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1. “America is still a frontier country of wide open spaces. Our closeness to nature is one reason why our problem is not repression but regression; our notorious violence is the constant eruption of primi-tiveness, of anarchic individualism.”
Camille Paglia
America, Violence, Nature, Society, Individualism
3. “The more readily we make household names and the more numerous they become, the less are they worthy of our admiration... We can make a celebrity, but we can never make a hero. In a now-almost-forgotten sense, all heroes are self-made.” Daniel J. Boorstin Celebrity, Heroism, Admiration, Society, Individualism
6. “Our individualism is rooted in our very nature. It is based on conviction born of experience. Equal opportunity, the demand for a fair chance, became the formula of American Individualism because it is the method of American achievement.” Herbert Hoover Individualism, Opportunity, Experience, Conviction, American Achievement
21. “Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of inner values.” Henry Kissinger Leadership, Individualism, Success, Heroism, Recognition
33. “In a way, writing is an incredible act of individualism, producing your language, and yet to use it from the heart of a crowd as opposed to as an individual performance is a conflicting thing. I do stand alone, and yet it's not about being an individual or being ambitious.” Arundhati Roy Writing, Individualism, Conflict, Community, Creativity
38. “The beauty of our system is that it isolates everybody. Each person is sitting alone in front of the tube, you know. It's very hard to have ideas or thoughts under those circumstances. You can't fight the world alone.” Noam Chomsky Social Isolation, Media Influence, Individualism, Collective Action, Societal Critique
40. “In ideal form of social control is an atomised collection of individuals focused on their own narrow concern, lacking the kinds of organisations in which they can gain information, develop and articulate their thoughts, and act constructively to achieve common ends.” Noam Chomsky Social Control, Individualism, Organization, Collective Action, Societal Manipulation
41. “The goal is a society in which the basic social unit is you and your television set. If the kid next door is hungry, it's not your problem. If the retired couple next door invested their assets badly and are now starving, that's not your problem either.” Noam Chomsky Individualism, Society, Isolation, Social Responsibility, Media Influence
42. “I am not what you call a civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating. I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!” Jules Verne Civilization, Society, Individualism, Rebellion, Personal Philosophy
45. “The hazards of imitative competition may partially explain why individuals with an Asperger’s-like social ineptitude seem to be at an advantage in Silicon Valley today. If you’re less sensitive to social cues, you’re less likely to do the same things as everyone else around you.” Peter Thiel Competition, Social Dynamics, Silicon Valley, Asperger’s, Individualism
46. “In our society, the ideal self is bold, gregarious, and comfortable in the spotlight. We like to think that we value individuality, but mostly we admire the type of individual who’s comfortable ’putting himself out there.” Susan Cain Ideal Self, Societal Values, Individualism, Gregariousness, Cultural Admiration
47. “We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal – the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypal extrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual.” Susan Cain Extrovert Ideal, Social Values, Action Versus Contemplation, Individualism, Gregarious Personality
48. “Western culture, by contrast, is organized around the individual. We see ourselves as self-contained units; our destiny is to express ourselves, to follow our bliss, to be free of undue restraint, to achieve the one thing that we, and we alone, were brought into this world to do.” Susan Cain Western Culture, Individualism, Self-expression, Personal Destiny, Cultural Values
50. “The cheapest kind of pride, on the other hand, is national pride. For it betrays in those affected by it the lack of individual qualities of which they could be proud, since they would otherwise not grasp at something that they share with so many millions. Rather those who possess significant personal qualities will recognize most clearly the faults of their own nation, since they constantly have them in front of them.” Arthur Schopenhauer National Pride, Identity, Self-worth, Societal Critique, Individualism
Individualism Quotes by Famous Authors
1. “America is still a frontier country of wide open spaces. Our closeness to nature is one reason why our problem is not repression but regression; our notorious violence is the constant eruption of primi-tiveness, of anarchic individualism.”
Camille Paglia America, Violence, Nature, Society, Individualism
3. “The more readily we make household names and the more numerous they become, the less are they worthy of our admiration... We can make a celebrity, but we can never make a hero. In a now-almost-forgotten sense, all heroes are self-made.”
Daniel J. Boorstin Celebrity, Heroism, Admiration, Society, Individualism
6. “Our individualism is rooted in our very nature. It is based on conviction born of experience. Equal opportunity, the demand for a fair chance, became the formula of American Individualism because it is the method of American achievement.”
Herbert Hoover Individualism, Opportunity, Experience, Conviction, American Achievement
21. “Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of inner values.”
Henry Kissinger Leadership, Individualism, Success, Heroism, Recognition
33. “In a way, writing is an incredible act of individualism, producing your language, and yet to use it from the heart of a crowd as opposed to as an individual performance is a conflicting thing. I do stand alone, and yet it's not about being an individual or being ambitious.”
Arundhati Roy Writing, Individualism, Conflict, Community, Creativity
38. “The beauty of our system is that it isolates everybody. Each person is sitting alone in front of the tube, you know. It's very hard to have ideas or thoughts under those circumstances. You can't fight the world alone.”
Noam Chomsky Social Isolation, Media Influence, Individualism, Collective Action, Societal Critique
40. “In ideal form of social control is an atomised collection of individuals focused on their own narrow concern, lacking the kinds of organisations in which they can gain information, develop and articulate their thoughts, and act constructively to achieve common ends.”
Noam Chomsky Social Control, Individualism, Organization, Collective Action, Societal Manipulation
41. “The goal is a society in which the basic social unit is you and your television set. If the kid next door is hungry, it's not your problem. If the retired couple next door invested their assets badly and are now starving, that's not your problem either.”
Noam Chomsky Individualism, Society, Isolation, Social Responsibility, Media Influence
42. “I am not what you call a civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating. I do not, therefore, obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude to them before me again!”
Jules Verne Civilization, Society, Individualism, Rebellion, Personal Philosophy
45. “The hazards of imitative competition may partially explain why individuals with an Asperger’s-like social ineptitude seem to be at an advantage in Silicon Valley today. If you’re less sensitive to social cues, you’re less likely to do the same things as everyone else around you.”
Peter Thiel Competition, Social Dynamics, Silicon Valley, Asperger’s, Individualism
46. “In our society, the ideal self is bold, gregarious, and comfortable in the spotlight. We like to think that we value individuality, but mostly we admire the type of individual who’s comfortable ’putting himself out there.”
Susan Cain Ideal Self, Societal Values, Individualism, Gregariousness, Cultural Admiration
47. “We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal – the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypal extrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual.”
Susan Cain Extrovert Ideal, Social Values, Action Versus Contemplation, Individualism, Gregarious Personality
48. “Western culture, by contrast, is organized around the individual. We see ourselves as self-contained units; our destiny is to express ourselves, to follow our bliss, to be free of undue restraint, to achieve the one thing that we, and we alone, were brought into this world to do.”
Susan Cain Western Culture, Individualism, Self-expression, Personal Destiny, Cultural Values
50. “The cheapest kind of pride, on the other hand, is national pride. For it betrays in those affected by it the lack of individual qualities of which they could be proud, since they would otherwise not grasp at something that they share with so many millions. Rather those who possess significant personal qualities will recognize most clearly the faults of their own nation, since they constantly have them in front of them.”
Arthur Schopenhauer National Pride, Identity, Self-worth, Societal Critique, Individualism
