But society has now fairly got the better of individuality; and the danger which threatens human nature is not the excess, but the deficiency, of personal Impulses and preferences.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
Be content to be what you are, and prefer nothing to it, and do not fear or wish for your last day.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
We need not be afraid to touch, to feel, to show emotion. The easiest thing in the world is to be what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Seeing God without seeing the Self, one sees only mental image. Only he who has seen Himself has seen God, since he has lost individuality, and now sees nothing but God.
—Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian Hindu Mystic
Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Whoso would ever be a man, must be a noncomformist.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nature made us individuals, as she did the flowers and the pebbles; but we are afraid to be peculiar, and so our society resembles a bag of marbles, or a string of mold candles. Why should we all dress after the same fashion? The frost never paints my windows twice alike.
—Lydia Maria Child (1802–80) American Abolitionist, Writer
Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life, in order to find in this way peace and security which he can not find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all.
—Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) Russian Head of State, Political leader
Once you admit that the individual is merely a means to serve the ends of a higher entity called society or the nation, most of those features of totalitarian regimes which horrify us follow of necessity. From the collectivist standpoint, intolerance and brutal suppression of dissent, the complete disregard of the life and happiness of the individual, are essential and unavoidable consequences of this basic premise; and the collectivist can admit this and at the same time claim that his system is superior to one in which the
—Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) British Economist, Social Philosopher
That life only is truly free which rules and suffices for itself.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
You’re in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Be awesome! Be a book nut!
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
It was perhaps ordained by Providence, to hinder us from tyrannizing over one another, that no individual should be of so much importance as to cause, by his retirement or death, any chasm in the world.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Not armies, not nations, have advanced the race; but here and there, in the course of ages, an individual has stood up and cast his shadow over the world.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
The epoch of individuality is concluded, and it is the duty of reformers to initiate the epoch of association. Collective man is omnipotent upon the earth he treads.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) Italian Patriot, Political Leader
All these years I’ve been feeling like I was growing into myself. Finally, I feel grown.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Individuality is only possible if it unfolds from wholeness.
—David Bohm (1917–92) American Theoretical Physicist
A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
What we’re all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The mass of men lead quiet lives of desperation.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
No one can transcend their own individuality.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Never follow the crowd.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
In every aspect of our lives, we are always asking ourselves, How am I of value? What is my worth? Yet I believe that worthiness is our birthright.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.
—Japanese Proverb
Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
It is said that if Noah’s ark had had to be built by a company, they would not have laid the keel yet; and it may be so.—What is many men’s business is nobody’s business.—The greatest things are accomplished by individual men.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Individuality is everywhere to be spared and respected as the root of everything good.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Practical to the end,
it is the poem
of his existence
that triumphed
finally;…
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American Poet, Novelist, Cultural Historian
Obscenity is our name for the uneasiness which upsets the physical state associated with self-possession, with the possession of a recognized and stable individuality.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Do not desire to fit in. Desire to lead.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
No one should part with their individuality and become that of another.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Our expenses are all for conformity.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Trust thyself.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I’m against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator