Unprovoked Quotes

There are more chickens than a man can know in this world, but an unprovoked kindness is the rarest of birds. ~ Mark Twain

Whereas, Slavery, throughout its entire existence in the United States is none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked, and unjustifiable War of one portion of its citizens upon another portion; the only conditions of which are perpetual imprisonment, and hopeless servitude or absolute extermination; in utter disregard and violation of those eternal and self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration of Independence: ~ John Brown

On December 20, 1989, the United States attacked Panama with what was reported to be the largest airborne assault on a city since World War II.6 It was an unprovoked attack on a civilian population. Panama and her people posed absolutely no threat to the United States or to any other country. Politicians, governments, and press around the world denounced the unilateral U.S. action as a clear violation of international law. ~ John Perkins

I don't believe America will justifiably make an unprovoked attack on another nation. It would not be consistent with what we have been as a nation or what we should be as a nation. ~ Dick Armey

I hardly sustain myself beneath the weight of white men's blood that I have shed. The whites provoked the war; their injustices, their indignities to our families, the cruel, unheard of and wholly unprovoked massacre at Fort Lyon ... shook all the veins which bind and support me. I rose, tomahawk in hand, and I have done all the hurt to the whites that I could. ~ Sitting Bull

Unprovoked hostility is often but displaced self-defense: 'I must stop him before he stops me.' In many of such environments, nobody is really hateful so much as they are just fearful. ~ Criss Jami

Pluto was a well-known fixture in Bad Münstereifel, at least among those who lived in the old part of town. A large, foul-tempered, and unsterilized inky-black tomcat, he had once made it onto the front page of the local free paper (admittedly during a quiet week as regards other news) after a resident of the town accused him of making an unprovoked attack on her pet dachshund. ~ Helen Grant

[I believe in] the throne ... parliamentary institutions ... private enterprise and individual opinion against the socialization of the state ... equity in the distribution of public burdens and strict maintenance of public faith with the creditors of the state [and] a fresh guarantee of peace by an alliance with France and ... Belgium for the defence of our common interests against unprovoked attack. ~ Austen Chamberlain

I was enraged by these heinous acts of barbarism - enraged that people who called themselves Muslims could launch an unprovoked attack on Christians or foreigners, enraged that through their vile acts these terrorists were perverting our faith, which tells us that Christians are among the "people of the Book", that we should show discernment when fighting for the cause of God and not fight those who have not harmed us, that murder and suicide are grievous sins. ~ Pervez Musharraf

Anything else you want to know? Dental records, fingerprints? Retinal scan?"
"Urine sample would work."
She rolled her eyes. "What cup you want me to use?"
He was intrigued by her comebacks and the fact that she didn't appear angry over his questioning and word choice. "Does anything faze you?"
"I fight people for a living. Do you honestly think peeing in a cup is going to frighten me?"
She had a point… providing she wasn't lying about her occupation.
Without a word, Aidan pulled a glass out of his cabinet and handed it to her.
Her jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me? You really want a urine sample?"
He actually smiled at her question. "Not hardly, but I thought you might be thirsty. The drinks are in the fridge."

For once he saw relief in her gaze before she went and poured herself a glass of milk. "Thanks for showing some mercy."
"Yeah," he said bitterly. "Just remember to return the favor."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
He shrugged. "Just in my experience, all people do is take. None of them give a damn about helping someone else."
"And sometimes people can surprise you."
"Yeah. You're right. I'm constantly amazed by the unprovoked treachery they're capable of."
She shook her head. "Wow, you arejaded.(Leta & Aidan) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

The aggressive, unprovoked acts of violence against Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas are revealing. It is clear they don't want peace, but rather seek the ultimate destruction of Israel. ~ John Boehner

Most recently, terrorist forces have captured Israeli soldiers and fired rockets into Israeli cities - both unprovoked. These acts of aggression deserve the rapid and decisive response they received. ~ John Boehner

Heart attacks are one of those things best left unprovoked. ~ Fisher Amelie

A mated Walker was a beast better left unprovoked. ~ Nicole Edwards

An unprovoked head butt is like bringing a sawed-off shotgun to a knife fight. ~ Lee Child

Her aloneness was so random, so total and unprovoked . . . ~ Megan Angelo

Justice is getting what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
And grace is getting what you absolutely don't deserve.
... benign good will. unprovoked compassion. the unearnable gift ~ Cathleen Falsani

The father was dry-eyed but the mother kept erupting, like loudly, unprovoked, in a keening foreign wail that was almost like song; it sounded strangely ceremonial and impersonal, like a lament for an idea. Walter went alone to the morgue, without any idea. His love was resting beneath a sheet on a gurney of an awkward height, too high to be knelt by. Her hair was as ever, silky and black and thick, as ever, but there was something wrong with her jaw, some outrageously cruel and unforgivable injury, and her forehead, when he kissed it, was colder than any just universe could have allowed such a young person's forehead to be. The coldness entered him through his lips and didn't leave. What was over was over. His delight in the world had died, and there was no point in anything. ~ Jonathan Franzen

I think it's meant to be thought provoking, said Cinder. Iko frowned, looking unprovoked. They ~ Marissa Meyer

My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. Flesh eating is unprovoked murder. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Just in my experience, all people do is take. None of them give a damn about helping someone else. (Aiden)
And sometimes people can surprise you. (Leta)
Yeah. You're right. I'm constantly amazed by the unprovoked treachery they're capable of. (Aiden) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

I feel like I've been smacked across the face with a "pull yourself together!" stick and, just that fast, I'm remembering this blue-haired Adonis is the very same jerk who didn't have the courtesy to reply to a single one of my messages for days and then, totally unprovoked, sent me an up-close-and-personal photo of his friend's Alabama black snake. ~ Lauren Rowe

The predators may respond to the defensive reprisals of their prey as if they were the ones under attack, and experience a moralized wrath and a thirst for revenge. Thanks to the Moralization Gap, they will minimize their own first strike as necessary and trivial while magnifying the reprisal as unprovoked and devastating. Each side will count the wrongs differently - the perpetrator tallying an even number of strikes and the victim an odd number - and the difference in arithmetic can stoke a spiral of revenge, ~ Steven Pinker

The name is somewhat familiar, but I can't recall a face to go with it."
Obviously disappointed in her reaction, her uncle said irritably, "You apparently have a poor memory. If you can't recall a knight or an earl," he added sarcastically, "I doubt you'll remember a mere mister."
Stung by his unprovoked remark, she said stiffly, "Who is the third?"
"Mr. Ian Thornton. He's-"
That name sent Elizabeth jolting to her feet while a blaze of animosity and a sock of terror erupted through her entire body. "Ian Thornton!" she cried, leaning her palms on the desk to steady herself. "Ian Thornton!" she repeated, her voice rising with a mixture of anger and hysterical laughter. "Uncle, if Ian Thornton discussed marrying me, it was at the point of Robert's gun! His interest in me was never marriage, and Robert dueled with him over his behavior. In fact, Robert shot him!"
Instead of relenting or being upset, her uncle merely regarded her with blank indifference, and Elizabeth said fiercely, "Don't you understand?"
"What I understand," he said, glowering, "is that he replied to my message in the affirmative and was very cordial. Perhaps he regrets his earlier behavior and wishes to make amends."
"Amends!" she cried. "I've no idea whether he feels loathing for me or merely contempt, but I can assure you he does not and has never wished to wed me! He's the reason I can't show my face in society!"
"In my opinion, you're better off away from that decaden ~ Judith McNaught

This we do, not hastily; this we do, not in passion; this we do, without hatred.
This is not the battle, when a man strikes fiercely and fear drives him on. This is not the hot quarrel when two strive for place or the love of a woman.
Knot the rope; whet the ax; pour the poison; pile the faggots.
This is the one who killed his fellow unprovoked; this is the one who stole the child away; this is the one who spat upon the image of our God; this is the one who leagued himself with the Devil to be a witch; this is the one who corrupted our youth; this is the one who told the enemy of our secret places.
We are afraid, but we do not talk of fear. We have many deep thoughts and doubts, but we do not speak them. We say, "Justice"; we say, "The Law"; we say, "We, the people"; we say, "The State. ~ George R. Stewart

Unprovoked attacks on Israel's borders, murdering Israeli soldiers, taking Israeli hostages and showering rockets targeting and killing Israeli civilians are not furthering any legitimate goal. ~ Alcee Hastings

When the invasion began, the British public was called upon to 'support' troops sent illegally and undemocratically to kill people with whom we had no quarrel. 'The ultimate test of our professionalism' is how Commander McKendrick describes an unprovoked attack on a nation with no submarines, no navy and no air force, and now with no clean water and no electricity and, in many hospitals, no anaesthetic with which to amputate small limbs shredded by shrapnel. I have seen elsewhere how this is done, with a gag in the patient's mouth. ~ John Pilger

I'm opinionated, but I'm not a vindictive person and I never say anything unprovoked, either. ~ Lily Allen

The gold was a gift; you said so yourself."
"You are a woman," Nahuseresh said very gently. "You do not understand the world of kings and emperors, you do not understand the nature of their gifts."
"Nahuseresh, if there is one thing a woman understands, it is the nature of gifts. They are bribes when threats will not avail. Your emperor cannot attack this coast unprovoked; the treaties with the greater nations of this Continent prevent him. All he can do is stir up an ugly three-way war and hope to be invited in as an ally, and I did not invite him." The queen shook her head. "The problem with bribes, Nahuseresh, is that after your money is gone, threats still do not avail."
Nahuseresh stared, seeing a queen he hadn't guessed existed. ~ Megan Whalen Turner

One simply cannot engage in barbarous action without becoming a barbarian ... one cannot defend human values by calculated and unprovoked violence without doing mortal damage to the values one is trying to defend. ~ J. William Fulbright

After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary. ~ Andrew Jackson

I don't think there's such a thing as an unprovoked shark attack. ~ Peter Benchley