Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
quote by Bertrand Russell
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Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.
quote by Friedrich Nietzsche
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We cannot be too earnest, too persistent, too determined, about living superior to the herd-instinct.
Morality is herd instinct in the individual.
Friedrich Nietzsche in The Gay Science
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The herd instinct among forecasters makes sheep look like independent thinkers.
quote by Edgar R. Fiedler
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Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.
John Steinbeck in The Moon is Down
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A Society of Grazing Sheep
The herd meanders, searching for the green
Pastures that hide past distant mountaintops.
They're a society of grazing sheep.
The herd looks down, ignoring what they've seen.
They're too busy chewing grass to stop.
They're a society of grazing sheep.
The herd wanders only to convene
In the pursuit of inhaling more crops.
They're a society of grazing sheep.
They don't yet realize that hungry eyes
Guide them—that wolves are hiding in disguise.
They're a society of grazing sheep.
poem by Tim Stensloff
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Dealing With Bullies
The lion picks out his gazelle for the kill,
As the herd stands around and watches.
'Well, he picked the weakest one I guess.'
The pack of hyenas pick out the Zebra to dissect,
As the rest of the herd stands around and watches.
'Well, she didn't really fit in to our group.'
The tiger picks out a weak, young water buffalo.
As the rest of he herd of buffalo approach the tiger.
' Well, we've had enough, they attack him.'
With tail in hand, he flees for his life!
poem by Barry A. Lanier
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The herd instinct seems to be the strongest human emotion, one that the race is constantly breeding off as the mavericks are liquidated. Happiness is running with the crowd.
quote by John Train
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Sleepless
How many sheep have jumped the fence
as I lie in bed wide-awake?
More than the wooly herd like things
be allowed for goodness sake.
I'm waiting for that black sheep to jump
and give my eyes a break.
But I guess he's lost within the herd
for I find I'm still wake.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Patriotism or any other version of the herd instinct seems to me an entirely inadequate basis of virtue. Christianity is from that point of view an explanation of and a support for an essential ingredient in man's nature — far the best, though necessarily imperfect.
quote by Robert Cecil
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Szymborska 's Yearns
'Poets yearn, of course, to be published, read, and understood, but they do little, if anything, to set themselves above the common herd and the daily grind.'
i do not have
the wish anymore
to be understood
by you or anybody
i belong to the
common things
you cannot see
me in the herd
i am in my
daily endeavors
unknown to you
i still write without
any wish that you
recognize my
voice or feel the
longings of my
hands or see the
scars in my heart
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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And I Was Moved
They came running down the road
like something resembling
a stampeding Buffalo herd.
“There he is! ” Someone shouted.
I looked around to see
whom they were shouting about,
but there was no one, only me.
I looked again as the pens came out.
“Let’s get his autograph! ”
And I was moved,
moved so much I started to run
towards them, arms open wide.
And I was moved again,
being carried along by the herd.
“It is him! It’s Robbie Williams! ”
Now who the heck is he?
I though it was Dodgy Dave’s autograph they wanted,
but no it was only in my dreams I’m afraid.
5 July 2008
poem by David Harris
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Herd, heard!
Herd, heard!
Move, drove, dove, cove, clove, glove, trove;
Armies, spies, flies, families, willies, homilies, butterflies! !
But, this garden is down under there;
So, you need the steps.
Grove, love, rove, hove, above, wove, strove, stove;
Training,
Raining,
Fitness lady,
Fitness man,
Cheer leaders! !
Herd, heard!
Mr. Undercover,
Affection,
Affliction,
But, time for action! !
All in the name of war.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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One Of The Crowd
(lowe/tennant)
--------------------
When I go fishing with my rod
I often get that urge
To fall asleep a sleep so deep that
No-one notices me
Dont want anyone to know my name
Dont want to get a fax
Dont want to meet the royal family
Just cause Ive paid my tax
Dont wanna be seen or heard
Dont want to shout out loud
I want to be part of the herd
One of the crowd
Dressing individually doesnt impress me
I think that its pathetic
Following fashion, I just like it
Dont i?
Dont wanna be seen or heard
Dont want to shout out loud
I want to be part of the herd
One of the crowd
(one of the crowd)
(one of the crowd)
Fishing
Fishing
I never fight, but every night
I think its gonna be alright
I think I might think in spite of
Every - thing
Dont wanna be seen or heard
Dont want to shout out loud
I want to be part of the herd
One of the crowd
One of the crowd
One of the crowd
One of the crowd
One of the crowd
One of the crowd
(one of the crowd)
Fishing
(one of the crowd)
Fishing
song performed by by Pet Shop Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Inside The Box
Washington always “thinks inside the box.”
No wonder why we’re in the fix were in.
Their collective thinking stifles or blocks
The country’s progress and provides the spin
To sway the public view of uselessness.
This herd mentality is quite bizarre
To think that all these minds can not express
A single “out of the box' thought thus far.
It’s piteous, at least to me, to see
These coattail hangers we call congressmen-
Inane, inept reps of the bourgeoisie
constantly screwing us time and again.
One must conclude this simple inference
Vote in or vote out makes no difference.
poem by Albert Ahearn
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True Fear
Why do you ask if Im afraid
The fear of death is only an instinct
The instinct of the mere man
But if someone was to over come this fear
They will not be just mere men nomore
They will become something
Something much more greater
They will become fear itself
In the pursuit of eliminating the fear of death
You eliminated every fear withen
poem by David Wagner
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Death of the Stag
The stag, too, singled from the herd, where long
He ranged, the branching monarch of the shade,
Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed
He, sprightly, puts his faith, and, roused by fear,
Gives all his swift aerial soul to flight;
Against the breeze he darts, that way the more
To leave the lessening murderous cry behind:
He bursts the thickets, glances through the glades,
And plunges deep into the wildest wood:
If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track,
Hot-steaming, up behind him come again
The inhuman rout, and from the shady depth
Expel him, circling through his every shift.
He sweeps the forest oft, and sobbing sees
The glades, mild opening to the golden day;
Where, in kind contest, with his butting friends
He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy.
Oft in the full-descending flood he tries
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides:
Oft seeks the herd; the watchful herd, alarm'd,
With selfish care avoids a brother's woe.
What shall he do? His once so vivid nerves,
So full of buoyant spirits, now no more
Inspire the course; but fainting breathless toil,
Sick, seizes on his heart: he stands at bay;
And puts his last weak refuge in despair.
The big round tears run down his dappled face;
He groans in anguish; while the growling pack,
Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting chest,
And mark his beauteous chequer'd sides with gore.
poem by James Thomson
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They called me to the Window, for
628
They called me to the Window, for
" 'Twas Sunset"—Some one said—
I only saw a Sapphire Farm—
And just a Single Herd—
Of Opal Cattle—feeding far
Upon so vain a Hill—
As even while I looked—dissolved—
Nor Cattle were—nor Soil—
But in their stead—a Sea—displayed—
And Ships—of such a size
As Crew of Mountains—could afford—
And Decks—to seat the skies—
This—too—the Showman rubbed away—
And when I looked again—
Nor Farm—nor Opal Herd—was there—
Nor Mediterranean—
poem by Emily Dickinson
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Wild horses
It’s simple
Life is reborn every day
Don’t bother with vain reasoning
Don’t stumble into blind alleys of thought
Life revives every day
You must know that
It clatters in front of you
Like a herd of wild horses
Pick a horse
Grab his mane and hop on his back
All of them are headed the same way
The important thing is the road taking you there
Show the horse who’s the boss
Dig your heels into his ribs
You’re riding through sunny thickets
Over fields where the grass grows sweetly
And the shadows are softer than women’s flanks
Learn your horse’s vices
Teach him your own
If he happens to be vicious and throws you off
Don’t worry
Jump up on another horse
Plenty of to choose from
The herd is endless
There’ll always be one for you
Life is reborn every day
Do you know that?
poem by Betim Muco
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It is an open question whether any behavior based on fear of eternal punishment can be regarded as ethical or should be regarded as merely cowardly.
quote by Margaret Mead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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