Schopenhauer

From Ai Gemini:

"For the average man has no critical power of his own, and is absolutely incapable of appreciating the difficulty of a great work. People are always swayed by authority and where fame is widespread, it means that ninety-nine out of a hundred take it on faith alone." Arthur Schopenhauer.

It is a reflection of his pessimistic and often critical view of the common person and their ability to think independently and appreciate true intellectual or artistic merit. He believed that fame and popularity were often the result of people blindly following the opinions of others rather than forming their own judgments.