Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform — or pause and reflect.
The real sting here isn't simply "don't follow the crowd"—it's that Twain offers you a choice rather than a command. He doesn't insist you must always be contrary; he asks whether you've actually examined *why* the majority believes what it does, which is far more demanding than mere contrarianism. When a popular political position gains traction, most dissenters spend energy opposing it, but Twain invites the rarer discomfort of asking whether your agreement with millions might itself deserve scrutiny. The wisdom lies in treating consensus as a diagnostic tool, not a destination.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
Lao Tzu“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it.”
Seneca“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it mean...”
Steve Jobs