--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Gregariousness is always the refuge of…" description: "\"Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Soloviev or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth, and they shun tho..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png" --- # Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities… ![“Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Soloviev or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth, and they shun those whose sole concern is not the truth.” quote by Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png) > “Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Soloviev or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth, and they shun those whose sole concern is not the truth.” [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mediocre people hide behind popular ideas; truth seekers avoid those indifferent to truth. **In simple terms:** Mediocrities hide behind trends; truth seekers avoid them. Key Takeaway Seek truth, reject superficial allegiance. Themes truth individualism mediocrity intellectual honesty Mood reflective critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic debate - political discourse - personal decision making Key Concepts philosophy critical thinking authenticity Questions to Reflect On - Do you prioritize truth over acceptance? - How do you identify genuine seekers? A Different Perspective Mediocrity can be socially reinforced, making isolation hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gregariousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gregariousness/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Mediocrities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mediocrities/) [Mediocrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mediocrity/) [Refuge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/refuge/) [Seek The Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seek-the-truth/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“Every herd is a refuge for giftlessness, whether it's a faith in Soloviev, or Kant, or Marx. Only the solitary seek the truth, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/every-herd-is-a-refuge-for-giftlessness-whether-it-s-a-faith-in/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [Only the solitary seek the truth, and they break with all those who don't love it sufficiently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/only-the-solitary-seek-the-truth-and-they-break-with-all-those-who/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [The American has dwindled into an Odd Fellow,-one who may be known by the development of his organ of gregariousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-american-has-dwindled-into-an-odd-fellow-one-who-may-be-known-by/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [There is something terribly wrong with a culture inebriated by noise and gregariousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-steiner/there-is-something-terribly-wrong-with-a-culture-inebriated-by-noise/) [George Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-steiner/) > [Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/love-is-essential-gregariousness-is-optional/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) > [A large family party is rather too much like a flight of tomtits; everlasting twitter, but no conversation; gregariousness without companionship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-buxton/a-large-family-party-is-rather-too-much-like-a-flight-of-tomtits/) [Charles Buxton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-buxton/) > [Kindness is a virtue neither modern nor urban. One almost unlearns it in a city. Towns have their own beatitude; they are not unfriendly;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-mcginley/kindness-is-a-virtue-neither-modern-nor-urban-one-almost-unlearns-it/) [Phyllis McGinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-mcginley/) > [“You're thinking about something, and it makes you forget to talk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-carroll/you-re-thinking-about-something-and-it-makes-you-forget-to-talk/) [Lewis Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-carroll/) > [Trust is the core of human relationships, of gregariousness among men. Friendship, a puzzle to the syllogistic and critical mentality, is not based on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-joshua-heschel/trust-is-the-core-of-human-relationships-of-gregariousness-among-men/) [Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-joshua-heschel/) > [You're told that you're in your head too much, a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Or maybe there's another word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/you-re-told-that-you-re-in-your-head-too-much-a-phrase-that-s-often/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) > [Kevin Smith is so great in 'Kingdom Come,' isn't he? He's kind of this very earthy poet. He just has this immediate gregariousness, like,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-gillies/kevin-smith-is-so-great-in-kingdom-come-isn-t-he-he-s-kind-of-this/) [Daniel Gillies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-gillies/) > [Creative people are often found either disagreeable or intimidating by mediocrities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/creative-people-are-often-found-either-disagreeable-or-intimidating/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-lombroso/the-appearance-of-a-single-great-genius-is-more-than-equivalent-to/) [Cesare Lombroso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-lombroso/) > [Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/indifference-is-the-revenge-the-world-takes-on-mediocrities/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Those touchy mediocrities who sit trembling lest someone's work prove greater than their own - they have no inkling of the loneliness that comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/those-touchy-mediocrities-who-sit-trembling-lest-someone-s-work-prove/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More by Boris Pasternak > [“Happy are the downtrodden.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/happy-are-the-downtrodden/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [“The saddest thing of all was that their party represented a deviation from the conditions of the time. It was impossible to imagine that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/the-saddest-thing-of-all-was-that-their-party-represented-a-deviation/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [No deep and strong feeling, such as we may come across here and there in the world, is unmixed with compassion. The more we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/no-deep-and-strong-feeling-such-as-we-may-come-across-here-and-there/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [She was here on earth to make sense of its wild enchantments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/she-was-here-on-earth-to-make-sense-of-its-wild-enchantments/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [Art has two constant, two unending concerns: It always meditates on death and thus always creates life. All great, genuine art resembles and continues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/art-has-two-constant-two-unending-concerns-it-always-meditates-on/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats of any kind, whether of jail or retribution,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/i-think-that-if-the-beast-who-sleeps-in-man-could-be-held-down-by/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/and-so-it-turned-out-that-only-a-life-similar-to-the-life-of-those/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [I come here to speak poetry. It will always be in the grass. It will also be necessary to bend down to hear it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/i-come-here-to-speak-poetry-it-will-always-be-in-the-grass-it-will/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [“I'll stay with you a little, my unforgettable delight, for as long as my arms and my hands and my lips remember you. I'll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/i-ll-stay-with-you-a-little-my-unforgettable-delight-for-as-long-as/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [If it's so painful to love and absorb electricity, how much more painful it is to be a woman, to be the electricity, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/if-it-s-so-painful-to-love-and-absorb-electricity-how-much-more/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [I don't like purely philosophical works. I think a little philosophy should be added to life and art by way of seasoning, but to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/i-don-t-like-purely-philosophical-works-i-think-a-little-philosophy/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [“But sometimes, to enable her to bear her life, she needed the accompaniment of an inward music and she could not always compose it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/but-sometimes-to-enable-her-to-bear-her-life-she-needed-the/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [“We’ve been lucky. The autumn happened to be dry and warm. We managed to dig the potatoes before the rain and cold set in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/we-ve-been-lucky-the-autumn-happened-to-be-dry-and-warm-we-managed-to/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [Departure beyond the borders of my country is for me equivalent to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/departure-beyond-the-borders-of-my-country-is-for-me-equivalent-to/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [“As he scribbled his odds and ends, he made a note reaffirming his belief that art always serves beauty, and beauty is delight in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/as-he-scribbled-his-odds-and-ends-he-made-a-note-reaffirming-his/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) [Explore all 189 Boris Pasternak quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) ## More Concern quotes > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [It is not my intention to explain Turkey, its culture and its problems. My literature has a universal concern: I want to bring people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/it-is-not-my-intention-to-explain-turkey-its-culture-and-its-problems/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [I'm a vegetarian - I think there's a strong possibility, had I not become a vegetarian, I would not be working now. I became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-barker/i-m-a-vegetarian-i-think-there-s-a-strong-possibility-had-i-not/) [Bob Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-barker/) > [What really concerns me is for Christians to understand the fundamentals of evangelism in a way that is helpful in the contemporary scene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/what-really-concerns-me-is-for-christians-to-understand-the/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [I am sympathetic to developing countries’ concerns: because of our emissions it’s their crops that will disappear; because of our inaction, it’s their fields…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/i-am-sympathetic-to-developing-countries-concerns-because-of-our/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [It concerns me when people frame the conversation about equal pay about the entertainment business. I don't want the wage gap issue to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-arquette/it-concerns-me-when-people-frame-the-conversation-about-equal-pay/) [Patricia Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-arquette/) > [The Patriot Act is certainly a concern; all of those things are dangerous. I think more important than me preaching is that we as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-clooney/the-patriot-act-is-certainly-a-concern-all-of-those-things-are/) [George Clooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-clooney/) > [More compassionate mind, more sense of concern for other's well-being, is source of happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/more-compassionate-mind-more-sense-of-concern-for-other-s-well-being/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/show-your-contempt-for-the-problem-and-your-concern-for-the-person/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [If you are trying to live a life in accordance with the Bible, the concept and call to justice are inescapable. We do justice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-you-are-trying-to-live-a-life-in-accordance-with-the-bible-the/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [ I just have to deal with it \[injuries\] if and when problems happen. It's obviously a concern and I've been very careful with my… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-james/i-just-have-to-deal-with-it-injuries-if-and-when-problems-happen-it-s/) [Greg James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-james/) > [Much has been said and continues to be said of what little concern the Turks had for the Acropolis treasures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melina-mercouri/much-has-been-said-and-continues-to-be-said-of-what-little-concern/) [Melina Mercouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melina-mercouri/) Browse all 3,297 Concern quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Soloviev or Kant or Marx. Only individuals seek the truth, and they shun those whose sole concern is not the truth.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Boris Pasternak" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-mediocrities-whether-they/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Concern" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-mediocrities-whether-they/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/boris-pasternak-1944_concern_gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-m_887822.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Gregariousness is always the refuge of mediocrities, whether they swear by Soloviev or Kant or Marx. Only…” — Boris Pasternak", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Boris Pasternak", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gregariousness is always the refuge of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-mediocrities-whether-they/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/gregariousness-is-always-the-refuge-of-mediocrities-whether-they/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```