--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How clerks love refusing. It salves them…" description: "\"How clerks love refusing. It salves them for being clerks.\" — Hortense Calisher" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/hortense-calisher-21501_bureaucracy_how-clerks-love-refusing-it-salves-them_3225827.png" --- # How clerks love refusing. It salves them for being clerks. ![“How clerks love refusing. It salves them for being clerks.” quote by Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/hortense-calisher-21501_bureaucracy_how-clerks-love-refusing-it-salves-them_3225827.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/hortense-calisher-21501_bureaucracy_how-clerks-love-refusing-it-salves-them_3225827.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/hortense-calisher-21501_bureaucracy_how-clerks-love-refusing-it-salves-them_3225827.png) > “How clerks love refusing. It salves them for being clerks.” [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Clerks find comfort in rejecting others, using disdain as a shield against their own low status. **In simple terms:** Rejecting others comforts them. Key Takeaway Recognize how contempt can mask insecurity. Themes identity self‑esteem defense mechanisms Mood defensive reflective Type observational critical When to use this quote - workplace dynamics - personal relationships - self‑reflection Key Concepts psychology social hierarchy Questions to Reflect On - Do you use criticism to protect yourself? - How does this behavior affect your connections? A Different Perspective Such contempt can alienate allies and reinforce isolation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bureaucracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bureaucracy/) [Clerks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clerks/) [Clerks Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clerks-love-6082607/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Refusing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refusing/) [Refusing Salves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refusing-salves-6082608/) [Salves Clerks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salves-clerks-6082606/) ## Related quotes > [Power is sweet, and when you are a little clerk you love its sweetness quite as much as if you were an emperor, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/power-is-sweet-and-when-you-are-a-little-clerk-you-love-its-sweetness/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [I do not rule Russia: ten thousand clerks do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-do-not-rule-russia-ten-thousand-clerks-do/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By Refusing to satisfy unimportant or unhealthy desires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/by-refusing-to-satisfy-unimportant-or-unhealthy-desires/) [Senoraroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/senoraroy/) > [He was so tenacious he defied the distraction of women by refusing to have them in his presence, just as later in life he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-williams/he-was-so-tenacious-he-defied-the-distraction-of-women-by-refusing-to/) [Kit Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-williams/) > [Refusing someone you love is horrible,it's like clenching your fist till it bleed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cath-chatto/refusing-someone-you-love-is-horrible-it-s-like-clenching-your-fist/) [Cath Chatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cath-chatto/) > [Rational argument can be defeated by refusing to argue rationally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-weinberg/rational-argument-can-be-defeated-by-refusing-to-argue-rationally/) [Steven Weinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-weinberg/) > [We are the fed up grass roots movement of goose flesh, hell bent on living this one life by the way we feel our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buddy-wakefield/we-are-the-fed-up-grass-roots-movement-of-goose-flesh-hell-bent-on/) [Buddy Wakefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buddy-wakefield/) > [By refusing to lend a hand, we are not only robbing our colleagues and peers of the opportunity to gain guidance, but we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-serle/by-refusing-to-lend-a-hand-we-are-not-only-robbing-our-colleagues-and/) [Rebecca Serle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-serle/) > [Passionately defending one's principles is crucial. 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We're in charge of the basic facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/women-can-t-travel-light-we-re-in-charge-of-the-basic-facts/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Decades go faster toward the end of a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/decades-go-faster-toward-the-end-of-a-century/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > ['Ms.' is a syllable which sounds like a bumble bee is breaking wind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/ms-is-a-syllable-which-sounds-like-a-bumble-bee-is-breaking-wind/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Diplomacy is what is practiced after-the-fact. Never be too right too soon -- as any smart Uncle will tell you. 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