#individual

The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#creativity #individuality #courage

We have many cases of men committing suicide rather than face their own individuality. I know of no case of a woman who committed suicide because she was gay. ↗

— George Weinberg

#case #cases #committed #committing #face

When the facilities of the government of the United States are drawn on an individual, it can be terrifying. ↗

— Lee J. Cobb

#facilities #government #individual #states #terrifying

Sleep my little baby-oh Sleep until you waken When you wake you'll see the world If I'm not mistaken... Kiss a lover Dance a measure, Find your name And buried treasure... Face your life Its pain, Its pleasure, Leave no path untaken. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#choice #dance #identity #individuality #life

There's a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities. ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#human-nature #individuality #age

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy. ↗

— Harold Bloom

#individuality #age

First, individual rights cannot be sacrificed for the sake of the general good, and second, the principles of justice that specify these rights cannot be premised on any particular vision of the good life. What justifies the rights is not that they maximize the general welfare or otherwise promote the good, but rather that they comprise a fair framework within which individuals and groups can choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others. ↗

— Michael J. Sandel

#good-life #greater-good #individuals #justice #laws

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. ↗

— Benjamin Jowett

#always #attain #cannot #concrete #general

Who would guess," he teased, "that I'd ever see you on a rooftop with straw in your hair?" Kit giggled. "Are you saying I've turned into a crow?" "Not exactly." His eyes were intensely blue with merriment. "I can still see the green feathers if I look hard enough. But they've done their best to make you into a sparrow, haven't they? ↗

— Elizabeth George Speare

#individuality #spirit #friendship

I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned. I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command not obey. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#individual #love #pride #friendship