A man of active and resilient mind outwears his friendships just as certainly as he outwears his love affairs, his politics and his epistemology.
H. L. MenckenRead
Or about how when you're a child, to stop you from following the crowd you're assaulted with the line "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?" but when you're an adult and to be different is suddenly a crime, people seem to be saying, "Hey. Everyone else is jumping off a bridge. Why aren't you?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the contradictory societal pressures regarding conformity and individuality across different life stages.
In this thought-provoking quote, Steve Toltz highlights the irony of how societal expectations shift from discouraging conformity in childhood to promoting it in adulthood. The metaphor of jumping off a bridge serves to illustrate the inherent tension between the desire to fit in and the value of standing out, ultimately questioning the standards by which we navigate social behavior.
Themes
ConformityIndividualitySocietyPressureAdulthood
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about innovation in the workplace, one could say this quote to inspire employees to think outside the box.
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