Unpopular Quotes

Popular in our time, unpopular in his. So runs the stereotype of rejected genius.

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

A lot of my childhood memories involve walking home in floods of tears. At that age, feeling unpopular is difficult to handle.

I know I'm unpopular.

I just did what I did and I still am. It makes you unpopular, maybe for a lifetime, but I'd rather do that than be popular and doubt what I am.

There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader.

The only possible effect one can have on the world is through unpopular ideas.

Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!

I was 17 years old and in my first band, and we played at the university. I was kind of a gawky, unpopular teenager and there was about 400 people smiling and dancing to what we were doing.

I am an unpopular electric eel in a pool of catfish.

I think that most of us would prefer to be popular than unpopular.

Our own State Department polls say that 80 percent of Iraqis view the United States as an unpopular occupier.

Since the end of the Cold War, hegemonism has become increasingly unpopular.

People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that's gonna be unpopular.

I cringe when critics say I'm a master of the popular novel. What's an unpopular novel?

You have plaintiffs attorneys, you have defense attorneys. So there is no unified bar that will protect a particular judge who has made a courageous decision that's unpopular.

You're saying 'will it become politically unpopular to have the position I'm having.' If it does, so be it.

So easy to fall into a rut, isn't it? Why should ruts be so comfortable and so unpopular?

The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man's right to his body, or woman's right to her soul.

Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?

The Federal Reserve's job is to do the right thing, to take the long-run interest of the economy to heart, and that sometimes means being unpopular. But we have to do the right thing.

I think President Bush tried to step up on Social Security even though the polls showed that was unpopular. He has not been successful and backed off, but I admire people who take on big problems.

Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.

To a contrarian like me, constant advice not to do something almost always starts me quickly down the risky, unpopular path.

The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular.

It is safest to take the unpopular side in the first instance. Transit from the unpopular is easy... but from the popular to the unpopular is so steep and rugged that it is impossible to maintain it.