Quotes About Self-reliance

Not making a living,' he wrote, on his first trip to Alaska, 'just living.

Never explain yourself, Alma. It makes you appear weak.

She was of the mind that people should make their own decisions about their own lives, if you can image such a preposterous thing.

Most of all, there is this truth: No matter how great your teachers may be, and no matter how esteemed your academy's reputation, eventually you will have to do the work by yourself. Eventually, the teachers won't be there anymore. The walls of the school will fall away, and you'll be on your own. The hours that you will then put into practice, study, auditions, and creation will be entirely up to you.

The sooner and more passionately you get married to this idea- that it is ultimately entirely up to you- the better off you'll be.

It was during the war, too, that I learned how to be comfortable sitting alone in a bar or restaurant. For many women, this is a strangely difficult thing to do, but eventually I mastered it. (The trick is to bring a book or newspaper, to ask for the best table nearest to the window, and to order your drink just as soon as you sit down.) Once I got the hang of it, I found that eating alone by the window in a quiert restaurant is one of life's greatest secret pleasures.

Famously, Gloria Steinem once advised women that they should strive to become like the men they had always wanted to marry. What I've only recently realized is that I not only have to become my own husband, but I need to be my own father, too.

So be lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.

Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.

But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business.

The sooner and more passionately you get married to this idea—that it is ultimately entirely up to you—the better off you'll be.

it's a mighty act of human love to remind somebody that they can accomplish things by themselves

But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business. Lastly, remember what W. C. Fields had to say on this point: "It ain't what they call you; it's what you answer to." Actually, don't even bother answering. Just keep doing your thing.

You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughtta be.

Anyhow, the golden rule in my family is this: If you're supporting yourself financially and you're not bothering anyone else, then you're free to do whatever you want with your life.

Well, if you can't make a plan for your own life, Vivian, then somebody needs to be your mother!

She smiled sweetly at everyone and always acted like a total cooperator—but then she shaped her own world exactly to her liking while nobody was looking.

But if you're working on your craft every day on your own, with steady discipline and love, then you are already for real as a creator, and you don't need to pay anybody to affirm that for you.

It was during the war, too, that I learned how to be comfortable sitting alone in a bar or restaurant. For many women, this is a strangely difficult thing to do, but eventually I mastered it. (The trick is to bring a book or newspaper, to ask for the best table nearest to the window, and to order your drink just as soon as you sit down.) Once I got the hang of it, I found that eating alone by the window in a quiet restaurant is one of life's greatest secret pleasures.

Let people have their opinions. More than that—let people be in love with their opinions, just as you and I are in love with ours. But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business.

You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughtta be." This

You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.

never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business.

You do not need anyone's permission to live a creative life