44 Submissive Quotes on Morality, Feminism and Religion to Make You Think

In Western society, the word "submission" won't evoke a positive response. The idea is that each one of us has the power to dominate our lives and reach our goals through the pure force of will. However, there are many more stances out there. Learn about them by reading the 44 quotes below.

Words are powerful and can ignite many meanings, emotions, and big ideas in people when they read or hear them. The term "submissive" appears to elicit many opinions, such as whether being submissive in any way in life is good, bad, or a bit of both.

Opinions around this word run rampant through many ideas surrounding morality, feminism, religion and spirituality, social commentary, and more. Dive deeper into these many perspectives by reading the following 44 quotes about submission, and decide where you stand.

Gary Shteyngart’s quote: "Good fiction makes me turn off all the other parts of my brain so that I become quiet and submissive, entirely at the mercy of the work at hand." | Image: AmoDays

Submissive Quotes about Morality

"Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances." — Martin Luther King Jr.

"We are so inculcated with guilt that we think that weakness is a sin or that it is some crime against nature to be submissive." — Anton Szandor LaVey

"Turning the other cheek isn't submissive. It's defiant." — Roy H. Williams

"The man of power is ruined by power, the man of money by money, the submissive man by subservience, the pleasure seeker by pleasure." — Hermann Hesse

"Great souls are always loyally submissive, reverent to what is over them: only small mean souls are otherwise" — Thomas Carlyle

Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote: "Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances." | Image: AmoDays

"Submission is not about authority, and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect." ― Wm. Paul Young

"If you are doing whatever a shepherd is ordering you to do, then you are a real sheep, a poor submissive being!"― Mehmet Murat ildan

"Accept loss forever. Be submissive to everything." — Jack Kerouac

"Vulnerability is the strongest state to be in. How boring would it be if we were constantly dominant or constantly submissive?" — FKA twigs

Submissive Quotes Related To Women

"People want women to be so submissive when we got a voice of our own, and we can do everything these dudes can do." — Latto

Emma Watson’s quote: "If men don't have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won't feel compelled to be submissive. If men don't have to control, women won't have to be controlled." | Image: AmoDays

"I think, especially growing up in the South, we are taught that women are supposed to be soft, gentle and kind of just goes along with everything and is submissive." — Hannah Brown

"'Al Jamilat' is not just feminist. It's an album with songs that feature women: women who are in love, rebellious women, political activists, women who are more submissive, women who are in charge." — Yasmine Hamdan

"My biggest challenge will be to play the totally submissive woman. It takes a toll on you when you play someone who's far removed from your personality." — Regina King

"I don't like to be too submissive in the way I dress. I like quite boyish things, so I hardly ever wear high heels." —Bat for Lashes

"Women are often expected to be more amiable or more pleasing or more submissive than men generally." — Maria Doyle Kennedy

Sam Taylor-Johnson’s quote: "To be feminist doesn't mean you can't be submissive." | Image: AmoDays

"There's a certain way people are used to seeing nude women, and that's in a submissive, coy pose, not looking at the camera. And in this poster, I'm looking dead into the camera with no expression on my face. I think it freaks a lot of people out." — Rooney Mara

"The Asian woman in Hollywood movies has usually been one of two extremes —totally submissive or totally ruthless. In either case, her primary function has been decorative." — Tamlyn Tomita

"If men don't have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won't feel compelled to be submissive. If men don't have to control, women won't have to be controlled." — Emma Watson

"To be feminist doesn't mean you can't be submissive." — Sam Taylor-Johnson

Submissive Quotes on Society

"Passive resistance is a sport for gentleman (and ladies), just like the pursuit of war, a heroic enterprise for the ruling classes but a grievous burden on the rest." — Kenneth Kaunda

Paul Watson’s quote: "Protesting is fundamentally submissive." | Image: AmoDays

"Our world is full of submissive activities. Shopping is submissive. You wander around buying the things the controllers have placed in front of you. Watching TV is submissive. You watch fictional lives rather than live your own life. Playing video games is submissive. You sit there shooting up the world (in virtual reality) while having no impact at all on actual reality. It's easy to be a virtual hero, hard to be a real one. One involves no work, and the other is as hard as it gets. Video games are an avoidance of the real world. Voting is submissive, too; you delegate your authority to one of the puppets of the controllers. Dominants are active, not passive. They do. They act. They move. They choose. They decide. They are not controlled by the system. They are free. So, what are you?" ― Adam Weishaupt

"Submission is a tyrannical discipline." ― Efrat Cybulkiewicz

"Protesting is fundamentally submissive." — Paul Watson

"What is a job interview? It's a ritual where you prove to the master —the wolf —that you're tame and harmless. You metaphorically bare your neck to them, the sign, according to ethologist Konrad Lorenz, of submission and appeasement that dogs make to show that they are entirely at the mercy of a stronger dog or wolf. If you snarl at the interviewers, bare your teeth, and tell them to [expletive] off, you definitely won't get the job, no matter how talented you are. You have deselected yourself by being insufficiently deferential." ― Adam Weishaupt

Kenneth Kaunda’s quote: "Passive resistance is a sport for gentleman (and ladies), just like the pursuit of war, a heroic enterprise for the ruling classes but a grievous burden on the rest." | Image: AmoDays

"Man is about to be an automaton; he is identifiable only in the computer. As a person of worth and creativity, as a being with an infinite potential, he retreats and battles the forces that make him inhuman. The dissent we witness is a reaffirmation of faith in man; it is protest against living under rules and prejudices, and attitudes that produce the extremes of wealth and poverty, and that make us dedicated to the destruction of people through arms, bombs, and gases, and that prepares us to think alike and be submissive objects for the regime of the computer." ― William O. Douglas

Submissive Quotes on Spirituality and Religion

"Man is so muddled, so dependent on the things immediately before his eyes, that every day even the most submissive believer can be seen to risk the torments of the afterlife for the smallest pleasure." ― Joseph de Maistre

"We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God's sake." — Francis of Assisi

"We do not find happiness by being assertive. We don't find happiness by running over people because we see what we want, and they are in the way of that happiness, so we either abandon them or we smash them. The Scriptures don't teach us to be assertive. The Scriptures teach us — and this is remarkable — the Scriptures teach us to be submissive. This is not a popular idea." ― Rich Mullins

"Have there ever been more submissive slaves? Adoring, even in their irons, the God who punishes them." — Jean Racine

Francis of Assisi’s quote: "We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God's sake." | Image: AmoDays

"Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?" — Alexis de Tocqueville

"The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders and interfering with God's work within us." ― A. W. Tozer

"It is only through faith that you will receive the patience, obedience, and humility to be submissive." ― Sunday Adelaja

"You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans." — Rick Warren

Submissive Quotes about Anything and Everything

"The pencil, you leave it there, and it's dead. It doesn't do anything, and it doesn't move by itself. It doesn't offer anything; it's totally submissive to you." — Massimo Vignelli

Francois de La Rochefoucauld’s quote: "Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise." | Image: AmoDays

"The people want wholesome dread. They want to fear something. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive." — Ernst Rohm

"Looking away is submissive. Looking...in the eye is a challenge." — Veronica Roth

"It takes courage not to laugh at your boss's joke, especially if it is funny." ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise." — Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Greta Garbo’s quote: "There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead." | Image: AmoDays

"In the world, there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong, nothing can surpass it." — Lao Tzu

"Good fiction makes me turn off all the other parts of my brain so that I become quiet and submissive, entirely at the mercy of the work at hand." — Gary Shteyngart

"Mountains are the example of pure dominating energy. You automatically become submissive around them, not out of fear but out of divine love." ― Shunya

"I don't walk into a room with an authoritative stance. I tend to be a little more submissive, even though I think I have a certain amount of strength. So, it's tough for me to play authority without feeling uncomfortable." ― Kristin Kreuk

"There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead." ― Greta Garbo

Rick Warren’s quote: "You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans." | Image: AmoDays

As anyone can see, "submissive" is a powerful word, and just by bringing it up, we can pull emotions, thoughts, memories, and much more out of people. However, it is not the only powerful word out there. Some standard terms you can bring up if you want to start a conversational fire include 'politics,' 'religion,' and even more controversial ones.

Words on their own are influential but put them together, and they become a force; create a story, and you may have a grip on someone's mind and being, depending on how long it is. Anyone can learn how to do this, but it starts with practice. If you want to delve into this area of life, read the following 84 Neil Gaiman quotes on writing and the art of storytelling.