WIST Quotations

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 3, st. 113 (1816)

Dave — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:28:41 +0000

I have not loved the World, nor the World me;
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed
To its idolatries a patient knee,
Nor coined my cheek to smiles, — nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo: in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such — I stood
Among them, but not of them — in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 3, st. 113 (1816)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Dave — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:47:08 +0000

Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Vaughan, Bill -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

William E. "Bill" Vaughan (1915-1977) American columnist, humorist [pseud. Burton Hillis]
(Attributed)