quotations and passages on individuality

It is an absolute perfection. . .
to get the very most
out of one's individuality.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy that is translated through you;
and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.

Martha Graham

The diversity of the family should be a cause of love
and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes
blend together in the making of a perfect chord.

from the Baha'i Scriptures

I know now that most people are so closely concerned
with themselves that they are not aware of their own
individuality; I can see myself, and it has helped me
to say what I want to say. . . in paint.

Georgia O'Keeffe

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from
being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will
be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price
is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Individuality is either the mark of genius or the reverse.
Mediocrity finds safety in standardization.

Frederick E. Crane

The more we let each voice sing out
with its own true tone, the richer
will be the diversity
of the chant in unison.

Angelus Silesius

Individuality is only possible if
it unfolds from wholeness.

David Bohm

Since everybody is an individual, nobody can be you.
You are unique. No one can tell you how to use your time.
It is yours. Your life is your own. You mold it. You make it.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Individuality is founded in feeling; and the recesses
of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character,
are the only places in the world in which
we catch real fact in the making.

William James

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:
This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think,
feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole
complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away!
Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't
fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me
to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.
When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad--
you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.

Stacey Charter

This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the
individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.
And this I would fight for: The freedom of the mind
to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this
I must fight against: Any idea, religion, or government
which limits or destroys the individual.

John Steinbeck

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are,
what you believe, shine through every sentence
you write, every piece you finish.

John Jakes

Had I to carve an inscription on my tombstone
I would ask for none other than "The Individual."

Søren Kierkegaard

Articles and book excerpts on individuality:

Getting away from Comparisons Alan Loy McGinnis

Individuality is freedom lived.

John Dos Passos

I think everyone is unique. We know that. The only way you find out what you are
is by trying everything, and then at some point you take what you are, which
is unique. Don't ever try to mimic anybody, because you will only be second best.
You can never outshine the thing you are trying to mimic, so don't ever do that.
Don't idol worship. Finally, be yourself. Then you are going to be really unique and
exciting. People are going to beat a path to your door if you polish your inner self.

Robert D. Ballard

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I am shocked to have discovered this morning that I am the only me there is.
I think this is the key to everything--compassion, kindness, trust of life, mystery.
A genuine and not inflated sense of importance and self-value. I've spent most
of my life comparing myself to other men. Are they ahead of me in Forbes? Do
they sit on more powerful boards? Are they smarter? Sexier? Do they have
more hair? And all the time there is this other way of seeing things. I am not one
of the motors my company produces by the hundreds of thousands. I am
handmade. Less than perfect but more a work of creation than a product of
technology. And I am not alone in this. Everyone is the only "me" there is.

unattributed (an unknown cancer survivor)
related by Rachel Naomi Remen

You were born an original. Don't die a copy.

John Mason

We are all born originals. Why is it
so many of us die copies?

Edward Young

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