Individuals Quotes

“I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg. Why? Because each of us is an egg, a unique soul enclosed in a fragile egg. Each of us is confronting a high wall. The high wall is the system which forces us to do the things we would not ordinarily see fit to do as individuals . . . We are all human beings, individuals, fragile eggs. We have no hope against the wall: it's too high, too dark, too cold. To fight the wall, we must join our souls together for warmth, strength. We must not let the system control us -- create who we are. It is we who created the system. (Jerusalem Prize acceptance speech, JERUSALEM POST, Feb. 15, 2009)”
― Haruki Murakami

“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.”
― John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

“First, individual rights cannot be sacrificed for the sake of the general good, and second, the principles of justice that specify these rights cannot be premised on any particular vision of the good life. What justifies the rights is not that they maximize the general welfare or otherwise promote the good, but rather that they comprise a fair framework within which individuals and groups can choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others.”
― Michael J. Sandel, Liberalism and Its Critics

“Of all individuals, the hated, the shunned, and the peculiar are arguably most themselves. They wear no masks whatsoever in order to be accepted and liked; they do seem most guarded, but only by their own hands: as compared to the populace, they are naked.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Scopul existenței fiecărui individ este plăcerea și cine o contestă ori e ipocrit, ori imbecil.”
― Rodica Ojog-Braşoveanu, O toaletă à la Liz Taylor

“There is a certain way of being human that is my way. I am called upon to live my life in this way, and not in imitation of anyone else's life. But this notion gives a new importance to being true to myself. If I am not, I miss the point of my life; I miss what being human is for me.”
― Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism

“[E]ach of our voices has something unique to say. Not only should I not mold my life to the demands of external conformity; I can't even find the model by which to live outside myself. I can only find it within.”
― Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism

“You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world.”
― Andy Andrews, The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters

“Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“We are each individual, but the far greater thing is what we are together, and if that isn't protected and cherished, we are headed to a bad place.”
― Hank Green, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

“[E]ach person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.”
― John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

“The curious thing about individuals is that their singularity always goes beyond any category or generalization in the book.”
― Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes

“There is history the way Tolstoy imagined it, as a great, slow-moving weather system in which even tsars and generals are just leaves before the storm. And there is history the way Hollywood imagines it, as a single story line in which the right move by the tsar or the wrong move by the general changes everything. Most of us, deep down, are probably Hollywood people. We like to invent “what if” scenarios--what if x had never happened, what if y had happened instead?--because we like to believe that individual decisions make a difference: that, if not for x, or if only there had been y, history might have plunged forever down a completely different path. Since we are agents, we have an interest in the efficacy of agency.”
― Louis Menand

“We must know the whole play in order to properly act our parts; the conception of totality must never be lost in that of the individual.”
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea

“It turns out that indecision is a path itself; but figuratively, a vertical path - up or down - meaning it isn't always a fruitless path. One is forgotten, but the other is glorified. To be what they call 'middle-of-the-road' in most cases just means you have a hard time figuring out who between options is dumber. So quite often those who refused to decide were, after all, the bold individuals, the influential ones, the creative ones, those who snatched their own authority.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“The shape does not change. There was a human being who was born, lived, and then, by some means or another, died. There. you may fill in the details from your own experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as any other life. Lives are like snowflakes - forming patterns we have seen before, (...) but still unique.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

“[T]he state should not impose a preferred way of life, but should leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends, consistent with a similar liberty for others.”
― Michael J. Sandel, Liberalism and Its Critics

“When you have lived your individual life in your own adventurous way and then look back upon its course, you will find that you have lived a model human life, after all.”
― Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor

“All individuals have moral deficiencies, and when introducing these to reality one not only strengthens himself but also the confidence of others in the human exigency for Christ due to a reflection throughout the body of Christ.”
― Criss Jami, Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile

“... unfools of unbeing ... means quite clearly people who are too stereotyped to be eccentric – people who are too dead spiritually to exist at all and who call alive individual fools”
― Norman Friedman, E.E. Cummings: The Art of His Poetry

“The state does not oppose the freedom of people to express their particular cultural attachments, but nor does it nurture such expression—rather [...] it responds with 'benign neglect' [....] The members of ethnic and national groups are protected against discrimination and prejudice, and they are free to maintain whatever part of their ethnic heritage or identity they wish, consistent with the rights of others. But their efforts are purely private, and it is not the place of public agencies to attach legal identities or disabilities to cultural membership or ethnic identity. This separation of state and ethnicity precludes any legal or governmental recognition of ethnic groups, or any use of ethnic criteria in the distribution of rights, resources, and duties.”
― Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights

“I have always lived in a world in which I'm just a spot in history. My life is not the important point. I'm just part of the continuum, and that continuum, to me, is a marvelous thing. The history of life, and the history of the planet, should go on and on and on and on. I cannot conceive of anything in the universe that has more meaning than that."

[Sheri S. Tepper: Speaking to the Universe, Locus Magazine, September 1998]”
― Sheri S. Tepper

“It is all about the individual. And we can all become a better world if we become better, more loving individuals ourselves. There is no other way that will ever work better than love.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“...there is nothing so dangerous in its consequences as injustice to individuals- whether it arise from prejudice of color or from any other source; that a wrong done to one man is a wrong to society and to the world.”
― John Rollin Ridge, Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta: Celebrated California Bandit (Volume 4)

“We are both individuals and expressions of the universe. These are not mutually exclusive.”
― Brad Warner, Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master

“And if you hadn't seen, how would you know?
But if you had seen, you would never ask again.”
― Lowrey E. Gray, 42

“Each individual is linked not only to his biological ancestors but also to traditions of activity and information and thought and belief and value; nearly all of what anyone most distinctively and independently is he owes to many others. The taking over and passing on – with perhaps some changes – of a cultural inheritance is itself a part of the good life, and this too is a social relation to which there belong appropriate sorts of conflict as well as cooperation.”
― J.L. Mackie, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong

“No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individuals.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“The loss of freedom represents a profound threat to individuals and societies alike. It undermines fundamental human rights, stifles creativity and innovation, and erodes the foundations of democratic governance. When individuals are deprived of the ability to express themselves, make choices freely, or participate fully in civic life, the fabric of society weakens. Moreover, restrictions on freedom can lead to increased inequality, social unrest, and a diminished quality of life for all. Preserving and defending freedom is therefore not merely a matter of personal preference but a vital safeguard against tyranny and oppression, ensuring a future where dignity, justice, and progress prevail.”
― James William Steven Parker