My characteristics as a scientist stem from a non-conformist upbringing, a sense of being something of an outsider, and looking for different perceptions in everything from novels, to art to experimental results. I like complexity and am delighted by the unexpected. Ideas interest me.

Peter C. Doherty

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

Abbie Hoffman

Originals are nonconformists, people who not only have new ideas but take action to champion them. They are people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world. They're the people you want to bet on.

Adam Grant

We all have original ideas. Even if we don't see ourselves as supercreative or as wild nonconformists, we have insights every day about how the world around us could be better. It might be a better way of running meetings in your office that would be less mind-numbing. It might be a little twist on a product or a service.

Adam Grant

It's true that every leader needs followers. We can't all be nonconformists at every moment, but conformity is dangerous - especially for an entity in formation.

Adam Grant

It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.

Albert Einstein

We can raise our sights high when we're willing to break free from being conformists who live a conventional life simply because we are too afraid to express our uniqueness.

Alexandra Stoddard

I think that certainly the artists of the '40s, '50s and '60s were fighting a very conformist society, which didn't give them enough space to live or create, and they were bucking all kinds of spoken and unspoken rules.

Anne Roiphe

There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.

Ayn Rand

What always made me proud - almost blushing with pride - is that Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg all told me that 'The Conformist' is their first modern influence.

Bernardo Bertolucci

The conformist understands that the reason of his desperate look for conformism is that he realises he is different and that he never accepted his difference.

Bernardo Bertolucci

I wanted to have a reaction from the audience. I wanted to be able to talk to somebody, and not be talking just to myself. That's when I did 'The Conformist,' 'Last Tango in Paris,' etc. And I found it was incredibly rewarding, something new.

Bernardo Bertolucci

We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep and conformists.

Bill Maher

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.

Bill Vaughan

My parents aren't really conformists.

Billy Howle

I'm a total nonconformist; for me, it's about going down rabbit holes.

Bryson DeChambeau

The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.

Colin Wilson

School is very conformist, and one of the very first conforming that goes on in preschool and kindergarten is gender.

Dan Savage

When someone is good at what he does but is a nonconformist, there is a temptation in horse racing, like in all kinds of other areas of human endeavor, to dismiss him for his nonconformity rather than to recognize him for his excellence.

David Milch

Communism was something so hideous that you had to be an exceptional conformist or a fool not to see the evil around you.

Donald Tusk

My spirituality and my beliefs are way beyond any superstition - I'm not a conformist - and I do have a scientific outlook towards religion. Our body is made up of different elements, and certain stones help align these elements.

Ekta Kapoor