Cripples are not the stuff of romance. Only Lord Byron, dragging his club foot, springs to mind as an exception to the rule, but such a failing in a man is regarded as interesting, even provocative, rather than disfiguring. Women must submit to a more exacting measure. - Mordecai Richler
Beneath the moons' shadowscape, wisdom, women, whiskey and you are a dangerous and provocative combination... - Virginia Alison
Let me assure you that my intent is not to offend or merely be provocative. I'm simply worried. - Sam Harris
It strikes me as unfortunate that this approach - affording the same dignity to and investing in the same quality for a poor child as you would for your own - is so often received as provocative. - Jacob Lief
To say that war is madness is like saying that sex is madness: true enough, from the standpoint of a stateless eunuch, but merely a provocative epigram for those who must make their arrangements in the world as given. - John Updike