Sometimes it seems the only accomplishment my education ever bestowed on me was the ability to think in quotations.
Margaret DrabbleRead
Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often prioritize fitting in with others over recognizing the truth.
This quote by Margaret Drabble suggests that the human tendency to conform and align with social norms often overshadows the value of objective truth and facts. It highlights the conflict between societal pressure and individual understanding, indicating that people may disregard reality in order to belong or be accepted by a group.
Themes
ConformityTruthSocietyFactsPressure
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about social media influences, this quote can highlight how peer pressure often leads to misinformation.
More from Margaret Drabble
All quotes βFamily life itself, that safest, most traditional, most approved of female choices, is not a sanctuary: It is, perpetually, a dangerous place.
Margaret DrabbleRead
I'd rather be at the end of a dying tradition, which I admire, than at the beginning of a tradition which I deplore.
Margaret DrabbleRead
Similar quotes
I used to analyze myself down to the last thread, used to compare myself with others, recalled all the smallest glances, smiles and words of those to whom Iβd tried to be frank, interpreted everything in a bad light, laughed viciously at my attempts βto be like the restβ βand suddenly, in the midst of my laughing, Iβd give way to sadness, fall into ludicrous despondency and once again start the whole process all over again β in short, I went round and round like a squirrel on a wheel.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth β that God governs in the affairs of men.
Benjamin FranklinRead
I remained a socialist for several years, even after my rejection of Marxism; and if there could be such a thing as socialism combined with individual liberty, I would be a socialist still. For nothing could be better than living a modest, simple, and free life in an egalitarian society.
Karl PopperRead
Who controls the past now controls the future._x000D_ Who controls the present now controls the past._x000D_ Who controls the past now controls the future._x000D_ Who controls the present now?
Zack De La RochaRead
It is a curve each of them feels, unmistakably. It is the parabola. They must have guessed, once or twice - guessed and refused to believe - that everything, always, collectively, had been moving toward that purified shape latent in the sky, that shape of no surprise, no second chance, no return. Yet they do move forever under it, reserved for its own black-and-white bad news certainly as if it were the rainbow, and they its children...
Thomas PynchonRead
All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.
George SantayanaRead