The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Self-direction
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau Walden · 1849

Quotes

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Steve Jobs · Stanford Commencement Address, 2005 · Primary source

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“I desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible; but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father’s or his mother’s or his neighbor’s instead. The youth may build or plant or sail, only let him not be hindered from doing that which he tells me he would like to do.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing.”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

Related Tags

Authenticity 8 Individual choice 1 Mortality 30 Social pressure 6 Individuality 13 Nonconformity 14 Personal pace 1 Independence 29 Aspiration 12 Purpose 30 Confidence 2 Deliberate living 3 Personal conviction 1 Intuition 7 Personal development 4 Discovery 6 Personal vocation 1 Expectations 1 Personal responsibility 4