But you must pay for conformity. All goes well as long as you run with conformists. But you, who are honest men in other particulars, know, that there is alive somewhere a man whose honesty reaches to this point also, that he shall not kneel to false gods, and, on the day when you meet him, you sink into the class of counterfeits.

Summary

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that conformity comes at a cost. It asserts that it is easy to get along with others and be successful as long as you adhere to societal norms and beliefs. However, the quote implies that individuals who maintain their honesty and refuse to compromise their values by conforming become marginalized. It highlights the presence of individuals who possess a level of integrity that compels them to resist conforming to false ideologies or authorities. When confronted with such uncompromising individuals, it suggests that conformists are exposed as inauthentic or fake in comparison.

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