Thinking

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.
—A. A. Milne

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. These are the people who find it easy to just go with the flow and agree with whatever most people say is true. They assume that if most people beleive something then it must be true. They never stop to question who came up with the idea in the first place. They want to be part of the crowd and blend in.

The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. These people are not willing to go along with what most people say, not feeling like part of the crowd; yet they need some social support for their beleifs. They need to find some smaller group of people who agree with them. They are thinking enough to question the beleifs of the masses but not enough to have their ideas stand by themselves.

The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. It needs no social support. It values ideas over social approval; knowing that many good ideas will not be approved of by other people. It doesn't want to let other people's agendas, opinions, and beleifs (which will be many and varied) get in the way of the truth. It knows that the truth is often unpopular but must be spoken anyway. It will not live a lie just because someone else doesn't know any better (that it is a lie). Never be afraid to speak your truth just because you think that the people around you will disapprove of it. Your truth is just as valid as anyone else's and must be heard.