Herds Quotes

• Always drink upstream from the herd.

  Will Rogers

  Funny, Leadership, Drinking

  "The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers". "Friars Club Bible of Jokes, Pokes, Roasts, and Toasts". Book by Nina Colman, p. 316, 2001.

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• Following the herd is fine, until they all run off the side of a cliff together.

  Glenn Beck

  Running, Spiritual, Atheist

  "Glenn Beck: Don't follow herd on the economy" by Glenn Beck, edition.cnn.com. February 28, 2008.

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• Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

  Bertrand Russell

  Xenophobia, Fear, Racism

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.70, Routledge

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• If all you do is follow the herd, you'll just be stepping in poop all day

  Wayne Dyer

  Poop, Ifs

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• Habit rules the unreflecting herd.

  William Wordsworth

  Reflection, Peer Pressure, Habit

  'Grant that by this' (1822)

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• The herd instinct among forecasters makes sheep look like independent thinkers.

  Edgar Fiedler

  Business, Mistake, Independent

  Across the Board The Three Rs of Economic Forecasting-Irrational, Irrelevant and Irreverent June 1977

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• In conditions of uncertainty, humans, like other animals, herd together for protection.

  James Surowiecki

  Animal, Together, Protection

  "That Uncertain Feeling" by James Surowiecki, www.newyorker.com. September 1, 2008.

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• But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much.

  John Dryden

  Leadership, Thinking, Literature

  'Absalom and Achitophel' (1681) pt. 1, l. 533

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• Once the herd starts moving in one direction, it's very hard to turn it, even slightly.

  Dan Rather

  Moving, One Direction, Literature

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• Like the herd animals we are, we sniff warily at the strange one among us.

  Loren Eiseley

  Freedom, Animal, Differences

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• You just never give up, no matter how hard the challenges are, and observe this world with a healthy dose of criticism and don't just follow the herd like somebody else might do.

  Renny Harlin

  Giving Up, Healthy, Challenges

  Interview with Kenneth Plume, www.ign.com. April 27, 2001.

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• Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Science, Individuality, Individual Morality

  'Die fröhliche Wissenschaft' (1882) bk. 3, sect. 116

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• Herd pressure is to be judged by two things: first, its intensity, and second, its direction.

  Bertrand Russell

  Two, Pressure, Firsts

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Education and the Social Order”, p.62, Routledge

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• The ideal citizen of a tyrannical state is the man or woman who bows in silent obedience in exchange for the status of a well-cared-for herd animal. Thinking people become the tyrants' worst enemies.

  Claire Wolfe

  Animal, Men, Thinking

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• Politics is concerned with herds rather than with individuals, and the passions which are important in politics are, therefore, those in which the various members of a given herd can feel alike.

  Bertrand Russell

  Passion, Important, Individual

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Human Society in Ethics and Politics”, p.172, Routledge

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• Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

  George S. Patton

  Leadership, Military, Bad Ass

  "Pocket Patriot: Quotes from American Heroes". Book edited by Kelly Nickell, p. 157, 2005.

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• The goal is to keep the bewildered herd bewildered. It's unnecessary for them to trouble themselves with what's happening in the world. In fact, it's undesirable - if they see too much of reality they may set themselves to change it.

  Noam Chomsky

  Reality, Goal, World

  Noam Chomsky (2011). “How the World Works”, p.69, Soft Skull Press

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• Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Men, Thinking

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.106, Routledge

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• It is always easiest to run with the herd; at times, it can take a deep reservoir of courage and conviction to stand apart from it. Yet distancing yourself from the crowd is an essential component of long-term investment success.

  Seth Klarman

  Running, Investment Success, Long

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• Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

  Charles Mackay

  Men, Thinking, Mad

  Charles Mackay (1841). “Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions”, p.3

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• The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Greatness, Vanity, Needs

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• It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.

  Henry Miller

  Unique, Egalitarianism, Vices

  Henry Miller (1941). “The Wisdom of the Heart”, p.49, New Directions Publishing

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• The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.

  Archibald MacLeish

  Freedom, Thinking, Patriotism

  "In Praise of Dissent". New York Times, December 16, 1956.

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• Lions, wolves, and vultures don't live together in herds, droves or flocks. Of all animals of prey, man is the only sociable one. Every one of us preys upon his neighbor, and yet we herd together.

  John Gay

  Men, Animal, Together

  John Gay (1791). “The Beggar's Opera: A Comic Opera”, p.73

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• You look at a herd of cattle and well, they all look the same... but they know. They all have an individual personality, and those personalities change from day to day. They can have their grumpy days and their happy days and their serene days. But it's unpredictable. You can't be off in outer space when you're dealing with animals.

  Chris Cooper

  Animal, Space, Personality

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