A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity. Robert Frost
Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and courage which it contained. John Stuart Mill
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. Edith Sitwell
The world thinks eccentricity in great things is genius, but in small things, only crazy. Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Eccentricity, n. A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity. Ambrose Bierce