Mob Quote by Yevgeny Zamyatin
““With his head thrust forward like a ram, Baryba pushed his way through to the front. For some reason this was necessary, he felt with all his guts that it was necessary. He clenched his iron jaws. Something bestial stirred in him, something he hungered for, some murderous instinct. To be with everybody, to howl like everybody, to hit the one that everybody else was hitting. ("A Provincial Tale")””
About This Quote
Source Short Story: A Provincial Tale, 1920
A character feels a primal, violent urge to join the crowd, driven by instinct and aggression.
In simple terms: Inner animalistic drive to belong.
Key Takeaway
Channel aggression constructively.
Themes
aggression
belonging
instinct
Mood
tense
reflective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- sports team
- protest
- group conformity
Key Concepts
existentialism
human nature
social pressure
Questions to Reflect On
- What drives you to follow the herd?
- Can primal urges be redirected?
A Different Perspective
Violence may harm others.
![“[The main road was] now teeming with people carrying torches, pitchforks, and rakes, and one very confused man who apparently had mistaken the mob for a parade and was marching around with a Swedish flag.” quote by Cuthbert Soup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3bb/cuthbert-soup-19444_angry_the-main-road-was-now-teeming-with-peopl_69333.jpg)
![“Heretics are the only [bitter] remedy against the entropy of human thought. ("Literature, Revolution, and Entropy")” quote by Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b17/yevgeny-zamyatin-1218_art_heretics-are-the-only-bitter-remedy-agai_72896.jpg)
