Joe Root Quotes

I was just an ordinary student. I'd always gotten along with authorities quite well.

Growing up in Kansas City, I was always neat, the teacher's pet, know-it-all type.

Therefore, a person should first be changed by a teacher's instructions, and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order.

I saw myself as a teacher's pet but with a little of Ed Haskell mixed in. I was the teacher's pet, but that didn't mean that I was trying to pull one over.

It's never popular among young people to be part of the establishment.

People think that young people don't care about things, but I think they do care; they just aren't super interested in conforming to what older people think are the right way to do things.

Basically, I hate conformity. I hate people telling me what to do. It makes me want to smash things. So-called normal behaviour patterns make me so bored, I could throw up!

Well, I’ll be darned. When you put on a uniform there are certain inhibitions which you accept.

… a country's laws are written upon paper, and that its customs are engraved upon brass. One may play with the one, but not with the other. It is less risky for a stranger to dance upon our Constitution in the public square than to affront one of our solidified customs. The one is merely eminently respectable, the other is sacred.

The young always have the same problem – how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.

Rebellion is always going to fascinate, as it's always packaged in a very safe way.

I was a good little boy and a good student. I've never been arrested.

When you're younger, it's all about conformity and being easily influenced - especially in terms of fashion. You just follow the trends. Whatever is hot at the moment, you want to get it. You basically just want to be doing what everyone else is doing. But as you get older, those things aren't as important.

Peer pressure is a huge part of youth behavior, whether one grows up in Washington, D.C., or Cody, Wyo.

I read very one-note. Teacher's pet, Goody Two-shoes. I'd hate to be annoying. Who wants to see movies with someone annoying in them? But it's hard for me to paint myself as anything but whatever it is I come across as - which is pretty together.

Custom has made dancing sometimes necessary for a young man; therefore mind it while you learn it, that you may learn to do it well, and not be ridiculous, though in a ridiculous act.

The idea of going to school and getting a job is the most destructive one in your brain.

My worst nightmare when I was in school was that I would get into trouble. I never got in trouble. I was a good student.

I've said, I never thought I rebelled. I never - I don't think I've ever had that period. You know, I just had to do what I had to do. You know, I was a good kid.

Gotta know the rules to break the rules.

There are constant challenges about what's 'mainstream.' These kids in 'Dope' are as mainstream as the kids in 'Superbad' or 'The Breakfast Club.'

In my mother's household, hit shows like 'The Love Boat' and 'Three's Company' were 'not appropriate for nice lit'tle girls.' So was the prospect of staying up past 8:00 P.M. - and don't even think about talking back.

I would say I was an all-American teenager.

I just wanted to do the things that all normal teenagers wanted to do. So I did become quite rebellious.

I was definitely the kid who was the chicken, who didn't want to say the cuss words.