Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.

The sentence praises independence of mind: lasting achievements come from people who resist the gravitational pull of fashion, groupthink, and whatever is momentarily “in.” It frames “trends and fads” as distractions that reward conformity and short-term approval rather than difficult, original work. Read this way, the quote functions as a general credo for artistic or intellectual integrity—an argument that greatness requires stubbornness, risk, and a willingness to be unpopular. However, without a verifiable Kerouac source, it should be treated cautiously as a modern motivational paraphrase that happens to align with themes often associated with him (nonconformity, authenticity).