We all know that one person who marches to the beat of their own drummer. They don’t seem to care what others think and live their life according to their own standards.
It takes courage to be a nonconfirmist, but it can also be incredibly liberating.
After living as a nomadic flaneur for the past 6 years, I’ve crossed paths with many unique characters who fit this description. In their own way, each of these individuals has inspired me to continue along my own path as well.
What is Nonconformity?
Nonconformity is simply adhering to your own values and standards, even if they don’t match those of the masses. It’s the act of going against the grain and choosing not to live in accordance with prevailing norms and customs.
In other words, nonconformity is about living a lifestyle that’s different than most live and learning to be immune to societal pressures. It’s about designing your own life instead of constantly trying to live up to what others expect of you.
So how can you start living a life more on your own terms? These nonconformity quotes from famous thinkers leave valuable clues.
Quotes About Nonconformity
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Winston Churchill
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
Christopher Morley
The most talented, thought-provoking, game-changing people are never normal.
Richard Branson
Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Jack Kerouac
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
Herman Melville
Originality is the best form of rebellion.
Mike Sasso
Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.
Alan Keightley
Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Jack Kerouac
The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.
Rita Mae Brown
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
John F. Kennedy
In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service.
John Stuart Mill
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Steve Jobs
People would rather be wrong than be different.
Henry Jacobsen
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Oscar Wilde
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Dr. Seuss
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Final Word
We each have that voice inside us calling us to follow our own path and contribute something unique to the world. Use these words as motivation to tap into what inspires.
The world needs your art. The world needs your unique input.
Take the first step, and start carving out your own path.
Have any other nonconformity quotes you’d add to the list? Let me know!
You might also enjoy these related quote collections:
This Post Has 2 Comments
Pingback: Flâneur Quotes: A Collection of Words Related to Flâneurs and Flânerie
Pingback: What I'm Committing to Overall in 2020 » Flâneur Life