“You want to be yourself, idiosyncratic; the collective (school, rules, jobs, technology) wants you generic to the point of castration.”

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, book The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 54

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "You want to be yourself, idiosyncratic; the collective (school, rules, jobs, technology) wants you generic to the point…" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb?

Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo

Nassim Nicholas Taleb196

Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former t… 1960

Related quotes

“Honestly, I love this job — that’s not even some talking point. I love this job, and I want to keep this job. My kids are in school here in Michigan, and my family is here in Michigan.”

Joan Larsen (1968) United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit

POTUS election could have ‘huge’ impact on Mich. judges http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/04/potus-election-huge-impact-mich-judges/85424958/ (June 4, 2016)

“Having a sincere desire to want growth does not mean at that point you are committing yourself to growth.”

Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) American artist

Annotated Drawings by Eugene J. Martin: 1977-1978

“The point is you keep going. You want to. So all the things that make you want to are the point.”

Nick Hornby About a Boy

Source: About a Boy

“The way to control circumstances is to control the forces within yourself to make a greater man of yourself, and as you become greater and more competent, you will naturally gravitate into better circumstances. In this connection, we should remember that like attracts like. If you want that which is better, make yourself better. If you want to realize the ideal, make yourself more ideal. If you want better friends, make yourself a better friend. If you want to associate with people of worth, make yourself more worthy. If you want to meet that which is agreeable, make yourself more agreeable. If you want to enter conditions and circumstances that are more pleasing, make yourself more pleasing. In brief, whatever you want, produce that something in yourself, and you will positively gravitate towards the corresponding conditions in the external world.”

Christian D. Larson (1874–1962) Prolific author of metaphysical and New Thought books

Source: Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912), Chapter 3, p. 49

“I think if you want to make art, at some point you have to suspend judgment, and you have to involve yourself with play and not worry about the outcome.”

Richard Serra (1939) American sculptor

Charlie Rose interview (2001)

“There are times when you don't know yourself. There are times when you don't want to know yourself. There are times when you want to be what you have never allowed yourself to be before.”

Aidan Chambers (1934) British children's writer

Source: This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn

“In general, they do what you want, unless you want consistency.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

In the perl man page.
Documentation

“Generally, you can be humble only if you feel really good about yourself — and you want to help those around you feel really good about themselves.”

Clayton M. Christensen (1952–2020) Mormon academic

Christensen (2011) in: Harvard Business Review (2011) HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself. p. 12
2010s

“You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

1980s–1990s, Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)

Related topics