“In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.”

—  Edward Abbey

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)

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Edward Abbey photo
Edward Abbey146
American author and essayist 1927–1989

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“In the land of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, one brave and honest man is bound to create a scandal.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Source: Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

Jawaharlal Nehru photo

“The general Muslim outlook was thus one of Muslim nationalism or Muslim internationalism, and not of true nationalism. … On the other hand, the Hindu idea of nationalism was definitely one of Hindu nationalism. It was not easy in this case (as it was in the case of the Muslims) to draw a sharp line between this Hindu nationalism and true nationalism. The two overlapped, as India is the only home of the Hindus and they form a majority there.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

Nehru, quoted in Religion, Caste, and Politics in India by C. Jaffrelot

Edward R. Murrow photo

“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”

Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) Television journalist

Wallace Stevens photo

“The sun, that brave man,
Comes through boughs that lie in wait,
That brave man.

Green and gloomy eyes
In dark forms of the grass
Run away.

The good stars,
Pale helms and spiky spurs,
Run away.

Fears of my bed,
Fears of life and fears of death,
Run away.

That brave man comes up
From below and walks without meditation,
That brave man.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

"The Brave Man"
Ideas of Order (1936)

Larry Flynt photo

“Majority rule will only work if you're considering individual rights. You can't have five wolves and one sheep vote on what they want to have for supper”

Larry Flynt (1942) American publisher

[Carol LLoyd, Flynt's revenge http://www.salon.com/news/1999/02/cov_23newsa.html, Salon, 1999-02-23]

George Carlin photo

“We are a nation of sheep, and
someone else owns the grass.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“Nationalism is a state of mind permeating the large majority of the people and claiming to permeate all its members; it recognises the nation-State as the ideal form of political organization and the nationality as the source of all creative cultural energy and economic well-being. The supreme loyalty of man is therefore due to his nationality, as his own life is supposedly rooted in and made possible by its welfare.”

Hans Kohn (1891–1971) American historian

Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism, Macmillan, 1961 (p.16). Also quoted in Andrew Vincent, Modern Political Ideologies, Wiley, 2009 (p.318).

Andrew Jackson photo

“One man with courage makes a majority.”

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) American general and politician, 7th president of the United States

However, see also the attributed quote "desperate courage makes One a majority."
Attributed to Jackson by Robert F. Kennedy in his "Foreword" to the "Young Readers Memorial Edition" of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, and by Ronald Reagan in nominating Robert Bork to the US Supreme Court, this has never been found in Jackson's writings, and there is no record of him having declared it. Somewhat similar statements are known to have been made by others:
A man with God is always in the majority. ~ John Knox
Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one. ~ Henry David Thoreau
One on God's side is a majority ~ Wendell Phillips
Misattributed

“A group of sheep leading by one lion can defeat a group of lion leading by one sheep.”

Christian Canlubo (2002) Filipino Internet Entrepreneur

Source: https://web.facebook.com/canlubochristian5 | Christian Canlubo personal Facebook account

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