Quotes About Conformity

Nobody just leaves medical school, especially given it's fiercely competitive to get in. But I had a sister who was a doctor, another who was a pharmacist, a brother who was an engineer. So my parents already had sensible children who would be able to make an actual living, and I think they felt comfortable sacrificing their one strange child.

I remember being at school during morning meeting and looking around at everybody, 350 kids, saying a prayer. We're all very young and no one knows what it means, and I remember feeling strange that people were just repeating words that they didn't understand. I refused to participate. For some reason I always rejected it, but respectfully.

Most people just settle - for a job or relationship, or where we live. Here's the strange thing though: when you start going outside the box and questioning things, then people - because we're taught this - start ridiculing you.

We're not very accepting of people who act strangely.

I have sometimes felt pressure to dress a certain way because of everyone else. You know what I mean? Girls in high school and strangers on the street have put way more pressure on me to dress a certain way than my mom or dad.

It was possible we looked out of sorts. And of course we were aware by now that Italians don't drive bright orange cars (or bright yellow or green cars for that matter) and that the owners of such cars are looked upon with a certain amount of condescension and immediately understood to be Germans, an epithet more or less synonymous with bad taste.

This looks interesting," I say, but what I'm really thinking is, Wow, Aimee, science fiction? Really, could you try any harder to brand yourself with the mark of the nerd herd? What's next, anime?

Top academic institutions are wonderful, but there are unrecognized benefits to not coming out of one. Grads from top schools are funneled into high-income 80-hour-per-week jobs, and 15–30 years of soul-crushing work has been accepted as the default path. How do I know? I've been there and

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." —J. Krishnamurti

To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing."—Elbert Hubbard

The commonsense rules of the "real world" are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions.

Fíjate en lo que haces actualmente y pregúntate: «¿Qué pasaría si hiciera lo contrario que los que me rodean? ¿Qué voy a sacrificar si continúo así durante 5, 10 o 20 años más?».

Hay algo muy raro en una sociedad en la que toda la gente con más talento es guiada hacia los mismos centros de elite, donde acaban estudiando la misma cantidad reducida de asignaturas y llegando a un mismo número reducido de carreras.

Top academic institutions are wonderful, but there are unrecognized benefits to not coming out of one. Grads from top schools are funneled into high-income 80-hour-per-week jobs, and 15–30 years of soul-crushing work has been accepted as the default path.

Breaking your rules to co-invest with well-known investors is usually a bad idea, but following your rules when others reject a startup can work out extremely well.

The Power of Persuasion, de Robert Levine.

Para tener una vida de éxito que entre dentro de la media, no hace falta planificar demasiado. Basta con no meterte en problemas, seguir una formación académica y buscarte un trabajo que te pueda gustar.

How has being "realistic" or "responsible" kept you from the life you want? How has doing what you "should" resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else?

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.

Si intentas predecir lo que interesará [al público] y haces contorsiones para adaptarte a esas expectativas

I was ovulated, fertilized, and born in the 20th century. I can't wipe out my whole personal background, or the fact that almost everyone I talk to today is brain-damaged by our education. I think American education makes us hopeless symbol addicts. It's designed to produce docile automatons. But it's going to take years before you can urge young people to drop out of school without appearing to be an eccentric or a mad-man.

But without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible.

Some killed from murderous conviction. But many others who killed were just afraid to stand out. Other forces were at work besides conformism. But without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible.

He places the sign in his window so that he can withdraw into daily life without trouble from the authorities. When everyone else follows the same logic, the public sphere is covered with signs of loyalty, and resistance becomes unthinkable.