To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
Each man must have his I; it is more necessary to him than bread; and if he does not find scope for it within the existing institutions he will be likely to make trouble.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Individuals need a personal identity to thrive; without it, they may create conflict.
In this quote, Charles Horton Cooley emphasizes the fundamental need for self-identity and recognition within societal structures. He suggests that every person requires a sense of self, akin to a necessity like food, and when traditional institutions fail to accommodate this identity, individuals may feel alienated and resort to disruptive behavior in search of fulfillment.
Themes
IdentitySelfSocietyConflictRecognitionIndividual
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth and self-awareness, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of finding one's identity.
More from Charles Horton Cooley
All quotes →If we divine a discrepancy between a man's words and his character, the whole impression of him becomes broken and painful; he revolts the imagination by his lack of unity, and even the good in him is hardly accepted.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
We have no higher life that is really apart from other people. It is by imagining them that our personality is built up; to be without the power of imagining them is to be a low-grade idiot.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
The imaginations which people have of one another are the solid facts of society.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves but the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
By recognizing a favorable opinion of yourself, and taking pleasure in it, you in a measure give yourself and your peace of mind into the keeping of another, of whose attitude you can never be certain. You have a new source of doubt and apprehension.
Charles Horton CooleyRead
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