Plutarch Quotes

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

I've had some movies that have been ridiculed, but that's OK with me. I don't feel that really defines me. Should I change who I am to be popular?

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

If the people dig it, then I dig it. If the people wanna hear it, then I wanna play it.

We all get swept up in the hype machine. Nobody is immune to that.

Disparaging public opinion is ... a necessary prelude to ignoring it.

It is long since I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.

There is no person in this town who is doing particularly well at the moment when it comes to the opinions of the American people.

I can't do something just because it's popular.

We cannot at once catch the applauses of the vulgar and expect the approbation of the wise.

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don't do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl.

Defy the crowd. The crowd isn’t always wise. It can also lead you down a path of silliness, sub-optimal choices, and downright destruction. Enchantment is as necessary for people to diverge from a crowd as it is to get people to join one.

... not being liked has a certain virtue about it, if the reason for the dislike does not lie in yourself!

It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.

Each one of us, in his timidity, has a limit beyond which he is outraged. It is inevitable that he who by concentrated application has extended this limit for himself, should arouse the resentment of those who have accepted conventions which, since accepted by all, require no initiative of application. And this resentment generally takes the form of meaningless laughter or of criticism, if not persecution.

People always - when you rise, whenever you're getting to a point where you're a very big band, which is a very rare thing, there are always going to be people that aren't going to like you.

It is easy to be independent when all behind you agree with you, but the difficulty comes when nine hundred and ninety-nine of your friends think you are wrong.

One wise man's verdict outweighs all the fools'.

There is one characteristic of the present direction of public opinion, peculiarly calculated to make it intolerant of any marked demonstration of individuality. The general average of mankind are not only moderate in intellect, but also moderate in inclinations: they have no tastes or wishes strong enough to incline them to do anything unusual, and they consequently do not understand those who have, and class all such with the wild and intemperate whom they are accustomed to look down upon.

The many speak highly of you, but have you really any grounds for satisfaction with yourself if you are the kind of person the many understand?

A popular author is one who writes what the people think. Genius invites them to think something else.

I worry about my judgment when anything I believe in or do regularly begins to be accepted by the American public.

Being a wiseass in a groupthink environment is like throwing an egg at a bulldozer.

You have to be prepared for people to hate you. Average people love to be average, because nobody bothers them.

In this modern day and age, we have instant coffee, instant tea - instant disbelief. That's the reason we will never become anything. It is because we will never believe in ourselves. We will always listen to the mass majority. If everybody's making fun of you and criticizing you, then you know you're on the right track. 'Cause most people ain't got it.