swim with the tide, to

To go along or agree with the prevailing or popularly held opinion or perspective; to act or behave the same way as the majority of others. When I was in college, I used to have a lot of radical opinions and beliefs, but as I've grown older I find myself swimming with the tide more often. I'm sorry, but I simply refuse to swim with the tide just because it's the easier option!

Go along with prevailing opinion or thought, as in Irene doesn't have a mind of her own; she just swims with the tide. In the late 1600s this idiom was also put as swim down the stream, a usage not much heard today. The present form was first recorded in 1712. For the antonym, see swim against the current.

To go along with the majority. The idea appears in Confucius’s Analects (ca. 500 b.c.): “Swim with the tide, so as not to offend others.” Conversely, to swim against the tide means to buck public opinion, or hold out against the majority. Both expressions clearly imply that the one course of action is much easier than the other.