ALEXANDER: They say he is a very man per se
And stands alone.
CRESSIDA: So do all men unless they are drunk, sick,
or have no legs.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 19ff (1.2.19-22) (1602)
(Source)
Speaking of Ajax.
Quotations about:
stand alone
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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)
A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy, 7.4 (1961)
If ye would go up high, then use your own legs! Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people’s backs and heads!
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Thus Spoke Zarathustra [Also sprach Zarathustra], Part 4, ch. 73 (1883-85)
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
(Attributed)
