"If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good."

Thomas Watson Politics See all quotes by Thomas Watson →

React to this quote

More by Thomas Watson

“Thinking things through is hard work and it sometimes seems safer to follow the crowd. That blind adherence to such group thinking is, in the long run, far more dangerous than independently thinking things through”

“Machines might give us more time to think but will never do our thinking for us.”

“Here's a reminder on accepting Christmas gifts from vendors: don't.”

“Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity.”

“Tom Watson, Jr. quoted - IBM”

Resonant Thoughts

"What we won when all of our people united just must not now be lost in suspicion, distrust, selfishness, and politics among any of our people. Believing this as I do, I have concluded that I should no…"

— Lyndon B. Johnson

Politics1908–1973

#time

"Monday, n. In Christian countries, the day after the baseball game."

— Ambrose Bierce

Literature1842–1914

#time

"In life, what more can you ask for than to be real? To fulfill one’s potential instead of wasting energy on actualize one’s dissipating image, which is not real and an expenditure of one’s vital energ…"

— Bruce Lee

Entertainment1940–1973

#time

"It might come as a surprise to many, but the truth is that Islam today no longer has a living and evolving theology. In fact, with few exceptions, Islam’s last genuine theologians belong to the early …"

— Amir Taheri

Journalism1942

#time