Quotes About Interdependence

No man is an island," said John Donne. I feel we are all islands—in a common sea.

How hard it is to have the beautiful interdependence of marriage and yet be strong in oneself alone.

People, too, become like islands in such an atmosphere, self-contained, whole and serene; respecting other people's solitude, not intruding on their shores, standing back in reverence before the miracle of another individual. 'No man is an island,' said John Donne. I feel we are all islands – in a common sea. We

I feel we are all islands - in a common sea.

everyone depended upon the goodwill of others, on their skills or their patronage, their friendship or their protection. It was only that some forms of dependence were more obvious than others, not any more real.

It is a terrible thing to realize that you depend so much upon another; that your entire sense of well-being is connected to that one—that you need him, love him, that he is the chief witness of your life.

Independent? Bosh. That's just another word for selfish. It's stiff-backed people like you who end up being the biggest burdens.

Thinking back on that conversation now, he began to believe that people could, in fact, be used up—could use each other up, could be of no further help to each other and maybe even do harm to each other. He began to think that who you are when you're with somebody may matter more than whether you love her. (P. 362)

The telling and hearing of stories is a bonding ritual that breaks through illusions of separateness and activates a deep sense of our collective interdependence.

Alone we are miracles, together we are miraculous.

the three pillars of self-determination—autonomy, competence, and community—and

Even if he or she is part of a family, that is not the same as belonging to a group that shares resources and experiences almost everything collectively.

there is no survival outside group survival, and that creates a social bond that many people sorely miss.

The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing.

Subsistence-level hunters aren't necessarily more moral than other people; they just can't get away with selfish behavior because they live in small groups where almost everything is open to scrutiny.

Our ability to connect with others is innate, wired into our nervous systems, and we need connection as much as we need physical nourishment.

Love exists in itself, not relying on owning or being owned.

The combination of realizing our distinctiveness along with our unity is seeing interdependence.

We so often in our lives serve as mirrors for one another. We look to others to find out if we ourselves are lovable; we look to others to find out if we are capable of feeling love; we look to others for a reflection of our innate radiance.

Our can-do culture has made many of us believe that we should always be self-sufficient. Somewhere along the way, we also got the message that asking for help is a sign of weakness. We often forget that we're interdependent creatures whose very existence depends on the kindness of others, including—with a bow to Tennessee Williams—strangers.

We nurture our sense of connection with the larger whole, noticing that the whole is only as healthy as its smallest part.

We have to know ourselves to know where we end and another person begins, and we have to develop the skills to navigate the space between us. Or else we will seek wholeness through false means that honor neither us nor those we love.

We live in a network of inter connectivity.

A relationship is the union of two psychological systems.