Anyone taken as an individual is tolerably sensible—as a member of a crowd, he at once becomes a blockhead.

The German couplet is in Xenien, in Schiller’s Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1797, p. 271, jointly credited by the checked transcription to Goethe and Schiller. Baruch’s English use is assigned to his 1932 preface by Wikiquote and by the 1948 Congressional Record reprint inspected here. That reprint explicitly introduces it as Schiller’s dictum and includes the additional words ‘and reasonable’, omitted in the popular form. The original 1932 volume and the translator’s identity were not established. This run does not resolve individual authorship within the jointly published Xenien, or date when Schiller’s credit was first dropped in favor of Baruch’s.

1. 1797Before it · credited to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich SchillerThe almanac dated 1797 prints the German couplet under ‘G. G.’ in the jointly authored Xenien; this is the German source, not yet the circulating English sentence.Jeder, siehst du ihn einzeln, ist leidlich klug und verständig, Sind sie in Corpore, gleich wird dir ein Dummkopf daraus.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, ‘Xenien’, in Friedrich Schiller (ed.), Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1797 (Tübingen: J. G. Cotta), ‘G. G.’, p. 271. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source
2. 1932Earliest found · credited to Friedrich Schiller, quoted by Bernard BaruchThe earliest English use located in this run is Baruch’s preface quoting Schiller; evidence for this edition is the later reprint and Wikiquote, not an inspection of the 1932 book.Bernard Baruch, preface to Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Boston: L. C. Page & Co., 1932). Checked on another researcher’s citation, not seen first-hand. Source
3. 12 March 1948Spread · credited to Friedrich Schiller, quoted by Bernard BaruchThe Senate’s Congressional Record reproduces the preface passage, preserving Baruch’s explicit credit to Schiller.Congressional Record, Senate, 12 March 1948, vol. 94, p. 2628; PDF page 21. Checked in the text of a page scan, not the image. Source

In his preface to a reissue of Charles Mackay’s history of popular delusions, Baruch argues that mathematical accounts of prices neglect crowd psychology. He quotes the remark as Schiller’s, alongside another attributed to Napoleon. The corresponding German couplet appears under the heading ‘G. G.’ in Goethe and Schiller’s jointly published Xenien.

People who can reason adequately alone can lose their judgment when they act collectively.

Baruch endorsed the point but did not present it as his own composition. Removing his explicit credit to Schiller changes a quotation he used into a quotation he supposedly originated.

Society, Reason, Wisdom

• All economic movements, by their very nature, are motivated by crowd psychology.
• Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery. Fyodor Dostoevsky
• A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. (not found) Mark Twain
• He is a man of intelligence, but to act sensibly, intelligence is not enough. Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence. (not found) Charles Bukowski

• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Baruch#Misattributed
• de.wikisource.org/wiki/Xenien

“Anyone taken as an individual is tolerably sensible—as a member of a crowd, he at once becomes a blockhead.” Attributed to Bernard Baruch. No. Baruch quoted it as Schiller’s, not as his own. The German couplet is in Goethe and Schiller’s jointly published Xenien; its individual authorship is not resolved here. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/as-a-member-of-a-crowd-he-becomes-a-blockhead/ (checked 22 October 2026).

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