Yevgeny Zamyatin Quotes

… all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

Originals are nonconformists, people who not only have new ideas but take action to champion them. They are people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world. They're the people you want to bet on.

Conformity may give you a quiet life; it may even bring you to a University Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.

All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today.

Without bigots, eccentrics, cranks and heretics the world would not progress.

The avant-garde in every field consists of the lonely, the friendless, the uninvited. All progress is the product of the unpopular.

He who departs from consensus is not an infidel.

Be skeptical, question authority, be a rebel. Do not conform and don’t be ordinary. Remember, all human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and rich, powerful, vested interests.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received--hatred. The great creators--the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors--stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed.

Virtually every advancement made by our species since civilization first peeked out of its nest of stone has been initiated by lone individuals, mavericks who more often than not were ignored, mocked, or viciously persecuted by society and its institutions.

Rebels and non-conformists are often the pioneers and designers of change.

Evolution is always the work of pioneers, and their followers are always small in number. This following is not a clique; it is the result of all the existing social forces; it is composed of all those who through innate or acquired capacity are ready to represent the existing degree of human revolution.

The world is kept alive only by heretics.

I think there's always a call for people who are bucking the norm.

Throughout history, people with new ideas—who think differently and try to change things—have always been called troublemakers.

I love challenging the status quo.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

The avantgarde are people who don't exactly know where they want to go, but are the first to get there.

When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.

History pays more attention to reformers than others. We pay more attention to dissenters too.

The French higher education system has not adapted to this revolutionary period. [It] rewards people for their capacity to follow the path that is open to them. It does not encourage people to rebel or to develop their character.

Freedom is the right to question, and change the established way of doing things.…It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among the people. It is the right to dream-- to follow your dream, or stick to your conscience, even if you're the only one in a sea of doubters.

That is who my people are - the oddballs, the rebels, and the geeks. That's what I am, so it's what I naturally feel connected to.

With a tree, all the growth takes place at the growing tips. Humanity is exactly the same. All the growth takes place in the growing tip: among that one percent of the population. It's made up of pioneers, the beginners. That's where the action is.