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I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church.
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“I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church.”

James Joyce

Source
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Date
1916
Meaning

Meaning of “I will not serve that in which I…”

Stephen Dedalus declares that inherited loyalties will not command him once he no longer believes in them, tying independence to artistic self-definition.

Source context

Where does it come from?

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Project Gutenberg #4217. Stephen says this to Cranly near the end of the novel; it is a fictional character’s program of artistic and personal independence, not a universal rule.

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ArtCreativityIdentityIndependenceThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionBelief
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Insist on yourself; never imitate.
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“Insist on yourself; never imitate.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance · 1841
Meaning & context

Originality begins with developing one’s own capacities rather than copying another person’s surface style.

Source details

Self-Reliance; Emerson gives the imperative while arguing for originality, self-trust, and resistance to imitation rather than dependence on another person’s model.

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It is imitation, and as such it is lifeless.
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“It is imitation, and as such it is lifeless.”

George Henry Lewes · The Principles of Success in Literature · 1891
Meaning & context

Surface imitation may reproduce another writer’s recognizable manner without reproducing the thought or experience that originally gave that manner vitality.

Source details

The Principles of Success in Literature, chapter on Style, Project Gutenberg #10420; Lewes criticizes attempts to copy the verbal mannerisms of famous writers.

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Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.
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“Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.”

John Stuart Mill · On Liberty · 1859
Meaning & context

Original thought needs enough freedom to resist social moulds; creativity weakens when unusual minds are compressed into approved patterns.

Source details

On Liberty, Chapter III; the sentence appears in Mill’s defense of individuality and the social value of original characters.

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To “give style” to one’s character—that is a grand and a rare art!
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“To “give style” to one’s character—that is a grand and a rare art!”

Friedrich Nietzsche · The Joyful Wisdom · 1910
Meaning & context

Nietzsche treats character not as a fixed inventory but as material that can be consciously shaped into a more coherent form through sustained work.

Source details

The Joyful Wisdom, aphorism 290, “One Thing is Needful”; Thomas Common translation in the 1910 Oscar Levy edition.

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They ought to be illustrations not authorities, studies not models.
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“They ought to be illustrations not authorities, studies not models.”

George Henry Lewes · The Principles of Success in Literature · 1891
Meaning & context

Great predecessors can teach principles without becoming templates to copy, preserving the learner’s responsibility to develop independent judgment and expression.

Source details

The Principles of Success in Literature, chapter on Style, Project Gutenberg #10420; Lewes is warning writers against imitating Cicero, Titian or other masters.

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whatever school you follow, it must be only to learn method, not to imitate result
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“whatever school you follow, it must be only to learn method, not to imitate result”

John Ruskin · Lectures on Art, Delivered Before the University of Oxford in Hilary Term, 1870 · 1870
Meaning & context

Studying earlier schools should teach method without turning the student into an imitator, preserving space for an artistic response rooted in the maker’s own time and nature.

Source details

Lectures on Art, Lecture VII, Project Gutenberg #19164. The surrounding passage explicitly distinguishes learning from past masters from adopting their results as one’s own.