Conform Quote by Margaret Millar
“Sanity is a matter of culture and convention. If it's a crazy culture you live in, then you have to be irrational to want to conform. A completely rational person would recognize that the culture was crazy and refuse to conform. But by not conforming, he is the one who would be judged crazy by that particular society.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Iron Gates, Margaret Millar, 1960
Culture defines sanity; in a crazy culture, rationality appears irrational.
In simple terms: What is normal depends on cultural context.
Key Takeaway
Question societal norms.
Themes
culture
sanity
conformity
rationality
Mood
critical
thought‑provoking
Type
philosophical
social
When to use this quote
- social movements
- psychology
- policy making
Key Concepts
social construct
normative pressure
Questions to Reflect On
- When is conformity justified?
- How can one maintain rationality in a hostile culture?
A Different Perspective
Rational dissent may be socially penalized.
![“[An engineer's] invention causes things to come into existence from ideas, makes world conform to thought; whereas science, by deriving ideas from observation, makes thought conform to existence.” quote by Carl Mitcham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/08a/carl-mitcham-111336_accounts_an-engineer-s-invention-causes-things-to_37806.jpg)
