About this quote

We spend our lives chasing exceptionalism, but society often pushes us back into the crowd. Sometimes, mediocrity is not a failure of effort; it is simply the default setting of modern systems. You can fight the current all you want, but giant institutions are built to grind down individuality. Accepting that some forces are beyond your control can actually feel like a relief. How much energy do you waste trying to look extraordinary to people who do not care?

When to use it

• When your boss promotes a completely incompetent coworker just to fill a corporate quota, and you realize how the company bureaucracy operates.
• When you and your classmates get a flat C on a group project because the strict grading rubric forced everyone into a generic bell curve.
• When you buy a house in a cookie-cutter suburb and find yourself arguing with the homeowner association about the exact shade of beige paint you can use.