Herd Mentality Quotes

“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.”
― George S. Patton

“Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.”
― Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

“People are sheep. TV is the shepherd.”
― Jess C. Scott, Literary Heroin (Gluttony): A Twilight Parody

“Most people do not have a problem with you thinking for yourself, as long as your conclusions are the same as or at least compatible with their beliefs.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

“People would rather live in a community with unreasonable claims, than face loneliness with their truth”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

“Ordinary people are products of their environment and fit in. Artists transcend their environment and stand out.”
― Oliver Gaspirtz

“Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

“Beliefs are conclusions reached by men who are lazy to think for themselves.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“If unconventional ideas = sperm, then public opinion = abortion.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“People do not undermine your ideas; they undermine you.”
― Abhaidev, The Gods Are Not Dead

“A utopian system, when established by men, is likely to be synonymous with a dystopian depression. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs. Bully-cultures find this: with each and every mistake, another village idiot is shamed into nothingness and mindlessly shut down by the herd. This is a superficial peace made by force and by fear, one in which there is no freedom to breathe; and the reason it is impossible for man to maintain freedom and peace for everyone at the same time. Christ, on the other hand, transforms, instead of controls, by instilling his certain inner peace. This is the place where one realizes that only his holiness is and feels like true freedom, rather than like imprisonment, and, too, why Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Since the earliest days of our youth, we have been conditioned to accept that the direction of the herd, and authority anywhere — is always right.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“When it comes to forming opinions on works of art, people look to others. Most people end up liking paintings, songs and movies just because the majority have a favourable opinion about them. Ultimately it’s all about the brand value of the artist.”
― Abhaidev, The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit

“What kind of men, then, does our society need? What is the "social character" suited to twentieth century Capitalism? It needs men who co-operate smoothly in large groups; who want to consume more and more, and whose tasks are standardized and can easily be influenced and anticipated. It needs men who feel free and independent, not subject to any authority, or principle, or conscience - yet willing to be commanded, to do what is expected, to fit into the social machine without friction.”
― Erich Fromm, The Sane Society

“Sheep only need a single flock, but people need two: one to belong to and make them feel comfortable, and another to blame all of society’s problems on.”
― james rozoff

“The thing about the Lexington International Bank ladder was that it was very long, and climbing it was very exhausting, and so Andrew Brown didn't have a lot of time to think about whether he really wanted to get to the top of it—and besides, since so many other people were climbing too, the view from the top must be worth it.

So he kept going. He worked hard. He put his heart and mind and soul into it. There was an opening for a position half a rung higher than he already was. With a promotion, he might get two hours a week of a secretary's time. He'd go to more important meetings, with more senior people, and have the opportunity to impress them, and if he did he might be promoted again and then... well, of course eventually he'd be running the whole office. It's important to have a dream: otherwise you might notice where you really are.”
― Naomi Alderman, Doctor Who: Borrowed Time

“…how ready they themselves are at bottom to make one pay; how they crave to be hangmen. There is among them an abundance of the vengeful disguised as judges, who constantly bear the word “justice” in their mouths like poisonous spittle, always with pursed lips, always ready to spit upon all who are not discontented but go their own way in good spirits…The will of the weak to represent some form of superiority, their instinct for devious paths to tyranny over the healthy – where can it not be discovered, this will to power of the weakest!”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals

“Scared people did scary things sometimes, even kids.”
― Michael Grant, Gone

“The morality that would un-self man is the morality of decline par excellence—the fact, "I am declining," transposed into the imperative, "all of you ought to decline"—and not only into the imperative... This only morality that has been taught so far, that of un-selfing, reveals a will to the end; fundamentally, it negates life.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo

“Finally—this is what is most terrible of all—the concept of the good man signifies that one sides with all that is weak, sick, failure, suffering of itself—all that ought to perish: the principle of selection is crossed—an ideal is fabricated from the contradiction against the proud and well-turned-out human being who says Yes, who is sure of the future, who guarantees the future—and he is now called evil.— And all this was believed, as morality! — Ecrasez l'infame!—— [Voltaire's motto: "Crush the infamy!"]”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo

“If you follow the herd, don’t be surprised when you step in what they leave behind.”
― Joseph C. Kunz Jr., Money's Dirty Little Secrets: How to Break the Rules, Get Filthy Rich, and Laugh All the Way to the Bank

“Modern culture rewards surface-level uniqueness, such as appearance, career path, or social media presence, but punishes true divergence in worldview, thought, or behavior. What people often refer to as "being different" is usually just someone walking down the exact same path as everyone else, but with their steps slightly bent and curved rather than being direct and usual like others. So, although they appear as "individuals" from the outside, inside, they are actually a herd of the same kind of sheep blindly following each other. This is conformity within “individuality.” And this disguise is the thing that gives the tool for the Westerners to call themselves "freedom fighters.”
― Sov8840

“Not everyone can see the deeper dimensions lying behind things. Because they were not born with that eye. Their eyes were not designed for such usage. It is not the majority but always the minority who possess the ability to “see," perhaps only one person out of a thousand.”
― Sov8840

“A simple proof that they are a kind of robot: if the era and civilization they live in worshipped "ugliness," they too would come to worship it. Or if this era and civilization encouraged laziness, they would begin to curse work automatically. Because they are not alive beings, but unconscious extensions of history.”
― Sov8840

“A simple proof that they are a kind of robot: if the era and civilization they live in worshipped "ugliness," they too would come to worship it. Or if this era and civilization encouraged "laziness," they would begin to curse work automatically. Because they are not alive beings, but unconscious extensions of history.”
― Sov8840

“...and they absorb the world shaped by these, "constructing" their thoughts, feelings, words, actions, identity, and beliefs accordingly. Which means they will think in the same way, feel the same things, use the same words, do the same actions, have the same identity, and carry the same beliefs as the rest of the society.”
― Sov8840

“...and they absorb the world shaped by these, "constructing" their thoughts, feelings, words, actions, identity, and beliefs accordingly, which means they will think in the same way, feel the same things, use the same words, do the same actions, have the same identity, and carry the same beliefs as the rest of society.”
― Sov8840

“Any judgment born of collective agreement is, by nature, arbitrary, no matter how widely it is accepted.”
― Sov8840