Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton, 1853
If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.
5
—Juan Ramón Jiménez, 1953
A gentleman is always in the minority, it’s his privilege.
—Richard Aldington, 1933
In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
—Martin Luther King Jr., 1963
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to
custom, is itself a service.
—John Stuart Mill, 1859
There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist. It is the fashionable
non-conformist.
—Ayn Rand, 1971
To think is to differ.
—Clarence Darrow, 1925
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.
—Charles Evans Hughes, 1925
A person does not have to be turned into a puppet jerked by social controls. The solution is
to gradually become free of societal rewards and learn how to substitute for them rewards
that are under one’s own powers.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990
We are more wicked together than separately. If you are forced to be in a crowd, then most
of you should withdraw into your self.
—Seneca, *65 AD
The best things and best people rise of their separateness.
—Robert Frost
6
***
5
Ray Bradbury used this line as the epigraph for his famous Fahrenheit 451.
6
As quoted, without a date, in many collections, starting not later than 1980.
148
On Society and Solitude, Liberty and Civilization
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton, 1853
If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.
5
—Juan Ramón Jiménez, 1953
A gentleman is always in the minority, it’s his privilege.
—Richard Aldington, 1933
In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
—Martin Luther King Jr., 1963
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to
custom, is itself a service.
—John Stuart Mill, 1859
There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist. It is the fashionable
non-conformist.
—Ayn Rand, 1971
To think is to differ.
—Clarence Darrow, 1925
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.
—Charles Evans Hughes, 1925
A person does not have to be turned into a puppet jerked by social controls. The solution is
to gradually become free of societal rewards and learn how to substitute for them rewards
that are under one’s own powers.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990
We are more wicked together than separately. If you are forced to be in a crowd, then most
of you should withdraw into your self.
—Seneca, *65 AD
The best things and best people rise of their separateness.
—Robert Frost
6
***
5
Ray Bradbury used this line as the epigraph for his famous Fahrenheit 451.
6
As quoted, without a date, in many collections, starting not later than 1980.
148
On Society and Solitude, Liberty and Civilization