Quotes About Self-reliance

As stated before, in Western—particularly American—culture, there is the myth of the individual superbeing. One man or woman, well-armed and highly skilled, with nerves of steel, can conquer the world. In truth, anyone believing this should simply strip naked, holler for the undead, then lay down on a silver platter.

You can't blame anyone else, not the plan's architect, not your commanding officer, no one but yourself. You have to make your own choices and live every agonizing day with the consequences of those choices.

You can't blame the people in Greenloop for having their cupboards bare. The whole country rests on a system that sacrifices resilience for comfort.

You can't blame the people in Greenloop for having their cupboards bare. The whole country rests on a system that sacrifices resilience for c

They didn't break me, I broke myself.

It's great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl

It's great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl.

What could I have done? I was unarmed, untrained. I couldn't have taken care of them. I could barely take care of myself. What could I have done? . . . Something. [Maze sighs in her sleep. Darnell pats her gently.] I could have done something.

Why? Why are we always looking for someone else to save us instead of trying to save ourselves?

Her supposition that I was melancholy because I was alone put me out of humour. I'm used to travelling alone. I live, like every real man, in my work. On the contrary, that's the way I like it and I think myself lucky to live alone, in my view this is the only possible condition for men, I enjoy waking up and not having to say a word. Where is the woman who can understand that?

The trick, he said over and over again in any number of contexts, is to disregard what everybody tells you until you have thought it through for yourself.

There are certain things no one can do for you.

As long as you think you can handle all of your problems by yourself, you don't need a problem-fixer. As long as you are feeling happy, you don't need comfort. As long as you would rather follow your friends Monday through Saturday and follow Jesus only on Sunday, you're not really following Him at all. Because He wants all of you every day, not just a little bit on Sunday.

Self-reliance? Yes, but that first spring I had to learn dependency too. By crying for help and seeing help come from several directions, I began to learn what the village is all about: on the one hand, respect for privacy, and on the other, awareness of each other's needs. So, however solitary some of us may look to an outsider, we are in truth part of an invisible web and supported by its presence.

Women have come to understand ourselves as central, not peripheral, before anything real can happen. We have to depend on ourselves...This cannot be done against men, and that's the real problem...It cannot be woman against man. It has to be woman finding her true self with or without man, but not against man.

When it comes to the important things one is always alone.

Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift.

Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

Never whine. Whining lets a brute know that a victim is in the neighborhood.

You see, baby, you have to protect yourself. If you don't protect yourself, you look like a fool asking somebody else to protect you." I thought about that for a second. She was right. A woman needs to support herself before she asks anyone else to support her.

To grow up is to stop putting blame on parents

Independence is a heady draft, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.

A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim.

The naturally lonely person does not look for comfort in love, but accepts the variables as due course.