A Cow Standing in the Rain

Something about this funny Shoebox cartoon that speaks to me about being a nonconformist. So much of my work life I conformed to the image that I had about the expectations of the company that I worked for. Only part of that expectation involved clothes.. and yes I dutifully wore a tie in those days. I wonder how many corporate executives or even religious leaders could be labeled as conformists. Seems like the great ones were not.

Here are a few thoughts about it:

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

Every society honors its live conformists, and its dead troublemakers. -Mignon McLaughlin

You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. -Doug Floyd

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. -Mark Twain

The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself. -Rita Mae Brown