quotes, quotations and passages on individuality

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

Michel de Montaigne

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

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 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 unidentified cancer survivor) related by Rachel Naomi Remen

Individuality is freedom lived.

John Dos Passos

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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

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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

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

Søren Kierkegaard

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

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

Articles and book excerpts on individuality:

Getting away from Comparisons Alan Loy McGinnis

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

The first and most important thing individuals can do is to become individuals
again, decontrol themselves, train themselves as to what is going on and win
back as much independent ground for themselves as possible.

William S. Burroughs

Maybe someone in your life has said hurtful things about your personality,
your appearance, or your abilities and you've altered yourself for their
approval. Understand, just because somebody says something about you,
doesn't make it true. Just as I told my friend, I'm telling you today: You are
created in the image of Almighty God and He gave you the gifts and
personality you have for a purpose. You may not be like everyone else, but
that's okay. Be who God made you to be and do not be defined
by the opinions of other people.

Victoria Osteen

Since the beginning of time, never has there been another with my mind,
my heart, my eyes, my ears, my hands, my hair, my mouth. None that came
before, none that live today, and none that come tomorrow can walk and
talk and move and think exactly like me. All people are my brothers
and sisters yet I am different from each. I am a unique creature.

Og Mandino
The Greatest Salesman in the World

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

Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are
uncommonly and marvelously intricate in thought and action.

Alice Childress

If you violate the true nature of individuals, they will suffer and in
some ways die. Accept and nourish individuality in yourself and
others, and you will harvest a rich gathering of talent and stimulation.

Vivian Elisabeth Glyck
12 Lessons on Life I Learned from My Garden

Each one of us is God's special work of art,
a painting like no other in all of time.

Joni Eareckson Tada

I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone
has taught me--shapes and ideas so near to me--so natural to my way
of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down.
I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Every human being must have a point at which he or she stands
against the culture, where they say, this is me and the
damned world can go to hell.

Rollo May