"Anybody who had come up with a new concept would have been under suspicion for being out of step with the tradition or out of step with the teachings of the church"
About this Quote
The repetition of "out of step" does heavy lifting. It suggests an entire choreography of belonging where the worst sin isn't being wrong, it's disrupting the rhythm. Templeton pairs "tradition" with "the teachings of the church" to show how authority compounds: custom provides the habit, religion provides the moral stamp, and together they convert disagreement into deviance. The subtext is less anti-faith than anti-orthodoxy - a critique of any institution that mistakes continuity for truth.
Context matters: Templeton made his reputation as a contrarian investor, finding value where consensus saw risk. Read through that lens, the quote doubles as autobiography and strategy memo. He’s pointing to a reliable pattern: societies often punish intellectual variance early, then canonize it late. The intent is to normalize dissent as a necessary cost of discovery, and to expose how "tradition" can function less like wisdom preserved and more like a defensive perimeter around power.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Templeton, John. (2026, January 17). Anybody who had come up with a new concept would have been under suspicion for being out of step with the tradition or out of step with the teachings of the church. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/anybody-who-had-come-up-with-a-new-concept-would-79859/
Chicago Style
Templeton, John. "Anybody who had come up with a new concept would have been under suspicion for being out of step with the tradition or out of step with the teachings of the church." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/anybody-who-had-come-up-with-a-new-concept-would-79859/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Anybody who had come up with a new concept would have been under suspicion for being out of step with the tradition or out of step with the teachings of the church." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/anybody-who-had-come-up-with-a-new-concept-would-79859/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.


