David Byrne Quotes

Any society where it's a crime or a hassle to be different is a society based on psychological fascism.

A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.

Our essential differences from the norm are both huge and deeply offensive to those among us who wish to be quietly integrated into society without particular reference to our nature.

I have spent a great deal of my life being part of minorities. Some of the people I admire the most in the world have had the courage to defend, against wind and tide, minority viewpoints in those frightening times when any disagreement with universal conformity is identified as treason.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, the finish by loading honors on your head.

If you try to smooth out society with a hot iron, you're liable to drive out all talent.

Those fighting to be included in the ideal of equality are not being divisive; those fighting to keep those people out are.

I hate labels.

The fundamental thing that makes the 'X-Men' different from every other series out there is it's all about prejudice. It's about a group of young people trying to make a place in a society that doesn't want them.

Our love of lockstep is our greatest curse, the source of all that bedevils us. It is the source of homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, terrorism, bigotry of every variety and hue, because it tells us there is one right way to do things, to look, to behave, to feel, when the only right way is to feel your heart hammering inside you and to listen to what its timpani is saying.

The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.

Society is based on the assumption that everyone is alike and no one is alive.

Why are some people bullied? Because they are different. How? It doesn't matter.

Parts of the world can be very hostile to differences, social or artistic.

People who don't fit the mold are treated differently than those who do.

You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same.

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

I hate stereotypes and I hate cliche.

It's an important point to make that people can't just be invalidated, eradicated, because they don't fit tidily into a box. And more and more, the modern world is all about conformity.

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

Like one of any minority, I have experienced prejudice.

Persecution is the first law of society because it is always easier to suppress criticism than to meet it.

Any deviation is looked upon as a perversion, is feared, and is usually a target of hatred and prejudice.

They taught me different was wrong.

Economic distress, political pressure, and social obloquy already drive us from our homes and from our graves. The Jews are already constantly shifting from place to place.