George S. Patton Quotes

It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.

I have a suspicion of lockstep and everyone looking in the same direction: that's a key character trait in me.

There's nothing worse than having everybody thinking alike, talking alike and having the same direction in mind. It gets stale that way.

How could I be anything but a dissenter? Who wants the opinion of a group?

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes.

It's definitely an intrinsic part of my makeup that makes me want to see black when everyone else is seeing white.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.

Human beings never think for themselves. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion.

Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.

When everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

In a society that tries to standardize thinking, individuality is not highly prized.

The supreme lesson of any education should be to think for yourself and to be yourself; absent this attainment, education creates dangerous, stupefying conformity.

Human beings never think for themselves; they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view.

In America, educators punish those who actually think for themselves. There is only acceptance for popular opinion.

I've always shied away from conventional wisdom, though I know the power of it.

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

I am something of a contrarian, I suppose. I feel less comfortable when everybody agrees with me. I say, 'I better reexamine my position!' I probably believe that the worst opinions in my court have been unanimous. Because there's nobody on the other side pointing out all the flaws.

I am against the whole cliche of the moment.

We've all forgotten how to be original.