James Thurber Quotes

I went to public school for like, one day. I don't get it. Everybody tries to be exactly the same. I think being an outsider is a good thing.

There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.

I didn't want to wear a checked shirt and grow a mustache - that's what you had to do, and everyone did.

I grew up in a small town where everyone wanted to be the same or look the same and was afraid to be different.

While children are struggling to be unique, the world around them is trying all means to make them look like everybody else.

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

The only behaviour that is truly common is to avoid doing something because you think others might consider it common.

Well, sometimes when you say you want to be like everybody else, you're really saying that you're not.

Everybody wants to be like everybody else.

Everything's always about being homogenized and following in a group. The people who stand out always have the most problems.

The nail that sticks out gets knocked down.

Understand: as children and young adults, we are taught to conform to certain codes of behavior and ways of doing things. We learn that being different comes with a social price.

I tried to be different; I didn't want to be like everybody else.

For our senior picture, they said, 'Black or navy blazer.' And I thought, Why do I want to look like everybody else?

I'm not a blender. I don't like people who blend into society.

Conformity is dangerous.

People want you to be ordinary.

There are no exceptions to the rule that everybody likes to be an exception to the rule.

I've always balked at anything that feels like a clique, even if it's not always in my best interest to do so. I like each individual, fedora-wearing hipster - it's just the greater gestalt that rubs me the wrong way.

I don't like to be different; I would like to be the same.

He who goes against the fashion is himself its slave.

I think I've always wanted to be different from everybody else. I get really annoyed when I do something and everybody else does it too, or if I'm doing something that everybody else is doing.

In the U.S., you have to be a deviant or die of boredom.

I'd never just want to do what everybody else did. I'd be contributing to the sameness of everything.