A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance. Since he occurs only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the rest of us. A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in others.

Consequently, the person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person of good background in the field of interest and one who is unconventional in his habits. (To be a crackpot is not, however, enough in itself.)

People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.

People think I'm eccentric, cranky. If I'm eccentric because I've never been into mainstream things, then I am eccentric.

That's what being eccentric means — being natural.

The person concerned sounds – to be polite – eccentric."
"That would be polite to the point of over-generosity," Tefwe said. "Awkward, tetchy and unreasonable might be closer to the truth.

On a very rough-and-ready basis we might define an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others. An eccentric puts ice cream on steak simply because he likes it; should a crank do so, he would endow the act with moral grandeur and straightaway denounce as sinners (or reactionaries) all who failed to follow suit […] Cranks, at their most familiar, are a sort of peevish prophets, and it's not enough that they should be in the right; others must also be in the wrong.

BENEATHA How can something that’s natural be eccentric? GEORGE That’s what being eccentric means — being natural.

I'm very eccentric. I do everything excessively. Maybe some people tell me I'm crazy. Others maybe say I'm vain. Others say something else, but everyone is wrong. I'm not crazy.

Eccentricity is not, as some would believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.

Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.

GEORGE : Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself, Bennie — just
because you look eccentric.
BENEATHA: How can something that’s natural be eccentric?
GEORGE: That’s what being eccentric means — being
natural. Get dressed.

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

It's OK to be an eccentric; it's not OK to be a rude and dirty eccentric.