Shirley Jackson Quotes

Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm.

I cannot change the world, but I do not have to conform.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

I don't care much about conforming.

I don't want to follow the herd.

Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.

We all have those friends that tick to their drum, and you don't want them to tick to anybody else's drum.

No rebellious heart is ever at ease with paths established by others.

Non-conformity is the only real passion worth being ruled by.

I'm for everybody. There are no set rules. But if one's not a joiner. To hell with all of them!

There is no sin worse in life than being boring--and nothing worse than letting other people tell you what to do. I was one of the few heiresses to walk the runway as a model. A lot of people thought that was shocking. Why did I do it? Was it a desperate cry for attention, like the papers said? Hardly. It's not like I need any more attention. Did I do it for money? Of course not. Modeling doesn't pay that well, anyway, unless you're Gisele or Cindy Crawford, or, like Patti Hansen, you get to marry a rock star. I did it because it was fun.

Rebel children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory.

I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be.

I go out and I say and do what I want - even if people may find that shocking. One could, of course, decide to be suffocated by all the pomp here in Élysée Palace. But if you decide to resist it, then you won't be suffocated.

I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has a multitude? They can only force me who obey a higher law than I.... I do not hear of men being forced to live this way or that by masses of men. What sort of life were that to live?

Some people dye their hair yellow or put rings in their noses. I decided I wasn't going to open an account. Put it the other way round - there was no reason that I should.

I love the freedom to do whatever I want with style and not be put into a box.

I must be allowed to be as I am.

I was kind of raised with the suggestion that I had a duty to do; that life was real, life was earnest. And I hated that, actually. I needed to be liberated, to be told that I could live the life that I wanted to live; that I didn't need a job, or to be shouted at; that I could be myself; that I could be happy.

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself.

The opposite of bravery is not cowardice but conformity.

I just don't conform very well.

You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you.

People relate to the spirit of the band, which is to live your way and succeed on your own terms. There's no hypocrisy in being successful and still railing against conformity.

I was seen in earlier years by family members and people of authority as somebody wasting his time. I had trouble with the restrictions of conformity. It made me edgy.