Disobey Quotes

“Most people in this "normal" society of ours begin sitting still in a room for six to eight hours beginning in childhood. They continue that for twelve years and then begin sitting still in a different room for another forty years, at which point they hope to retire and sit still in a chair in front of the TV until they die. Most people prioritize other people's demands and needs over their own and choose work over fun. Most people choose THINGS over HAPPINESS. Most people spend more time disliking what they're doing than they spend enjoying themselves.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Normal. Awesome, revered, unassailable and celebrated normal. As if the way we've stumbled into living is the way things should be because it's what everyone has always done. As if the well-traveled path is the best path. As if social proof is an unquestioned and absolute good; as if the fact that five hundred people have used this plumber over that one means that the first is the best. As if doing what the guy in front of you did -- which is what the guy in front of him, did which is what the guy in front of him did -- is a good strategy.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“There's a quote that says, "If you can't win the game, change the rules." So change some rules. Decide on your own game, the kind of game you might actually like to win. And win it.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Why do we look to everyone else to see what to do? Why don't we understand that they're all as lost and scared as we are? Why do we look at a random consensus, shaped by opinions and powers that drift like dunes, as an absolute truth? If "normal" could change tomorrow, why are we such slaves to it? And where has "normal" gotten us, anyway? We live in a society that can't stop pollution or environmental destruction, that can't raise educational standards, can't stay healthy and non-obese, can't balance a budget, has no sense of fiscal responsibility, is in an economic tailspin, and is rife with crime and murder and violence. Most people in this "normal" society of ours begin sitting still in a room for six to eight hours beginning in childhood. They continue that for twelve years and then begin sitting still in a different room for another forty years, at which point they hope to retire and sit still in a chair in front of the TV until they die.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“I wanted a different kind of success. Freedom. Happiness. And yes, some money to make the way a bit more interesting. Different rewards, different game. Meaning I'd have to play by different rules -- applying different stimuli in order to receive a different response.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“found myself working hard for mediocre pay and mediocre rewards, doing mediocre work that bored me but that I felt I shouldn't complain about.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Why do we look to everyone else to see what to do? Why don't we understand that they're all as lost and scared as we are? Why do we look at a random consensus, shaped by opinions and powers that drift like dunes, as an absolute truth? If "normal" could change tomorrow, why are we such slaves to it? And where has "normal" gotten us, anyway?”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Being a good and reasonable person in a good and reasonable and awesome life has nothing to do with following rules.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“People have been beaten to death in front of crowds that could easily overtake the attacker. The bigger the crowd, the more likely it is that nobody will intervene. The principle is called "diffusion of responsibility," and boils down to the pressure for conformity overwhelming the need to act. Any guilt over not acting is shared between the people not acting. You didn't stand by and watch someone get killed, after all. It was a crowd of 1000. You only stood around to the tune of 0.1% of the incident as a whole.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Mindless conformity is what turns us from humans into sheep.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Every day, we're asked not just to take responsibility for our own actions, but for those of everyone around us. Every day, we're asked to deal with problems we didn't consent to create. We're told to clean up messes we didn't make. We're told to toe the line in conditions we had no hand in.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“We live in a society where it's strange to show too much joy, where we get love for our failures and are scorned if we're too successful.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Do the idiotic. Follow your heart. Try the impossible. Do something crazy.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“you're going to find most of the rules we have really do make sense. Don't murder. Don't steal. Don't rape. Don't beat people up. Don't be an insufferable asshole. But if you're similarly rational, you're going to realize that some of the rules and norms don't feel as black and white to you. A few that I decided didn't jibe: Everyone must be insured, so pay $1200 per month for it. Tattoos are for wackos and frat boys. Never renege on a past choice that is ruining your life.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Being a good and reasonable person in a good and reasonable and awesome life has nothing to do with following rules. It has to do with assessing rules, and guidelines, and norms, and prejudices, and ways of doing things, and established procedures, and prerequisites, and prejudices, and suppositions, and paradigms, and doing what the Oracle in The Matrix advised one do in the absence of proof or instructions: To make up your own damn mind.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Every day, we're asked to deal with problems we didn't consent to create. We're told to clean up messes we didn't make. We're told to toe the line in conditions we had no hand in. Well FUCK. THAT. SHIT. I'll make up my own damn mind, thanks.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“All of us, every day, inherit problems we didn't create. Motherfuckers get greedy with oil, and everything we buy gets a lot more expensive. Motherfuckers get uppity in another country, and we and our friends and family are expected to leave home to fight and die. Motherfuckers make management mistakes in distant offices, and the house of cards collapses, leaving everyone to scramble to make a living and feed our families. Motherfuckers botch a drilling operation in the ocean and fuck up the environment for the rest of us. Motherfuckers go crazy and shoot up a McDonald's, or a bank, or a school. Motherfuckers do dumb shit, and we have to deal with it.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Most people choose THINGS over HAPPINESS. Most people spend more time disliking what they're doing than they spend enjoying themselves. We work ourselves into a set of financial demands and spend our lives trying to maintain those demands. We're trained to believe that if we're having fun, we're doing something wrong, and kids learn that it's not cool to be kids, and that they should strive to be as adult as possible as early as possible. We live in a society where it's strange to show too much joy, where we get love for our failures and are scorned if we're too successful. And all of this normality? It's hereditary. It's passed from generation to generation to generation, like an obscene and distorted game of Telephone.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Mindless conformity is what turns us from humans into sheep. People have been beaten to death in front of crowds that could easily overtake the attacker. The bigger the crowd, the more likely it is that nobody will intervene. The principle is called "diffusion of responsibility," and boils down to the pressure for conformity overwhelming the need to act. Any guilt over not acting is shared between the people not acting. You didn't stand by and watch someone get killed, after all. It was a crowd of 1000. You only stood around to the tune of 0.1% of the incident as a whole. If your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump too?”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Normal. Ugh. Normal. Awesome, revered, unassailable and celebrated normal. As if the way we've stumbled into living is the way things should be because it's what everyone has always done. As if the well-traveled path is the best path. As if social proof is an unquestioned and absolute good; as if the fact that five hundred people have used this plumber over that one means that the first is the best. As if doing what the guy in front of you did -- which is what the guy in front of him, did which is what the guy in front of him did -- is a good strategy.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“I have to ask what's normal. It's pretty "normal" nowadays for 13-year olds to text each other sex photos. Not everyone's doing it, but it's not at all unusual. And come to think of it, 16-year-old virgins are really considered a rarity. Sure, there's still a lot of them, but usually they take shit for it. Kids lose their innocence and naiveté early. Teenagers are difficult and argue with their parents. Kids party. Kids drink. Kids screw. Kids get into trouble. And I know what you're thinking: Can't fight human nature. Kids will be kids, right? Can't stop it. It's how they are. It's totally and completely… normal. Ah. Ding ding.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“And that was a concern for Robin when we first started thinking about this whole homeschooling thing. She knew homeschool kids growing up, and they were always weird. My response was: "Robin… we're weird.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“I'm not an anarchist. I'm glad there are laws in place that will prevent people from killing me and taking all of my stuff. I think our society needs order. It needs structure. But it's wrong to assume that every guideline that rises out of a structured society is right for every person in it. I wouldn't choose to break many laws, but I would and do choose to not buy into a lot of this world's bullshit.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“think about the littler rules. Club rules. Social standards. Values. "The way things are normally done." Opinions, every one. Yet we live our lives as if they're immutable truths.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“What if you kill a man who was plotting to shoot up a McDonald's? What if you commit one murder to prevent a dozen murders? The "obviously correct" judgment of the law starts to sound more and more like an opinion when a new variable is introduced, doesn't it? And okay, these "what if this?" exercises may feel like cerebral game play, but you don't even need to look to extreme examples to see the tenuous, opinion-based nature of laws. Abortion. Gay marriage. Determining fair use in a copyright infringement case. Every time a law is applied, it is applied as a matter of opinion. And those are the laws -- the biggest and baddest rules we have.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“We used to fuck with our Catholic roommate during Lent, trying to determine exactly how specific God's opinion was about that one. What if you ate something that you didn't know contained meat? What if you were driving east at 11:30pm and unknowingly crossed into a new time zone right before biting into a cheeseburger? During an airline flight, did God go by departure time, arrival time, or local time when determining the Hell- or Heavenbound nature of your meals? "What if you're a butcher," I remember saying, "and you're slicing up a side of beef on Friday when a stray bit of flesh becomes airborne and lodges itself in your throat. You begin to choke. You can't cough it up, but you could swallow it and save your life. What then, when your life is at stake?" Ridiculous? Sacrilegious?”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“Rules, guidelines, and even laws are someone's opinion about how things should be done. Nothing more.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“The sun rose. Flowers bloomed. People even continued to talk to me as if I weren't a complete failure, as if they didn't know or possibly -- unthinkably -- didn't care. Life went on. I think that's when I realized that it's all bullshit.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“So every step of the way, I said to the world, "What should I do?" and the world answered back, "Here's what you've gotta do to have a rocking life… but dude, I should warn you, it's fucking hard as motherfucking FUCK!" But then I gave this dismissive wave”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey

“The dogs will go nuts, because the dogs always seem to go nuts when such things happen, generally taking the attitude of, OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST HONK IN FRONT OF THIS MOTHERFUCKING HOUSE, BITCH.”
― Johnny B. Truant, Disobey