Richard Bach Quotes

I tried to assimilate and mix myself in with everybody, but I still stood out because of my mannerisms, the way I spoke, my interests, the way I walked, all those things that make us stand out in a crowd. Then I got to a point where I stopped caring, because people were calling me names no matter what, so I thought I might as well just do what I wanted to do.

I'm just not into trying to convince people like me. I always say to myself, 'It is what it is.' I walk into a situation knowing that people are either going to love me or they're not, and that's OK. I'm just going to be me. You can't be everything to everyone.

No, I'm not politically correct. I never wanted to be, and I never will be.

Some days, I think maybe we should try and be a little more conventional, but every time I try, I fail, so I'm learning to not even entertain that thought anymore.

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.

I would not exchange my freedom from old superstition, if I were to be burned at the stake next month, for all the peace and quiet of orthodoxy, if I must take the orthodoxy with peace and quiet.

People who have self-confidence and believe that what they do is right are not disturbed by the presence of people who do not think or live like them.

Too fat, too thin, too loud, too quiet - I was never going to fit the standards others created for me. Instead of complying, I protested.

People ridicule you for the silliest thing, like what you wore to an event. At the end of the day, I'm just being me - if that's not good enough for you, tell me what is. Usually people don't have an answer.

I'll run against the grain till the day I drop?

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

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.

I don't want to change the world, I don't want the world to change me.

We're so quick to cut away pieces of ourselves to suit a particular relationship, a job, a circle of friends, incessantly editing who we are until we fit in.

If I cared for human approval, I would have been dead long ago.

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

I refuse to follow the rules where society tries to control people with low self esteem.

Having to be different is the same trap as having to be the same.

Always stay true to yourself. Some people will like it, some people won't. Life goes on.

The opposite of courage is not so much fear as it is conformity.

I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity

I’d rather be happy and odd than miserable and ordinary.

They said my friends were just an unruly mob, and I should get a hair cut and get a new job.

So few want to be rebels anymore. And out of those few, most, like myself, scare easily.

I just try to be myself and not conform to something I'm not and just continue doing what I do. I just try not to think about the fact that I'm an inspiration for people.