Howe

I am a patient listener, but opinionated to the point of stubbornness when my mind is made up. — Walt Disney

Raffe's legs tremble violently and he's losing consciousness, but he stays up out of sheer stubbornness and fury. — Susan Ee

Serra was a mix of light and darkness; he was a man of great vision and great blindness, of immense zeal and immense stubbornness. In his own mind, his goals justified his treatment of the Indians, whom he loved as the children he did not have and whom he disciplined with the same ardor with which he disciplined himself. His vision, like that of many of his eighteenth century contemporaries, demanded intolerance against those with different ideas about this world and the next. These qualities do not make him an angel or a devil; they simply make him a man of his time and place. His time and place were, like ours, far from perfect."26 — Christian Clifford

Although their parents died in the wilderness for their stubbornness, Israel could profit from the older generation's failure by remembering that God had used adversity to train them. — Max Anders

Pettiness of mind, ignorance and presumption are the cause of stubbornness, because stubborn people only want to believe what they themselves can imagine, and they can imagine very few things. — Madeleine De Souvre, Marquise De ...

In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life. — Jeffrey Eugenides

Anything that lives here has to be just as harsh and determined as the sun, born of a fiery stubbornness that is either extremely brave or extremely stupid. — Sara Raasch

Ambition is a path, not a destination, and it is essentially the same path for everybody. No matter what the goal is, the path leads through Pilgrim's Progress regions of motivation, hard work, persistence, stubbornness, and resilience under disappointment. Unconsidered, merely indulged, ambition becomes a vice; it can turn an man into a machine that knows nothing but how to run. Considered, it can be something else - pathway to the stars, maybe. I suspect that what makes hedonists so angry when they think about overachievers is that the overachievers, without benefit of drugs or orgies, have more fun. — Wallace Stegner

Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow. — Carl Von Clausewitz

There are many things in our society masquerading as faith. What many see as faith may actually be just force of habit, patriotism, stubbornness, family pride, intellectual laziness, childishness, gullibility, or the effects of being brainwashed. The problem is that faith is kept separate from intellect, whereas God wants every part of a Christian, including his mind. — William Hemsworth

If a creative person has a sense of humor, a sense of style and a certain amount of stubbornness, he finds a way to do what he needs to in spite of the obstacles. — Stephen Nachmanovitch

Now do you understand? I am never changing who I am. — Peter Cimino

In 'The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow,' part of the 'Dear America' series, I took my childhood bravery and stubbornness and put that at the core of the Navajo girl, Sarah Nita. It helped me to identify with her survival and to write about her courageous journey and that of her people. — Ann Turner

Stubbornness is not firmness. — Friedrich Schiller

They say it's a wise bairn that kens its father, but I dinna think there's much doubt who yours is, lass. Ye might have had the lang nebbit and red locks from anyone, but ye didna get the stubbornness from any man but Jamie Fraser. — Diana Gabaldon

I counter whatever 'doesn't work' in love with the affirmation of what is worthwhile. This stubbornness is love's protest: for all the wealth of 'good reasons' for loving differently, loving better, loving without being in love, etc., a stubborn voice is raised which lasts a little longer: the voice of the intractable lover — Roland Barthes

You tell me that yes, I can do it. I know.
And I may do it, if I so choose.
You tell me that no, I cannot. I say, Oh?
I shall do it, since you refuse! — Richelle E. Goodrich

By practice and conviction formed, With ancient stubbornness ingrained, Although her body clung and swarmed, My own identity remained. — Yvor Winters

There's none so blind as those who will not listen. — Neil Gaiman

Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.
[Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking (The Creativity Post, December 6, 2011)] — Michael Michalko

I haven't had a lot of good, soft things in my life," he said against my forehead. "Not since my family sent me away. Apart from being your sire and feeling that pull to you, it's that goodness, that softness and warmth, along with the resolve and strength in you, that I love. Being turned hasn't taken that from you. If someone were going to design the perfect mate for me, it would be you. Even when you infuriate me with your pigheaded stubbornness and your temper and incredible lack of anything resembling self-preservation - "
"Stop describing me please."
"You're the most fascinating, maddening, adorable creature I've ever met," he said, sighing and pushing my hair out of my eyes. "So, when I seem possessive or I'm raving like a lunatic, it's just that part of me is still very afraid that I'll lose that - that I'll lose you. I love you. — Molly Harper

Our stubbornness is what's gotten us this far! — Ryuhei Tamura

I think people should try to teach young children that these qualities - stubbornness and a capacity to listen - might look like they are opposites, but they are not. — Renzo Piano

We, the public, are easily, lethally offended. We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right. We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us, in our opinion, the moral high ground. From this high ground we can shoot down at our enemies and inflict heavy fatalities. We take pride in our short fuses. Our anger elevates, transcends. — Salman Rushdie

I always knew I was stubborn. I just never realized that stubbornness was just another word for determination. — Mia Castile

Abby had a little trick that she used any time Red acted like a cranky old codger. She reminded herself of the day she had fallen in love with him. "It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon," she'd begin, and it would all come back to her - the newness of it, the whole new world magically opening before her at the moment when she first realized that this person that she'd barely noticed all these years was, in fact, a treasure. He was perfect, was how she'd put it to herself. And then that clear-eyed, calm-faced boy would shine forth from Red's sags and wrinkles, from his crumpled eyelids and hollowed cheeks and the two deep crevices bracketing his mouth and just his general obtuseness, his stubbornness, his infuriating belief that simple cold logic could solve all of life's problems, and she would feel unspeakably lucky to have ended up with him. — Anne Tyler

I find that stubbornness often beats intelligence eventually. Stubbornness will beat anything eventually. That's the whole point of stubbornness. — Scott Meyer

There's a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination. — Jeb Bush

Therefore it was not pride that took me into the village twice a week, or even stubbornness, but only the simple need for books and food. — Shirley Jackson

Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits — Robert Breault

It would seem no matter how progressive we get there are always those few who are backwards in their ways. — Solange Nicole