“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
I think of G B Shaw’s quote from time to time.
On the one hand, it explains why humans who drive tremendous amounts of progress have personalities/characters many of us wouldn’t want to emulate. After a point, being unreasonable violates virtues we hold dear.
On the other, it is a reminder that we also ought to be unreasonable about the things that matter to us from time to time. It isn’t a risk-free strategy and it certainly isn’t a strategy that solves for popularity of any kind.
But it is often how progress is made.
