David Riesman

"We have built a society that despises solitude."

"The peer group is the invisible government of modern life."

"Authenticity requires the courage to be misunderstood."

"We mistake adjustment for adaptation."

"The inner-directed person is increasingly rare and increasingly necessary."

"Modern love is largely an exercise in mutual admiration."

"We have democratized taste and destroyed distinction."

"The crowd is therapeutic until you realize you're drowning in it."

"We seek consensus when we should seek truth."

"Other-direction is invisible precisely because it seems natural."

"The fear of standing alone has shaped modern morality."

"We have created a society of the anxiously adjusted."

"Identity is increasingly a matter of brand management."

"The other-directed person is fundamentally displaced."

"We are all reporters of others' lives, tourists in our own."

"Modern institutions exist to smooth the rough edges of individuality."

"The capacity for boredom is the price of true autonomy."

"We have made belonging the highest good and paid the price."

"The tradition-directed person is at home in this world."

"We are increasingly other-directed in our fundamental character structure."

"The autonomous person represents the highest form of social development."

"Loneliness is the price we pay for independence in modern society."

"Character is no longer destiny; it is rather a series of adjustments to external pressures."

"The inner-directed person carries within themselves an internalized set of goals."

"We have moved from an economy of scarcity to an economy of abundance, yet remain psychologically unprepared."

"Peer pressure becomes the dominant force in shaping personality and behavior."

"The radar within us constantly scans for signals from others about how to behave."

"The decline of the Protestant work ethic marks a fundamental shift in American character."

"Modern man is trapped between tradition and the demands of conformity."

"We seek guidance not from within but from an ever-present social antennae."