It is liberating to write the introduction to a collection of individuality quotes. If you think anything I’ve written sounds boneheaded, then I can say I’m just being me and ask who are you to judge?
In all seriousness, you are in fact highly qualified to judge whatever you read. Tear apart every idea you encounter, sort the wheat from the excrement (the latter of which ironically suffers from no shortage during the “information age”), and carefully choose which truths you’ll hold dear. This isn’t just your right as a rational creature. It is your duty.
Believe me when I warn you never to abandon your individuality. Certain actors make doing so seem appealing, arguing that the greater good outweighs the needs of any single person. But when no two people are alike, and everyone’s goal is different, can a “greater good” even exist? Would it even be utopia if we all wanted the same thing?
Not at all, yet many people would be all too happy to fake it by shutting you up, confiscating all of your wealth for a public project that a party member’s cousin is overseeing, and sending grim, uniformed men to your home at three in the morning to force-feed you castor oil or toss you on the 3:10 to gulag.
It is in everyone’s best interest to act in their own best interest.
Is individualism free license to crush whomever stands in the way of your goals? Hardly. The true individualist appreciates that other people are individuals as well – an increasingly radical notion – and abstains from complicating others’ paths toward self-realization. Individualists don’t view their fellow men like a lion would look at zebras. They cherish others’ autonomy, independence, and self-sufficiency just as much as their own. Domination is more the domain of commie rats and fascists.
Best Individuality Quotes
How’s that for a collection of individuality quotes? And remember – if you really want to be an individualist, then you have to wear a T-shirt which I personally approve of.
Who is Ayn Rand? Born to a middle class Russian-Jewish family in 1905, Rand was treated to a front row seat to the wonders of communism in action. Rand fled with her family to the Crimea following the “liberation” of her father’s pharmacy but ultimately returned to Saint Petersburg where she could attend university when she wasn’t busy starving. Due to her life experiences, Ayn Rand quotes are some of the most thought-provoking in the world.
Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s great treatise on Objectivism, individualism, and reason. Don’t have time to read it? Check out the best Atlas Shrugged quotes here.
John Stuart Mill was one of his era’s preeminent philosophers concerning liberty, utilitarianism, and freedom of speech. J. S. Mill quotes are required reading for libertarians.
Liberty is invaluable, but it is always in jeopardy. Why should you care about keeping your liberty? Feel free to read our collection of liberty quotes and see.