In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. . John Stuart Mill
About This Quote

In the United States, the government is run by people who are not strong enough to stand up to powerful interests without help. Many of these people are cowards. They feel that they must always look to other people for support and advice, because they know that they themselves are too weak to stand up to the powerful. That is why many of them look down on those who disagree with them, or even those who do not agree with them at all. If they were strong enough, they would not need other people’s support so much.

Source: On Liberty

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