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Individualism Quotes

Browse 771 quotes about Individualism.

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Individualism Quotes

“The dream of identity ends in indifference. What can be read between the lines of these stories is that chance and destiny are not to be found elsewhere, in some imaginary decree. Chance is already present in the unpredictability of ordinary life. There is nothing more unpredictable than any moment of daily life. All one needs to do is to acknowledge immediately the non-existence of this individual structure, and to recognize that the ego exists only in the showing-through [transparition] of the world and all its most insignificant possibilities. It is no use wondering where freedom or identity lies and what is to be done with them. Human beings are the coming-to-pass of what they are and what they do. Therein lies the movement of becoming, and what they wanted to be is not an issue; their ideals or free will are not an issue: these are merely retrospective justifications.”

IdentityIndifferenceFree WillIndividualism
Book:The Intelligence of Evil or the Lucidity Pact
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“To be sure, who is strong and who is weak? One-sided racial theories just as little as one-sided class theories here fail to make any advance. The opposition is not correctly expressed with contrasts such as between blond-black, Aryan-Semite, German-Roman, German-slave; nor is it expressed with the contrast between producer-worker, bourgeoisie-proletarian. Strong is whoever controls society [Gesellschaft] because he affirms it. Weak is whoever flees society [Gesellschaft] for the sake of the community because he denies society. ... Strong is whoever affirms the entire essential complex of society [Gesellschaft] for the sake of the dignity of the individual and the social whole; weak is whoever sacrifices dignity for brotherhood in the community.”

DemocracySocietyStrengthWeaknessHumanismIndividualismAnti FascismAnti Communism
Book:Grenzen der Gemeinschaft
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“The metaphysical mutation that gave rise to materialism and modern science in turn spawned two great trends: rationalism and individualism. Huxley’s mistake was in having poorly evaluated the balance of power between these two. Specifically, he underestimated the growth of individualism brought about by an increased consciousness of death. Individualism gives rise to freedom, the sense of self, the need to distinguish oneself and to be superior to others. A rational society like the one he describes in Brave New World can defuse the struggle. Economic rivalry—a metaphor for mastery over space—has no more reason to exist in a society of plenty, where the economy is strictly regulated. Sexual rivalry—a metaphor for mastery over time through reproduction—has no more reason to exist in a society where the connection between sex and procreation has been broken. But Huxley forgets about individualism. He doesn’t understand that sex, even stripped of its link with reproduction, still exists—not as a pleasure principle, but as a form of narcissistic differentiation. The same is true of the desire for wealth. Why has the Swedish model of social democracy never triumphed over liberalism? Why has it never been applied to sexual satisfaction? Because the metaphysical mutation brought about by modern science leads to individuation, vanity, malice and desire. Any philosopher, not just Buddhist or Christian, but any philosopher worthy of the name, knows that, in itself, desire—unlike pleasure—is a source of suffering, pain and hatred.”

DesireSexLiberalismIndividualismRationalismHuxley
Book:The Elementary Particles
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“What I was suddenly aware of was the importance of their being whatever each of them was--cocky and contemptuous, or bothered and beaten--as long as it was something they'd come to in their own way: the importance of being human, in fact. The peace and harmony Uncle Ian and the others claimed to be handing out in fact was death, because without being yourself, an individual, you weren't really alive.”

HumanityIndividualityIndividualismHuman Characteristics
Book:When the Tripods Came
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“They are taught everywhere, from advertisements to schools and from media to relationships, that they must always follow their instincts, that if they are not "self-confident," they will not be loved by anyone, or that they must change things "to make the world a better place" and "contribute to the common good," which leads them to have a primal, worldly view and an empty, shallow sense of individuality.”

IndividualIndividualityUnconsciousIndividualismUnconsciousnessSuperficialityIndividualsRobotEarthlyBounded
Author:Sov8840
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“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.”

FreedomSlaveryIndividualityConformityIndividualismModernityDifferenceHerd MentalityArtificialityDeviance
Author:Sov8840
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“The more we selficate, the more we become depressed and lonely.”

PoliticsIndividualitySelfishnessIndividualismSociologyPolitical PhilosophyPolitical ScienceSelfishness QuotesSocial Philosophy
Book:The Selficated Society: Why We Are Depressed in the Modern Age and How You Can Break Free from Suffering to Live a Life Worthwhile
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“I understand now that no one else in the world knows what I should do. The experts don't know, the ministers, the therapists, the magazines, the authors, my parents, my friends, they don't know. Not even the folks who love me the most. Because no one has ever lived or will live this life I am attempting to live. Every life is an unprecendented experiment. This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they've never been. There is no map. We are all pioneers.”

Self HelpIndividualityGuidanceIndividualismUniquenessInner VoiceListen To Your HeartInner GuidanceListen To Your GutInner Guide
Book:Get Untamed: The Journal
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“In every family, culture, or religion, ideas of right and wrong are the hot cattle prods, the barking sheepdogs that keep the masses in the herd. They are the bars that keep us caged. I decided that if I kept doing the "right" thing, I would spend my life following someone else's directions instead of my own. I didn't want to live my life without living my life. I wanted to make my own decision as a free woman, from my soul.”

TruthMoralityIndividualityMoralsIndividualismFollow Your HeartRight And WrongFollow Your Own PathYour PathRight From Wrong
Book:Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living / A Toolkit for Modern Life
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“It reminds me of sitting window seat on a plane. I look out and onto the ground and I see everyone’s little houses. They’ve got their own perfect square of land, with a roof of their own, with a tree of their own, their own fence. There’s something so artificial to it when you zoom out. Our own tree in the front yard may be large, but they aren’t rooted in a true forest. Their house could be painted gold, but the street isn’t. Everything we have is just enough for our eyes to see. I feel like we’re meant for more. More than decorations. Sometimes, even though I know it’s not possible, I feel like everyone deserves their own forest.”

PhilosophyNatureHuman NatureMoralityReflectionPropertyIndividualityIndividualismFairnessThe Goodbye Song
Book:The Goodbye Song
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“There was a car in the back of the lot, under a fruitful tree. Feet on the steering wheel was a beautiful woman who sought and received harmony. She didn’t measure time by hours or minutes. She measured it by phrases like, “After this glass of red.” She never stopped the car until “the right final song plays.” She didn’t count her days Monday–Friday, but existence to her was checkpointed by the names of people she met last. She didn’t listen to rules about when it was okay to fuck—the first date or third—because when the moments asked for love, she had it. She didn’t sleep when it was dark, she slept when she was fully exhausted, and so worked until drainage, trusting her body was smart enough to solve itself during sleep. She was sleeping right now—aged with the kind of thin wrinkles that told you resveratrol gave a good fight. This was a woman embracing the wild, various interests of the heart. You may have thought freedom was attained by irresponsibility, by the immature seeking the easy, but it took great discipline to be free. You could call her homeless or you could call her earthbound, indecisive or multi-talented, unemployed or honest, spacey or intelligent. What good were words to describe a kind of radiant harmony best explained by her accomplished snoring?”

FreedomBeautyIdentityHarmonyAgingIndividualityAccomplishmentCharmIndividualismThe Goodbye Song
Book:The Goodbye Song
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“When we talk about bio-individuality, we are saying that each of us is an individual combination of genetics, epigenetics, body sizes, genders, environmental consequences and biological profiles.”

IndividualHealthIndividualityIndividualismGeneticsEpigeneticsDiversity Of Thought
Book:The Energy Formula: Six life changing ingredients to unleash your limitless potential
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“Our wealthy, Westernized classes are so obsessed with individualism, they’ve forgotten how to be themselves, let alone how to be individuals,” he said. “These Westernized Turks are too conceited to believe in God. Their individuality is all they care about. Most choose not to believe in God just to prove they’re not like everyone else, though they won’t even acknowledge that’s the reason why. But faith is precisely about being like everyone else. Religion is the haven and the consolation of the meek.”

GodReligionIndividualityWealthyIndividualism
Book:Kırmızı Saçlı Kadın
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“The oft repeated slogan of our time is, among all politicians, the Socialists included, that ours is an era of individualism, of the minority. Only those who do not probe beneath the surface might be led to entertain this view. Have not the few accumulated the wealth of the world? Are they not the masters, the absolute kings of the situation? Their success, however, is due not to individualism, but to the inertia, the cravenness, the utter submission of the mass. The latter wants but to be dominated, to be led, to be coerced. As to individualism, at no time in human history did it have less chance of expression, less opportunity to assert itself in a normal, healthy manner.”

IndividualityIndividualism
Book:Anarchism and Other Essays
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“The authority of society is imposed not arbitrarily or officially, but naturally. And it is because of this fact that its effect on the individual is incomparably much more powerful than that of the State. It creates and molds all individuals in its midst. It passes on to them, slowly, from the day of birth to death, all its material, intellectual, and moral characteristics. Society, so to speak, individualizes itself in every individual.”

IndividualityIndividualism
Author:Mikhail Bakunin
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“The notion of independence, which is often confused with independent thinking and freedom, has been so marbled by pure bourgeois egoism that we tend to forget that our individuality depends heavily on community support systems and solidarity. It is not by childishly subordinating ourselves to the community on the one hand or by detaching ourselves from it on the other that we become mature human beings. What distinguishes us as social beings, hopefully with rational institutions, from solitary beings who lack any serious affiliations, is our capacities for solidarity with one another, for mutually enhancing our self-development and creativity and attaining freedom within a socially creative and institutionally rich collectivity.”

IndividualityIndividualism
Book:From Urbanization to Cities: Toward a New Politics of Citizenship
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