Quotes About Self-reliance

The American woman's interest does not lie in the man; she wants to be alone, and she can't be alone without dabbling, today in chemistry, to-morrow in physiology and the day after in Buddhism.

The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus , who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus , ' If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils .' Said [author:Diogenes|3213618, 'Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.

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

When it comes to the areas of your life that matter most—your family, your faith, your health, your finances—you can't rely on anybody else to tell you what to do. It's great to get coaching from experts in the field, but you can't outsource the final decision. You can't give another person control over your destiny, no matter how sincere or skilled he or she may be.

The next time you're feeling uncertain, remind yourself that you're the creator of your life, not a manager of circumstances.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. —MARCUS AURELIUS Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. —AYN RAND

If you are self-motivated, wow, this world is tailored for you. The boundaries are all gone. But if you're not self-motivated, this world will be a challenge because the walls, ceilings and floors that protected people are also disappearing. . . . There will be fewer limits, but also fewer guarantees. Your specific contribution will define your specific benefits much more. Just showing up will not cut it.

Marry Oswald, and be your own mistress." "I mean to be my own mistress without marrying Oswald, though I don't see my way quite clearly as yet. I think I shall set up a little house of my own, and let the world say what it pleases. I suppose they couldn't make me out to be a lunatic.

The more she was absolutely in need of external friendship, the more disposed was she to reject it, and to declare to herself that she was prepared to stand alone in the world.

I don't care twopence who have their way," said Lucinda, "I mean to have mine; — that's all.

Tell me one thing, Major Mackintosh," she said, as she gave him her hand at parting,— "they can't take away from me anything that is my own; — can they?" "I don't think they can," said the major, escaping rather quickly from the room.

As for money," continued the father, not caring to notice this interruption, "if it be regarded in any other light than as a shield against want, as a rampart under the protection of which you may carry on your battle, it will fail you. I was born a rich man." "Few people have cared so little about it as you," said the elder son.

I can give you as good a position as any man without a title in England." "Mr. Longstaff, I rather fancy that wherever I may be I can make a position for myself. At any rate I shall not marry with the view of getting one. If my husband were an English Duke I should think myself nothing, unless I was something as Isabel Boncassen.

My dear fellow, I don't think you've the gift of seeing very far. The truth is they don't know what to make of me; — and I don't intend that they shall. I'm playing my game, and there isn't one of 'em understands it except myself. It's no good my sitting here, you know. I shan't be able to move. How am I to get at you if I want anything?

A woman who is alone in the world is ever regarded with suspicion.

What could she do with a man who had no ideas of his own as to what he ought to do with himself?

A man owes it to his country, to his friends, even to his acquaintance, that he shall not be known to be going about wanting a dinner, with never a coin in his pocket.

No one dependent on him! Are not his father and his mother and his sisters dependent on him as long as he must eat their bread till he can earn bread of his own? He will never earn bread of his own. He will always be eating bread that others have earned

Come down and have a glass of brandy-and-water, and leave the people alone for the present. The people can take care of themselves a great deal better than we can take care of them.

Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri;

I am beginning to feel that I have been wrong." "I don't think you have been wrong at all." "A man is wrong if he attempts to carry a weight too great for his strength." "A certain nervous sensitiveness, from which you should free yourself as from a disease, is your only source of weakness. Think about your business as a shoemaker thinks of his. Do your best, and then let your customers judge for themselves

He required that she learn by heart certain passages from 'Self-Reliance.' 'Let us bow and apologize never more. A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me... A true man belongs to no other time or place, but is the center of things... Let a man then know his own worth and keep things under his feet.

Look at Grandma," my mother would say. "You never want to be dependent on a man." The fear of ending up like Tanya, cutting coupons in a one-room efficiency surrounded by strangers, made me vigilant like my parents, anxious that the poverty of our ancestors was always just one wrong move away.

It satisfied the edict my mother had issued many times throughout my life: "You have to make your own living; you never want to be dependent on a man.