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0e4d86a I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room. individuality science-fiction Ray Bradbury
47d3a7b I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts. mind individuality heart love diversity seduction soul Leo Tolstoy
12b76c3 The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first. personality individuality freedom truth inspirational mask revolution Jim MORRISON
fec94b8 care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment defiance self-reliance self-respect self-esteem Charlotte Brontë
91c9df6 Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. individuality love mercy Carl Sagan
3e5dec6 Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself. be-yourself individuality self-determination identity life inspirational self-expression self-esteem Harvey Fierstein
fdf1cfe Two roads diverged in a wood, and I individuality choice inspirational consequence robert frost
0eb3ade "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - individuality inspirational consequence robert frost
06717ca We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left. individuality inspirational flaws Sarah Vowell
a0695ac why are trying so hard to fit in, when you're born to stand out individuality life inspirational Oliver James
6fb30bd Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are individuality inspirational misattributed self-acceptance Kurt Cobain
ae26b5f The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness inspirational self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust ataraxy self-containment self-reliance self-respect self-esteem Michel de Montaigne
aec3d72 Sleep my little baby-oh Sleep until you waken When you wake you'll see the world If I'm not mistaken... Kiss a lover Dance a measure, Find your name And buried treasure... Face your life Its pain, Its pleasure, Leave no path untaken. dance sleep pain individuality choice treasure identity life love name pleasure Neil Gaiman
8637417 I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. individuality strength liberty uniqueness human-nature Henry David Thoreau
e0f441c All the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. ... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not. individuality identity Nick Hornby
09c8828 I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. individuality success inspirational Oprah Winfrey
864896e I don't fit into any stereotypes. And I like myself that way. stereotypes self-knowledge individuality self-awareness inspirational-attitude inspirational-quotes inspirational fitting-in uniqueness C. JoyBell C.
e112d2b We are all equal in the fact that we are all different. We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. We are united by the reality that all colours and all cultures are distinct & individual. We are harmonious in the reality that we are all held to this earth by the same gravity. We don't share blood, but we share the air that keeps us alive. I will not blind myself and say that my black brother is not different from me. I will not blind myself and say that my brown sister is not different from me. But my black brother is he as much as I am me. But my brown sister is she as much as I am me. sisterhood equality unity color individuality humanism human humanity inspiration inspirational-life inspirational-quotes life-and-living living life inspirational brotherhood differences difference society race harmony respect C. JoyBell C.
6d6ec9b I don't believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be same person every day. individuality self-expression Stephanie Perkins
6e375d1 Anybody can learn to think, or believe, or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel... the moment you feel, you're nobody -- but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. individuality e.e. cummings
acee414 Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me. anchoring individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment inspirational country self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment homelessness belonging self-reliance nationality attachment roots home self-respect self-esteem Hugo Hamilton
c4bfc10 You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil. individuality reading morality learning life self-righteousness issues sensitivity novels society insight Azar Nafisi
796bf1f There's a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities. individuality human-nature Ursula K. Le Guin
a1ac391 It's so hard to express yourself.' I understand this.' I want to express myself.' The same is true for me.' I'm looking for my voice.' It's in your mouth.' I want to do something I'm not ashamed of.' Something you are proud of, yes?' Not even. I just don't want to be ashamed. individuality Jonathan Safran Foer
4884849 Everyone, either from modesty or egotism, hides away the best and most delicate of his soul's possessions; to gain the esteem of others, we must only ever show our ugliest sides; this is how we keep ourselves on the common level individuality mediocrity soul Gustave Flaubert
b30ffd4 Each of us is full of shit in our own special way. We are all shitty little snowflakes dancing in the universe. individuality inspirational comedy Lewis Black
3b0f25f Bring something incomprehensible into the world! individuality life inspirational otherness art new Gilles Deleuze
f26ac99 If we wish to know about a man, we ask 'what is his story--his real, inmost story?'--for each of us is a biography, a story. Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed, continually, unconsciously, by, through, and in us--through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken narrations. Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives--we are each of us unique. individuality humanity human-condition uniqueness Oliver Sacks
f6546cd "the worst thing," he told me, "is bitterness, people end up so bitter." personality individuality poem poetry death life love in-the-end bukowski bitterness self soul Charles Bukowski
f4a09ed As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them individuality imitation difference Orhan Pamuk
45b6225 Be yourself. Don't worry about what other people are thinking of you, because they're probably feeling the same kind of scared, horrible feelings that everyone does. individuality identity life inspirational life-advice advice peer-pressure bullying Phil Lester
92d6b11 It may not feel too classy, begging just to ea dr-horrible-sing-along-blog musical-song-lyrics heroism individuality humour inspirational Joss Whedon
b146763 I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own. individuality Ludwig Wittgenstein
38f4001 I'm an oddity of one, my strangeness too complicated to explain or share. individuality quirks gemma-doyle libba-bray uniqueness Libba Bray
5829965 Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then. individuality self-trust self-reliance Henry David Thoreau
ec6674a If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. individuality Henry David Thoreau
ad511bf The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. First of all, there's the name that the family use daily, Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James, Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey - All of them sensible everyday names. There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames: Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter - But all of them sensible everyday names. But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular, Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride? Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat, Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum - Names that never belong to more than one cat. But above and beyond there's still one name left over, And that is the name that you never will guess; The name that no human research can discover - But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess. When you notice a cat in profound meditation, The reason, I tell you, is always the same: His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name: His ineffable effable Effanineffable Deep and inscrutable singular Name. names individuality T.S. Eliot
8d6c4d9 I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy. Each of these innocents on the street is engulfed by a terror of their own ordinariness. They would do anything to be unique. individuality maniacal Katherine Dunn
670c7e3 But human beings are not machines, and however powerful the pressure to conform, they sometimes are so moved by what they see as injustice that they dare to declare their independence. In that historical possibility lies hope. individuality hope non-conformity resolves declaration-of-independence self-assurance conformity Howard Zinn
c232494 You swallow hard when you discover that the old coffee shop is now a chain pharmacy, that the place where you first kissed so-and-so is now a discount electronics retailer, that where you bought this very jacket is now rubble behind a blue plywood fence and a future office building. Damage has been done to your city. You say, ''It happened overnight.'' But of course it didn't. Your pizza parlor, his shoeshine stand, her hat store: when they were here, we neglected them. For all you know, the place closed down moments after the last time you walked out the door. (Ten months ago? Six years? Fifteen? You can't remember, can you?) And there have been five stores in that spot before the travel agency. Five different neighborhoods coming and going between then and now, other people's other cities. Or 15, 25, 100 neighborhoods. Thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one of them seeing the same thing. loss individuality memories change mom-and-pop-stores retail modern-society transience neighborhoods new-york-city consumerism Colson Whitehead
368ea92 "To be a jazz freedom fighter is to attempt to galvanize and energize world-weary people into forms of organization with accountable leadership that promote critical exchange and broad reflection. The interplay of individuality and unity is not one of uniformity and unanimity imposed from above but rather of conflict among diverse groupings that reach a dynamic consensus subject to questioning and criticism. As with a soloist in a jazz quartet, quintet or band, individuality is promoted in order to sustain and increase the creative tension with the group--a tension that yields higher levels of performance to achieve the aim of the collective project. This kind of critical and democratic sensibility flies in the face of any policing of borders and boundaries of "blackness", "maleness", "femaleness", or "whiteness"." -- unity social-justice individuality critical-reflection jazz-freedom-fighter improve jazz Cornel West
29e5ccf To persons standing alone on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world is almost a palpable movement. To enjoy the epic form of that gratification it is necessary to stand on a hill at a small hour of the night, and, having first expanded with a sense of difference from the mass of civilized mankind, who are diregardful of all such proceedings at this time, long and quietly watch your stately progress through the stars. individuality nature spirituality soul Thomas Hardy
9ec1152 I'm myself, not a label. individuality wit John Brunner
3a8156a It is argued that because they believed thoroughly in a just, moral God they could put there faith there and let the smaller insecurities take care of themselves. But I think that because they trusted themselves and respected themselves as individuals, because they knew beyond doubt that they were valuable and potential moral units- because of this they could give God their own courage and dignity and then receive it back. Such things have disappeared perhaps because men do not trust themselves anymore, and when that happens there is nothing left except perhaps to find some strong sure man, even though he may be wrong, and to dangle from his coat-tails. individuality strength John Steinbeck
a2d90c9 "If little else, the brain is an educational toy. The problem with possessing such an engaging toy is that other people want to play with it, too. Sometime they'd rather play with yours than theirs. Or they object if you play with yours in a different manner from the way they play with theirs. The result is, a few games out of a toy department of possibilities are universally and endlessly repeated. If you don't play some people's game, they say that you have "lost your marbles," not recognizing that, while Chinese checkers is indeed a fine pastime, a person may also play dominoes, chess, strip poker, tiddlywinks, drop-the-soap or Russian roulette with his brain." individuality deviance normalizing society games toys creativity Tom Robbins
2d94f04 [E]ach of our voices has something unique to say. Not only should I not mold my life to the demands of external conformity; I can't even find the model by which to live outside myself. I can only find it within. individuality individuals self uniqueness Charles Taylor
51a34de The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. individuality writing identity life Neil Gaiman
65bf0e4 I want you to stop being subhuman and become 'yourself'. 'Yourself,' I say. Not the newspaper you read, not your vicious neighbor's opinion, but 'yourself.' I know, and you don't, what you really are deep down. Deep down, you are what a deer, your God, your poet, or your philosopher is. But you think you're a member of the VFW, your bowling club, or the Ku Klux Klan, and because you think so, you behave as you do. This too was told you long ago, by Heinrich Mann in Germany, by Upton Sinclair and John Dos Passos in the United States. But you recognized neither Mann nor Sinclair. You recognize only the heavyweight champion and Al Capone. If given your choice between a library and a fight, you'll undoubtedly go to the fight. heinrich-mann john-dos-passos orgone subhuman individuality identity upton-sinclair peers groups mob Wilhelm Reich
94f830b Books turn people into isolated individuals, and once that's happened, the road only grows rockier. Books wire you to want to be Steve McQueen, but the world wants you to be SMcQ23667bot@hotmail.com. individuality reading society Douglas Coupland
d084c2c My mother finally took me to a child psychologist, who knew exactly what I was, but she just couldn't accept it and kept trying to tell my folks I was reading their body language and was very observant, so I had good reason to imagine I heard people's thoughts. Of course, she couldn't admit I was literally hearing people's thoughts because that just didn't fit into her world. personality individuality outside-comfort-zone Charlaine Harris
e74fbe6 "She was looking for something I could never give her." Again his dark eyes bored into Julia's mind. "You have something of the same about you, young woman. Take my advice: Don't think you will find it in another person. You won't. It's not there. You must find it in yourself." individuality self-awareness self-reliance search Iain Pears
619cd7d "Who would guess," he teased, "that I'd ever see you on a rooftop with straw in your hair?" Kit giggled. "Are you saying I've turned into a crow?" "Not exactly." His eyes were intensely blue with merriment. "I can still see the green feathers if I look hard enough. But they've done their best to make you into a sparrow, haven't they?" individuality spirit Elizabeth George Speare
df2128b The goal of climbing big, dangerous mountains should be to attain some sort of spiritual and personal growth, but this won't happen if you compromise away the entire process. individuality process journey Yvon Chouinard
437ea0d His thoughts inhabit a different plane from those of ordinary men; the simplest interpretation of that is to call him crazy. individuality humor differences Juliet Marillier
bd8c583 "If personal space is vital to creativity, so is freedom from "peer pressure"." -- individuality freedom extroverts teamwork introversion introverts introvert Susan Cain
4ae714a Not at all. It's why people come. They say it's about looking smart, or beautiful, or professional, but it's not. Gray-haired ladies try to recapture their former brunette. Brunettes want to go blond. Other women go for colors that don't arise in nature. Each group thinks it's completely different than the others, but I don't see it that way. I've watched them looking at themselves in the mirror, and they're not interested in conforming or rebelling, they just want to walk out of here feeling like themselves again. individuality hair self Antony John
02e1fa5 "But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word "I," could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them." individuality freedom ayn-rand Ayn Rand
552e45f We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those year in the Home of the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them. The Teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked at us. individuality intelligence objectivism schooling teachers students Ayn Rand
76fbf7d "To exist is to stand out, away from the background," The Preacher said. "You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence." individuality humanity life Frank Herbert
982a970 In addition to conformity as a way to relieve the anxiety springing from separateness, another factor of contemporary life must be considered: the role of the work routine and the pleasure routine. Man becomes a 'nine to fiver', he is part of the labour force, or the bureaucratic force of clerks and managers. He has little initiative, his tasks are prescribed by the organisation of the work; there is even little difference between those high up on the ladder and those on the bottom. They all perform tasks prescribed by the whole structure of the organisation, at a prescribed speed, and in a prescribed manner. Even the feelings are prescribed: cheerfulness, tolerance, reliability, ambition, and an ability to get along with everybody without friction. Fun is routinised in similar, although not quite as drastic ways. Books are selected by the book clubs, movies by the film and theatre owners and the advertising slogans paid for by them; the rest is also uniform: the Sunday ride in the car, the television session, the card game, the social parties. From birth to death, from Monday to Monday, from morning to evening - all activities are routinised, and prefabricated. How should a man caught up in this net of routine not forget that he is a man, a unique individual, one who is given only this one chance of living, with hopes and disappointments, with sorrow and fear, with the longing for love and the dread of the nothing and separateness? individuality Erich Fromm
61f9111 Greaser ' didn't have anything to do with it. My buddy over there wouldn't have done it. Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a friend of yours wouldn't have. It's the individual. individuality morality morals S.E. Hinton
e6120c9 Nowadays, ads don't just sell a product. They sell an attitude! Look at this one! Here's a cool guy saying nobody tells him what to do. He does whatever he wants and he buys this product as a reflection of that independence. So basically, this maverick is urging everyone to express his individuality through conformity in brand-name selection? individuality independence conformity peer-pressure Bill Watterson
064e8e5 We don't need more museums that try to construct the historical narratives of a society, community, team, nation, state, tribe, company, or species. We all know that the ordinary, everyday stories of individuals are riches, more humane, and much more joyful. individuality life museums art Orhan Pamuk
94cb975 I propose a conspiracy of orphans. We exchange winks. We reject hierarchies. All hierarchies. We take the shit of the world for granted and we exchange stories about how we nevertheless get by. We are impertinent. More than half the stars in the universe are orphan-stars belonging to no constellation. And they give off more light than all the constellation stars. individuality hierarchies subversion institution orphan solidarity John Berger
eaf41d9 The mass State has no intention of promoting mutual understanding and the relationship of man to man; it strives, rather, for atomization, for the psychic isolation of the individual. understanding individuality politics relationship mutuality statism state C.G. Jung
d337696 We return to face our superiors, our kindred, our friends--- those whom we obey, and those whom we love; but even they who have neither, the most free, lonely, irresponsible and bereft of ties, --- even those for whom home holds no dear face, no familiar voice, --- even they have to meet the spirit that dwells within the land, under its sky, in its air, in its valleys, and on its rises, in its fields, in its waters and its tress--- a mute friend, judge, and inspirer. Say what you like, to get its joy, to breathe its peace, to face its truth, one must return with a clear conscience. All this may seem to you sheer sentimentalism; and indeed very few of us have the will or capacity to look consciously under the surface of familiar emotions. There are the girls we love, the men we look up to, the tenderness, the friendships, the opportunities, the pleasures! But the fact remains that you must touch your reward with clean hands, lest it turn to dead leaves, to thorns, in your grasp. individuality Joseph Conrad
aee7a56 We like to think of individuals as unique. Yet if this is true of everyone, then we all share the same quality, namely our uniqueness. What we have in common is the fact that we are all uncommon. Everybody is special, which means that nobody is. The truth, however, is that human beings are uncommon only up to a point. There are no qualities that are peculiar to one person alone. Regrettably, there could not be a world in which only one individual was irascible, vindictive or lethally aggressive. This is because human beings are not fundamentally all that different from each other, a truth postmodernists are reluctant to concede. We share an enormous amount in common simply by virtue of being human, and this is revealed by the vocabularies we have for discussing human character. We even share the social processes by which we come to individuate ourselves. individuality Terry Eagleton
c04505d I have never created anything in my life that did not make me feel, at some point or another, like I was the guy who just walked into a fancy ball wearing a homemade lobster costume. But you must stubbornly walk into that room, regardless, and you must hold your head high. You made it; you get to put it out there. Never apologize for it, never explain it away, never be ashamed of it. You did your best with what you knew, and you worked with what you had, in the time that you were given. You were invited, and you showed up, and you simply cannot do more that that. They might throw you out - but then again, they might not. They probably won't throw you out, actually. The ballroom is often more welcoming and supportive than you could ever imagine. Somebody might even think you're brilliant and marvelous. You might end up dancing with royalty. Or you might just end up having to dance alone in the corner of the castle with your big, ungainly red foam claws waving in the empty air. that's fine, too. Sometimes it's like that. What you absolutely must not do is turn around and walk out. Otherwise, you will miss the party, and that would be a pity, because - please believe me - we did not come all this great distance, and make all this great effort, only to miss the party at the last moment. individuality motivation inspirational support hard-work work-ethic pride creativity Elizabeth Gilbert
421c020 "This is a perfectly good picture. And if I didn't know you, I would be impressed and charmed. But I do know you." He thought some more, wondering whether he dared say precisely what he felt, for he knew he could never explain exactly why the idea came to him. "It's the painting of a dutiful daughter," he said eventually, looking at her cautiously to see her reaction. "You want to please. You are always aware of what the person looking at this picture will think of it. Because of that you've missed something important. Does that make sense?" She thought, then nodded. "All right," she said grudgingly and with just a touch of despair in her voice. "You win." Julien grunted. "Have another go, then. I shall come back and come back until you figure it out." "And you'll know?" "You'll know. I will merely get the benefit of it." individuality independence paintings daughters fulfillment skills duty gift expectation perception creativity obedience Iain Pears
2809e02 There is only one thing which is generally safe from plagiarism -- self-denial. individuality wisdom self-denial G.K. Chesterton
01e5ab2 At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy. individuality Harold Bloom
2d0035e "The novel was born with the Modern Era, which made man, to quote Heidegger, the "only real subject," the ground for everything. It is largely through the novel that man as an individual was established on the European scene. Away from the novel, in our real lives, we know very little about our parents as they were before our birth; we have only fragmentary knowledge of the people close to us: we see them come and go and scarcely have they vanished than their place is taken over by others: they form a long line of replaceable beings. Only the novel separates out an individual, trains a light on his biography, his ideas, his feelings, makes him irreplaceable: makes him the center of everything." individuality the-novel knowledge Milan Kundera
56748e8 If you've got a dozen pitchers, you need to speak 12 different languages. individuality motivation Michael Lewis
a4800b0 Tess was my first experience of a woman who had inhabited her weirdness, moved into the areas of herself that made her distinct from those around her, and learned how to display them proudly. individuality Alice Sebold
7ab6e6a "[Quoting Miss Harty:] "People come here from all over the country and fall in love with Savannah. Then they move here and pretty soon they're telling us how much more lively and prosperous Savannah could be if we only knew what we had and how to take advantage of it. I call these people 'Gucci carpetbaggers." individuality change savannah georgia fashions separateness prosperity society John Berendt
b5fef98 She could not have been born gray. Her color, her color of brown, was an essential part of her, not an accident. Her anger, timidity, brashness, gentleness, all were elements of her mixed being, her mixed nature, dark and clear right through, like Baltic amber. She could not exist in the gray people's world. She had not been born. individuality people women Ursula K. Le Guin
48f8e43 For the first time I began to perceive that true sympathy cannot be switched on and off like an electric current, that anyone that identifies himself with the fate of another is robbed to some extent of his own freedom. sympathy fate individuality freedom identity identify rob robbed Stefan Zweig
8a3294d Well, to tell you the truth, I've thought of it often and often before, but he's such devilish good company is Huntingdon, after all - you can't imagine what a jovial good fellow he is when he's not fairly drunk, only just primed or half-seas-over - we all have a bit of a liking for him at the bottom of our hearts, though we can't respect him.' 'But should you wish yourself to be like him?' 'No, I'd rather be like myself, bad as I am. individuality flaws Anne Brontë
43956e9 Why should anyone be so grateful for acceptance unless he doubts that he is acceptable, and why should a young, educated and successful couple have such doubts, if not due to the fact that they cannot accept themselves because they are not themselves. individuality identity originality self Erich Fromm
fa4bfde I'd trapped myself in a script.... But to be scripted at all is to be prepackaged, programmed, pinned to a page. Only the unwritten can truly live a life. So who I was, what I was, had to be unwritten. individuality independence freedom David James Duncan
21d9656 "I'm me," she whispered. "Me" Nel didn't know quite what she meant, but on the other hand she knew exactly what she meant. "I'm me. I'm not their daughter. I'm not Nel. I'm me. Me." Every time she said the word me there was a gathering in her like power, like joy, like fear. Back in bed with her discovery, she stared out the window at the dark leaves of the horse chestnut. "Me," she murmured. And then, sinking deeper into the quilts, "I want... I want to be... wonderful. Oh, Jesus, make me wonderful." -- individuality freedom Toni Morrison
4b64a22 The same way a compact disk isn't responsible for what's recorded on it, that's how we are. You're about as free to act as a programmed computer. You're about as one-of-a-kind as a dollar bill philosophical individuality freedom free-will individualism Chuck Palahniuk
839fea8 "They had been talking about astrology, a forbidden science that was not pursued in the cloister. Narcissus had said that astrology was an attempt to arrange and order the many different types of human beings according to their natures and destinies. At this point Goldmund had objected: "You're forever talking of differences - I've finally recognised a pet theory of yours. When you speak of the great difference that is supposed to exist between you and me, for instance, it seems to me that this difference is nothing but your strange determination to establish differences." Narcissus: "Yes. You've hit the nail on the head. That's it: to you, differences are quite unimportant; to me, they are what matters most. I am a scholar by nature; science is my vocation. And science is, to quote your words, nothing but the 'determination to establish differences.' Its essence couldn't be defined more accurately. For us, the men of science, nothing is as important as the establishment of differences; science is the art of differentiation. Discovering in every man that which distinguishes him from others is to know him." individuality science difference Hermann Hesse
f973be7 There is nothing stereotyped about God's dealings with His children. Therefore, we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make watertight compartments for the working out His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of others. We must leave God free to work as He wills and to leave what evidence He pleases of the work He does. unity individuality spiritual-gifts holy-spirit Watchman Nee
0e88053 The New Your energy goes beyond anything you'll find anywhere else. It's too much for some people and it grinds them down, but it lifts up and animates the rest of us. individuality inspiration sadness life philosophy knowledge-of-self living-in-a-city security human-nature Lawrence Block
4a543bc I knew what I stood for, even if nobody else did. I knew the piece of me on the inside, truer than all the rest, that never comes out. Doesn't everyone have one? Some kind of grand inner princess waiting to toss her hair down, forever waiting at the tower window. Some jungle animal so noble and fierce you had to crawl on your belly through dangerous grasses to get a glimpse. individuality independence strength personhood strength-of-character individualism Michelle Tea
8cd1173 I cut the wood however I like, but it's the grain that decides the strength and shape of it. You can add and subtract memories from people, but it isn't just your memory that makes you who you are. There's something in the grain of the mind. mind individuality memory Orson Scott Card
19df437 "Don't you have any concept of individuality?" she asks, annoyed by its presumption at meddling with her internal states. "Individuality is an unnecessary barrier to information transfer," says the ghost, morphing into its original form, a translucent reflection of her own body. "It reduces the efficiency of a capitalist economy. A large block of the DMZ is still inaccessible to we-me. Are you sure you have defeated the monster?" individuality information-transfer Charles Stross
c6ec676 It's a funny thing about names, how they become a part of someone. names individuality memories remembrance Lois Lowry
349b526 As the man was bundled into an armoured police van, he turned and shouted: 'Don't waste your life following others! Be individual! Live your dreams!' I stood there thinking. He was right. Ours is a society of followers, trapped by an island mentality. individuality Tahir Shah
61d0c30 Your hard-won triumphs can be wholly negated if you live in a climate where your victories are seen as threatening, incorrect, distasteful, or -- most crucially of all, for a teenage girl -- simply uncool. Few girls would choose to be right -- right, down into their clever, brilliant bones -- but lonely. individuality women individualism girls Caitlin Moran
65e69ac There's so much to write. Where should I start? I texted my old Jiko this question, and she wrote me back this: 'You should start where you are present individuality inspirational startup perspective creativity Ruth Ozeki
7a88aac It's idealistic, it's for love and gentleness, it's close to nature, it hurts nobody, it's voluntary. I can't see anything wrong with any of that.' 'Neither can I. The only trouble is, this commune will be inhabited by and surrounded by members of the human race. individuality idealism humanity crowds privacy Wallace Stegner
6b465a6 "Oh, sometimes it's just easier to please people," Maria said finally." individuality society obedience Lois Lowry
3064cb8 All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints. individuality David Sedaris
1290af7 "A gifted violin player in danger of becoming a virtuoso and thus too attached to his instrument handed it over to the Oneida authorities and never played again. When a visiting Canadian teacher complained that the community did not foster "genius or special talent," Noyes was delighted, replying, "We never expected or desired to produce a Byron, a Napoleon, or a Michelangelo." You know you've reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality." individuality oneida talent mediocrity Sarah Vowell
369a2fd He pauses a moment to reflect on the F-word. 'Sometimes I think it's an idea that enslaves us. We're never free from hungering for the notion that we can even have freedom. When perhaps it's the very idea of it that causes us to suffer. suffering individuality Rachel Cohn
ee994cd In a state which is really articulated rationally all the laws and organizations are nothing but a realization of freedom in its essential characteristics. When this is the case, the individual's reason finds in these institutions, only the actuality of his own essence, and if he obeys these laws, he coincides, not with something alien to himself, but simply with what is his own. Freedom of choice, of course, is often equally called 'freedom'; but freedom of choice is only non-rational freedom, choice and self-determination issuing not from the rationality of the will but from fortuitous impulses and their dependence on sense and the external world. individuality the-state institutions hegel rationality laws modernity Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
892849f As soon as another person becomes important to us, so that we feel in our lives the gravitational pull of his existence, we are to a certain extent astonished by his individuality. From time to time we pause in his presence, and allow the incomprehensible fact of his being in the world to dawn on us. And if we love him and trust him, and feel the comfort of his companionship, then our sentiment, in these moments, is like the sentiment of beauty--a pure endorsement of the other, whose soul shines in his face and gestures as beauty shines in a work of art. individuality love gravity uniqueness Roger Scruton
0797ed0 "It's normal to dream about anything at all. It's not normal to dream someone else's dreams." -Arthur Mentis" individuality Carrie Vaughn
797db9d We are made up of everything we have ever been, Percy. It is the joy and the pain of our individuality. There are no two of us the same. individuality Mary Balogh
62a3f75 Exercising your talents, passion, sense of judgment, and making a difference while doing something you love is the essence of life. individuality Garry Fitchett
3a54f4c If he (Teddy Roosevelt) lacked Will Taft's immediate charisma, gradually his classmates could not resist the spell of his highly original personality. individuality Doris Kearns Goodwin
2ebf360 The spectre of an absolute menace that requires absolute eradication binds leader and people in a hermetic utopian embrace, and the individual - always an annoyance to totality - ceases to exist. racism individuality idealism totalitarinism individual leaders genocide Philip Gourevitch
afb0050 Each of Nora's children had arrived on this earth as him or herself, the more she knew them, the more she felt it to be true. They were so different from one another, and from her. motherhood personality individuality growing-up parenting parents mother parenthood J. Courtney Sullivan
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