Source identified1
Image design Botanical Sage
Read & copy
“I would prefer not to.”
Meaning & context
Bartleby’s mild repeated refusal becomes the story’s central form of resistance, forcing the narrator to confront limits on authority, obligation and understanding.
Source details
Bartleby, the Scrivener, Project Gutenberg #11231. Bartleby speaks this line when the lawyer asks him to help examine copied documents; it is fictional character dialogue, not a general prescription to refuse work or obligations.