Nonconformist Quotes

• In my heart I'm independent, a bit of a rebel, a nonconformist.

  Nicole Kidman

  Heart, Independent, Rebel

  FaceBook post by Nicole Kidman from Dec 19, 2016

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• The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Lying, Commitment

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.17, Beacon Press

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• Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

  Voltaire

  Journey, Hiking, Thought Provoking

  Francois Voltaire (1977). “The Portable Voltaire”, p.109, Penguin

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• All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. All change is the result of a change in the contemporary state of mind.

  Adlai E. Stevenson

  Success, Clever, Work

  "The Educated Citizen". Address at Princeton University, March 22, 1954.

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• If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Success, Music, Forgiveness

  Walden ch. 18 (1854). Frequently quoted as "marches to the tune of a different drummer."

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• The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

  Rudyard Kipling

  Life, Bullying, Being Yourself

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• The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Education, Children, Growing Up

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1977). “The Portable Nietzsche”, p.63, Penguin

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• The nonconformist here may be "beat down" by life but still has a beauty in his or her longing for freedom and for an awakening of the mind.

  William S. Burroughs

  Mind, May, Awakening

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• The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom have always been nonconformists.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Religious, Academic, Trailblazers

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.35, Beacon Press

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• No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Being Yourself, Lonely, Loneliness

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• It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Albert Einstein (2010). “Ideas And Opinions”, p.33, Broadway Books

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• New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

  John Locke

  Business, Philosophy, War

  An Essay Concerning Human Understanding "Dedicatory Epistle" (1690)

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• Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Mark Twain (2016). “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain”, p.97, Chartwell

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• In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

  Bertrand Russell

  Leadership, Thank You, Thankful

  "Bertrand Russell's Greatest Paradox was His Faith" by Dan Delzell, www.christianpost.com. November 4, 2011.

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• Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

  Christopher Morley

  Wisdom, Silly, Reading

  Christopher Morley (2013). “The Haunted Bookshop”, p.294, Melville House

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• Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.

  Christopher Morley

  Book, Reading, Thinking

  Christopher Morley (2013). “The Haunted Bookshop”, p.294, Melville House

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• the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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• The individual has always to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Being Yourself, Lonely, Loneliness

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• The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.

  Colin Wilson

  Rain, Men, Average

  "Another Kind of Life; Victorian Giants review - birth of the outsider" by Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. March 11, 2018.

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• The opposite of bravery is not cowardice but conformity.

  Robert Anthony

  Courage, Opposites, Bravery

  Robert Anthony (1986). “The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence”, p.26, Penguin

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• If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

  Bill Vaughan

  Funny, Hater, Witty

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• Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Art, Men, Being Different

  1841 Essays: First Series,'Self-Reliance'.

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• Do not follow where the path may lead.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Graduation, Travel, Adventure

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• Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore it if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Life, Integrity, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2008). “The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.11, Penguin

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• You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone.

  Eric Hoffer

  Conformity, Clique, True Believer

  "Reflections on the Human Condition" by Eric Hoffer, (Section 50), 1973.

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