Quotes about crowd
page 4

Henry Abbey photo
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Joel Barlow photo
Matthew Lewis (writer) photo
Roy Campbell (poet) photo
Howard Scott photo
Richard Nixon photo
Max Beerbohm photo
Martin Rushent photo
Vin Scully photo
A.E. Housman photo
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti photo
Jeremy Corbyn photo
Eli Siegel photo
Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Thomas Haynes Bayly photo

“We met,—'t was in a crowd.”

Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839) English poet, songwriter, dramatist, and writer

We met, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Parodied by Thomas Hood: We met,—'t was in a mob.

Federico García Lorca photo

“The wounds were burning like suns
at five in the afternoon,
and the crowd broke the windows
At five in the afternoon.
Ah, that fatal five in the afternoon!
It was five by all the clocks!
It was five in the shade of the afternoon!”

Las heridas quemaban como soles
a las cinco de la tarde,
y el gentío rompía las ventanas
a las cinco de la tarde.
A las cinco de la tarde.
¡Ay qué terribles cinco de la tarde!
¡Eran las cinco en todos los relojes!
¡Eran las cinco en sombra de la tarde!
Llanto por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias (1935)

David Smith (rower) photo
Chris Hedges photo

“As I looked out on the crowd, I was witnessing things I had witnessed in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina or in squares in Belgrade… it breaks my heart when I see it in my country.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

New York Times Reporter, Chris Hedges was Booed off the Stage and had his Microphone Cut Twice as he Delivered a Graduation Speech on War and Empire at Rockford College in Illinois. https://www.democracynow.org/2003/5/21/new_york_times_reporter_chris_hedges

George Eliot photo
Everett Dean Martin photo
Samuel Johnson photo

“I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.”

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 26

George William Russell photo

“Business today consists in persuading crowds.”

Gerald Stanley Lee (1862–1944) Americna minister

Book II, Chapter V.
Crowds (1913)

Justin Heazlewood photo
Anna Akhmatova photo

“Such grief might make the mountain stoop,
reverse the waters where they flow,
but cannot burst these ponderous bolts
that block us from the prison cells
crowded with mortal woe…”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

The mountains bow before this anguish,
The great river does not flow.
In mortal sadness the convicts languish;
The bolts stay frozen.
Translated by D. M. Thomas
Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), Dedication

Conrad Aiken photo
Ludovico Ariosto photo

“No man can know by whom he's truly loved
When high on Fortune's wheel he sits, serene.
His friends surround him, true and false, unproved,
And the same loyalty in all is seen.
When to catastrophe the wheel is moved
The crowd of flatterers passes from the scene;
But he who loves his lord with all his heart
Remains, nor after death does he depart.”

Alcun non può saper da chi sia amato,
Quando felice in su la ruota siede:
Però c'ha i veri e i finti amici a lato,
Che mostran tutti una medesma fede.
Se poi si cangia in tristo il lieto stato,
Volta la turba adulatrice il piede;
E quel che di cor ama riman forte,
Ed ama il suo signor dopo la morte.
Canto XIX, stanza 1 (tr. B. Reynolds)
Orlando Furioso (1532)

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom photo
Jeb Bush photo
Roger Raveel photo

“That I started [in the creation of his art] from my immediate environment was extremely important to me. Only the things I knew, with which I was familiar, which I had caught on their reality value, I could approach free of extra-pictorial aesthetics and pale romanticism. Of course the question remained how I - who wanted to involve modern life in my art - could continue to seek my inspiration at Machelen-aan-de-Leie, a village in the countryside, far from the city and the crowds. Where can one sense better the infiltration of modern life than in a village in the countryside? In the city everything gets integrated immediately, you can't see clearly the insulating and contrasting-alienating effect of publicity, the gas-station, the concrete, the car, etc. On the other hand, I keep saying that we must continue to see the grass, the corn and the cows. Not within an animistic unity, but from a mentality that has the courage to approach these things freely and ruthless in our era. What ordinary people make out of life is fascinating me.”

Roger Raveel (1921–2013) painter

Dat ik [met het maken van mijn kunst] vertrok uit mijn onmiddellijke omgeving vond ik uiterst belangrijk. Alleen de dingen die ik kende, waarmee ik vertrouwd was, die ik op hun werkelijkheidswaarde had betrapt konden vrij van extra-picturale esthetiek en van bleek romantisme door mij benaderd worden. De vraag bleef natuurlijk hoe ik, die het moderne leven in mijn kunst wou betrekken, mijn inspiratie kon blijven zoeken te Machelen-aan-de-Leie, een dorp op het platteland, ver van de stad en van de drukte. Waar kan men beter het infiltreren van het moderne leven gewaar worden dan in een dorp op het platteland? In de stad wordt alles onmiddellijk geïntegreerd, ziet men niet zo scherp de isolerende en tevens contrasterend-bevreemdende werking van de publiciteit, het benzinestation, het beton, de auto, enz. Aan de andere kant blijf ik ervan overtuigd dat ook het gras, het koren en de koe nog moeten gezien worden. Niet binnen een animistische eenheid, maar wel vanuit een mentaliteit die vrij en meedogenloos deze dingen in ons tijdperk nog zou durven benaderen. Wat de gewone man van het leven maakt, dat boeit mij.
Quote of Raveel, 1969, in the text 'In gesprek met mezelf' ('In conversation with myself'), in the exhibition-catalog of his exhibition in 'De Hallen' (museum in Haarlem, The Netherlands; as cited by Ludo Bekkers in 'Roger Raveel en zijn keuze uit het Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Gent' http://www.tento.be/sites/default/files/tijdschrift/pdf/OKV1975/Roger%20Raveel%20en%20zijn%20keuze%20uit%20het%20Museum%20voor%20Schone%20Kunsten%20in%20Gent.pdf, Dutch art-magazine 'Openbaar Kunstbezit', Jan/Maart 1975, p. 3-4
1960's

Martin Rushent photo
Neamat Imam photo
Mickey Spillane photo
John Hall photo
Paula Modersohn-Becker photo
Max Beerbohm photo

“A crowd, proportionately to its size, magnifies all that in its units pertains to the emotions, and diminishes all that in them pertains to thought.”

Max Beerbohm (1872–1956) English writer

Source: Zuleika Dobson http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/zdbsn11.txt (1911), Ch. IX

James Jeans photo
Everett Dean Martin photo

“Crowd mentality is a kind of simultaneous psychosis which may take possession of any group.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: Farewell to Revolution (1935), p. xi, Foreword

David Attenborough photo
Francis Parkman photo
Marco Girolamo Vida photo

“When first to man the privilege was given
To hold by verse an intercourse with Heaven,
Unwilling that the immortal art should lie
Cheap, and exposed to every vulgar eye,
Great Jove, to drive away the groveling crowd,
To narrow bounds confined the glorious road,
For more exalted spirits to pursue,
And left it open to the sacred few.”

Principio quoniam magni commercia coeli Numina concessere homini, cui carmina curae, Ipse Deum genitor divinam noluit artem Omnibus expositam vulgo, immeritisque patere: Atque ideo, turbam quo longe arceret inertem, Angustam esse viam voluit, paucisque licere.

Marco Girolamo Vida (1485–1566) Italian bishop

Book III, line 358
De Arte Poetica (1527)

Bill Downs photo
Reince Priebus photo

“It's really not about crowd size.”

Reince Priebus (1972) American attorney and politician; White House Chief of Staff, January – July 2017

On Donald Trump's inauguration attendance versus Barack Obama's Priebus: 'Not About Crowd Size...What It's About Is Honesty in the Media' http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/priebus-not-about-crowd-sizewhat-its-about-honesty-media (January 23, 2017)

Jay Samit photo

“No leader got there by following another's path. Better to walk alone than follow a crowd going in the wrong direction.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Source: Disrupt You! (2015), p.241

Mahmud of Ghazni photo

“The battle raged with great fury: victory was long doubtful, till two Indian princes, Brahman Dew and Dabishleem, with other reinforcements, joined their countrymen during the action, and inspired them with fresh courage. Mahmood at this moment perceiving his troops to waver, leaped from his horse, and, prostrating himself before God implored his assistance' At the same time he cheered his troops with such energy, that, ashamed to abandon their king, with whom they had so often fought and bled, they, with one accord, gave a loud shout and rushed forwards. In this charge the Moslems broke through the enemy's line, and laid 5,000 Hindus dead at their feet' On approaching the temple, he saw a superb edifice built of hewn stone. Its lofty roof was supported by fifty-six pillars curiously carved and set with precious stones. In the centre of the hall was Somnat, a stone idol five yards in height, two of which were sunk in the ground. The King, approaching the image, raised his mace and struck off its nose. He ordered two pieces of the idol to be broken off and sent to Ghizny, that one might be thrown at the threshold of the public mosque, and the other at the court door of his own palace. These identical fragments are to this day (now 600 years ago) to be seen at Ghizny. Two more fragments were reserved to be sent to Mecca and Medina. It is a well authenticated fact, that when Mahmood was thus employed in destroying this idol, a crowd of Brahmins petitioned his attendants and offered a quantity of gold if the King would desist from further mutilation. His officers endeavoured to persuade him to accept of the money; for they said that breaking one idol would not do away with idolatry altogether; that, therefore, it could serve no purpose to destroy the image entirely; but that such a sum of money given in charity among true believers would be a meritorious act. The King acknowledged that there might be reason in what they said, but replied, that if he should consent to such a measure, his name would be handed down to posterity as 'Mahmood the idol-seller', whereas he was desirous of being known as 'Mahmood the destroyer': he therefore directed the troops to proceed in their work'…'The Caliph of Bagdad, being informed of the expedition of the King of Ghizny, wrote him a congratulatory letter, in which he styled him 'The Guardian of the State, and of the Faith'; to his son, the Prince Ameer Musaood, he gave the title of 'The Lustre of Empire, and the Ornament of Religion'; and to his second son, the Ameer Yoosoof, the appellation of 'The Strength of the Arm of Fortune, and Establisher of Empires.”

Mahmud of Ghazni (971–1030) Sultan of Ghazni

He at the same time assured Mahmood, that to whomsoever he should bequeath the throne at his death, he himself would confirm and support the same.'
Tarikh-i-Firishta, translated into English by John Briggs under the title History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, 4 Volumes, New Delhi Reprint, 1981. p. 38-49 (Alternative translation: "but the champion of Islam replied with disdain that he did not want his name to go down to posterity as Mahmud the idol-seller (but farosh) instead of Mahmud the breaker-of-idols (but shikan)." in Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 3)
Sack of Somnath (1025 CE)

Pliny the Younger photo

“A certain large collective wisdom resides in a crowd, as such; and men whose individual judgement is defective are excellent judges when grouped together.”
In numero ipso est quoddam magnum collatumque consilium, quibusque singulis iudicii parum, omnibus plurimum.

Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer

Letter 17, 10.
Letters, Book VII

Tim Powers photo
Marsha Norman photo
Bill Clinton photo
Koenraad Elst photo
John F. Kennedy photo

“High in the sky is a bird on a wing
Please carry me with you
Far far away from the mad rushing crowd
Please carry me with you”

Tom Springfield (1934) English musician, songwriter and record producer

Song Island of Dreams.

Garth Brooks photo
Kenneth Grahame photo
William Winwood Reade photo
Pearl S.  Buck photo
James A. Garfield photo
Bob Dylan photo

“I'm gonna spare the defeated—I'm gonna speak to the crowd
I'm gonna spare the defeated, boys, I'm going to speak to the crowd
I am goin' to teach peace to the conquered
I'm gonna tame the proud”

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

Compare: "But yours will be the rulership of nations, / remember Roman, these will be your arts: / to teach the ways of peace to those you conquer, / to spare defeated peoples, tame the proud." The Aeneid of Virgil: A Verse Translation by Allen Mandelbaum, 6.1134–1137.
Song lyrics, Love and Theft (2001), Lonesome Day Blues

Antonin Scalia photo
Sören Kierkegaard photo
Leszek Kolakowski photo
Kathleen Hanna photo
Jahangir photo

“On the 24th of the same month I went to see the fort of Kangra, and gave an order that the Qazi, the Chief Justice (Mir'Adl), and other learned men of Islam should accompany me and carry out in the fort whatever was customary, according to the religion of Muhammad. Briefly, having traversed about one koss, I went up to the top of the fort, and by the grace of God, the call to prayer and the reading of the Khutba and the slaughter of a bullock which had not taken place from the commencement of the building of the fort till now, were carried out in my presence. I prostrated myself in thanksgiving for this great gift, which no king had hoped to receive, and ordered a lofty mosque to be built inside the fort' ….'After going round the fort I went to see the temple of Durga, which is known as Bhawan. A world has here wandered in the desert of error. Setting aside the infidels whose custom is the worship of idols, crowds of the people of Islam, traversing long distances, bring their offerings and pray to the black stone (image)' Some maintain that this stone, which is now a place of worship for the vile infidels, is not the stone which was there originally, but that a body of the people of Islam came and carried off the original stone, and threw it into the bottom of the river, with the intent that no one could get at it. For a long time the tumult of the infidels and idol-worshippers had died away in the world, till a lying brahman hid a stone for his own ends, and going to the Raja of the time said: 'I saw Durga in a dream, and she said to me: They have thrown me into a certain place: quickly go and take me up.”

Jahangir (1569–1627) 4th Mughal Emperor

The Raja, in the simplicity of his heart, and greedy for the offerings of gold that would come to him, accepted the tale of the brahman and sent a number of people with him, and brought that stone, and kept it in this place with honour, and started again the shop of error and misleading
Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) , Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, translated into English by Alexander Rogers, first published 1909-1914, New Delhi Reprint, 1978, Vol. II, pp. 223-25.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi photo
Umberto Boccioni photo

“.. the moving whirlwind of modernity through its crowds, its cars, its telegraph poles, its bare, working-class neighbourhoods, its noises, its squeals, its violence, its cruelty, its cynicism, and its relentless pushiness.”

Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916) Italian painter and sculptor

In Futurism, ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008.
1914 - 1916, Pittura e scultura futuriste' Milan, 1914

Everett Dean Martin photo

“Crowd men have no sense of humor. It is very difficult to educate solemn and opinionated people.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926), p. 89

Sinclair Lewis photo
Courtney Love photo
Edward O. Wilson photo
Ellen Kushner photo
Leo Tolstoy photo
Jeanette Winterson photo
KT Tunstall photo
Roger Waters photo

“I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning But ooh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning.”

Roger Waters (1943) English songwriter, bassist, and lyricist of Pink Floyd

"The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)", on Radio K.A.O.S. (1987) - Full lyrics at LyricWiki http://lyrics.wikia.com/Roger_Waters:The_Tide_Is_Turning_(After_Live_Aid) · Tour performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66nqhVtq6xo · Video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTvWJWeQ2g Live in Berlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFWCAYPWFbs

Edgar Rice Burroughs photo
Richard K. Morgan photo
Bill Hicks photo
Bel Kaufmanová photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Anna Laetitia Barbauld photo

“With Thee in shady solitudes I walk,
With Thee in busy, crowded cities talk;
In every creature own Thy forming power,
In each event Thy providence adore.”

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) English author

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 433.

Edith Sitwell photo
Everett Dean Martin photo
Émile Durkheim photo

“Opinion is steadily inclining towards making the division of labor an imperative rule of conduct, to present it as a duty. Those who shun it are not punished precise penalty fixed by law, it is true; but they are blamed. The time has passed when the perfect man was he who appeared interested in everything without attaching himself exclusively to anything, capable of tasting and understanding everything finding means to unite and condense in himself all that was most exquisite in civilization. … We want activity, instead of spreading itself over a large area, to concentrate and gain in intensity what it loses in extent. We distrust those excessively mobile talents that lend themselves equally to all uses, refusing to choose a special role and keep to it. We disapprove of those men whose unique care is to organize and develop all their faculties, but without making any definite use of them, and without sacrificing any of them, as if each man were sufficient unto himself, and constituted an independent world. It seems to us that this state of detachment and indetermination has something anti-social about it. The praiseworthy man of former times is only a dilettante to us, and we refuse to give dilettantism any moral value; we rather see perfection in the man seeking, not to be complete, but to produce; who has a restricted task, and devotes himself to it; who does his duty, accomplishes his work. “To perfect oneself,” said Secrétan, “is to learn one's role, to become capable of fulfilling one's function... The measure of our perfection is no longer found in our complacence with ourselves, in the applause of a crowd, or in the approving smile of an affected dilettantism, but in the sum of given services and in our capacity to give more.””

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) French sociologist (1858-1917)

[Le principe de la morale, p. 189] … We no longer think that the exclusive duty of man is to realize in himself the qualities of man in general; but we believe he must have those pertaining to his function. … The categorical imperative of the moral conscience is assuming the following form: Make yourself usefully fulfill a determinate function.
Source: The Division of Labor in Society (1893), pp. 42-43.