Daily Inspiration Quote by Carl Clinton Van Doren

Van Doren’s line bites because it refuses the flattering story we tell ourselves about independence. He splits the crowd into two animals that normally don’t share a body: “sheep in credulity” and “wolves for conformity.” The first half is the easy insult - people are gullible, eager to be led, primed for comforting narratives. The second half is the sharper turn. Conformity isn’t painted as passive herd behavior; it’s predatory. We don’t merely drift toward the majority. We enforce it, teeth out, punishing whoever threatens the group’s consensus.

The intent feels diagnostic, almost clinical, coming from a critic: this is about cultural policing as much as political obedience. “Credulity” names how readily humans accept claims offered by authority, tradition, or fashion. “Wolves” names what happens next: the social violence that keeps those claims stable. The subtext is that mass belief isn’t sustained by reason; it’s sustained by fear of ostracism and the pleasures of belonging. People will believe almost anything, then defend that belief as if their status depends on it - because it does.

Context matters. Van Doren writes from the early 20th century, an era of propaganda, booming mass media, and tightening social norms, when public opinion could be manufactured and dissent could be treated as deviance. His phrasing anticipates later critiques of groupthink and moral panics: the mob’s great talent isn’t thinking; it’s coordinating. The line lands because it makes conformity active, not accidental - a collective appetite that looks for targets.