Quotes About Self-reliance

Who depends on another man's table often dines late.

The ancient Greeks told of a philosopher eating bread and lentils for dinner. He was approached by another man, who lived sumptuously by flattering the king. Said the flatterer, "If you would learn to be subservient to the king, you would not have to live on lentils." The philosopher replied, "If you would learn to live on lentils, you would not have to give up your independence in order to be docile and acquiescent to the king.

Never let others dictate the directions that you pick in your life since they are not the ones living your life.

A child is not a bona fide adult, regardless of age, until the child is self-supporting.) During

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

I have always said there is only one thing that can bring our nation down - our dependence on foreign countries for food and energy. Agriculture is the backbone of our economy.

To believe that someone else is responsible for your emotional state is to give them a sort of psychic power over you they do not have...we really do generate our own feelings. No one else can do it for us. We respond and are responsible. To think other people are responsible for our feelings is to inhabit a billiard ball, inanimate universe.

Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.

In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race

In many cases, though individuals may not do the particular thing so well, on the average, as the officers of government, it is nevertheless desirable that it should be done by them, rather than by the government, as a means to their own mental education—a mode of strengthening their active faculties, exercising their judgment, and giving them a familiar knowledge of the subjects with which they are thus left to deal.

He who let's the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation

He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself, employs all his faculties

Over one mind and over ones body the individual is sovereign.

People individually do best for everyone when they do best for themselves, when they aren't commanded too much or protected against the consequences of their own folly.

At the heart of any school reforms that aren't simply tuning the mudsill mechanism lie two beliefs: 1) That talent, intelligence, grace, and high accomplishment are within the reach of every kid, and 2) That we are better off working for ourselves than for a boss.

When we want better families, better neighbors, better friends, and better schools we shall turn our backs on national and global systems, on expert experts and specialist specialties and begin to make our own schools one by one, far from the reach of systems.

Construímos uma estilo de vida que depende de que as pessoas continuem fazendo o que lhes mandam fazer por não saberem como dizer a si mesmas o que deve ser feito.

A lição dos boletins, notas e provas é a de que as crianças não devem confiar em si mesmas ou em seus pais, mas, em vez disso, deveriam confiar na avaliação de autoridades credenciadas. É necessário que se diga às pessoas o valor que têm.

The primary goal of real education is not to deliver facts but to guide students to the truths that will allow them to take responsibility for their lives.

I feel ashamed that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free.

The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn't know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible. Certainly not to be trusted.

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

Everybody who tells you how to act has whiskey on their breath.

Once you have passed the solitude test," continued Solkin, "you have absolute confidence in yourself, and there is nothing that can break you afterward.