Quotes About Self-reliance

There's not always going to be something out there for you, especially not a positive role, so once you get up there and start being well known, you can't just think projects will come to you. You have to start doing your own projects because if you don't, you'll miss out, and eventually your fame will be over.

Sometimes well-intentioned programs can lead to dependency and cause us to forget we have what it takes to attain the American dream.

Smart, well-meaning people get it wrong when they start believing that the world owes them something and that the rules are different for them.

I was a single mom by choice at 37, and if my love life hadn't quite panned out, most everything else had. I was a classic 'amazing girl' - driven, social, and relentlessly well-rounded - reveling in the fruits of post-Title IX America: an all-metro athlete in high school, Rhodes Scholar at 24, best-selling author by 27.

Being in this business and surviving day-to-day can be a constant struggle. It's about learning how to be your own super hero, put on your own cape, and be a well-rounded individual.

Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal... I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.

When America's early pioneers first turned their eyes toward the West, they did not demand that somebody take care of them if they got ill or got old. They did not demand maximum pay for minimum work, and even pay for no work at all.

I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country.

South Vietnam had to be built from scratch and, from the very beginning, depended far too much on the Western superpowers. As in the case of a person on public welfare, this dependency, which became greater with each day, was quite difficult to shake.

That's such a powerless place for me to think about: what is working against me. I don't think of what I don't have; I think of what I do and use that to get the next thing.

Foundational autonomy asserts instead that in the most fundamental practical sense, I am my own creator, which means that at the core, I am alone.

My mum brought me up but it's hard for a woman to try to teach a son man things, so I've had to practically raise myself.

There was a lot of great writing couples, but I try to do it all myself. And it was practically impossible, but I still managed to be ahead of my time.

Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.

Irish people are pragmatic. They understand that nobody is going to fix our problems but ourselves.

There are libertarians who are survivalists, who live in the middle of nowhere and who are ready for the world to end. And then there are pragmatists, and I would consider myself to be a pretty pragmatic person.

He who does without the praise of the crowd will not deny himself an opportunity to be his own adherent.

I don't look for praise.

My most earnest prayer is that every man and every woman will get it into his or her heart that they are in very deed the architects of their lives.

I come from a background where people have had their own business, where it has been incredibly tough for a long period of time, and you are only as good as the last contract you have got, as the last job you have done, where the notion of a precarious existence does exist, as it does for a lot of people.

It sounds precocious, but I knew that I had to listen to my own inner voice and ignore what everyone else was saying, even my mum.

Being that I started so young and super independent from the ground up, talking to people in the same predicament that I once was in is humbling. It makes you appreciative of the come-up and how far I have come. It is inspiring.

I prefer to work alone and do everything alone, even today.

I would hate now to be married. It does occur to me on occasion that, if I fall and hit my head, there will be no one to make the phone call. But who wants to think about that disaster, I'd prefer not to.