Quotes About Self-reliance

Self-reliance leads to intellectual independence. Each man must think for himself, must train the mind to think, must habituate the soul to observe and analyze.

The man who is content to live alone is either a beast or a god.

Thinking men cannot be ruled; ambitious men do not stagnate.

In the temple of his spirit, each man is alone.

If you've put yourself in a position where someone has to see you in order for you to be safe - to see you, and to give a fuck - you've already blown it.

Those of us who are going to live, Dinah Said, have to start living by our own lights.

What do you mean by values?" "They were code words like honesty, hard work, self-reliance . . . myths, actually, to motivate the people to accept the natural inequities found in a market system.

So long as you entertain the notion that there is something or someone else out there "doing it" to you, you disempower yourself to do anything about it. Only when you say "I did this" can you find the power to change it.

So long as you're still worried about what others think of you, you are owned by them. Only when you require no approval from outside yourself can you own yourself.

nobody owes you anything

So when I ran out of the final bottle of Zoloft, I didn't take any more. I didn't call Dr. Barney either. I just threw the bottle away and said Okay, if I ever feel bad again, I'll remember how good I felt that night on the Brooklyn Bridge. Pills were for wimps, and this was over; I was done; I was back to me.

I don't owe people anything, and I don't have to talk to them any more than I feel I need to.

To learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.

Evidence shows that nature doesn't actually care about our health or longevity. We're equipped by natural instincts to sift between some of what might harm us and some of what may bring us comfort. Yet there is no hint from space that anyone or anything in the universe will arrive to save us from Earth, or from ourselves. It is we alone who care about us.

If he wants me to stay away, he should leave me alone.

Something changed in me, as it did for many people, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It felt like the day I first beat my father at arm wrestling. In that moment, I realized that he could no longer protect me. I had to take care of myself.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another" (Gal. 5:17). They are in opposition because the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, will not operate independently of our heavenly Father, but the flesh does. The flesh may be defined as existence apart from God—a life dominated by sin or a drive opposed to God. The flesh is self-reliant rather than God-dependent; it is self-centered rather than Christ-centered.

The life begins to drain when our confidence and dependence upon God shifts to confidence and dependence upon programs

The world doesn't try to screw you; the world is indifferent to you. But people try to screw you, and people need to know when they've picked the wrong guy to screw. And that's me.

That defense alone is effectual, sure and durable which depends upon yourself and your own valour.

The wise prince, therefore, has always avoided these arms and turned to his own and has been willing rather to lose with them than to conquer with the others, not deeming that a real victory which is gained with the arms of others.

The armour of others is too wide, or too strait for us; it falls off us, or it weighs us down.

Therefore, my son, if you wish to please me, and to bring success and honour to yourself, do right and study, because others will help you if you help yourself.

That deliverance is of no avail which does not depend upon yourself; those only are reliable, certain, and durable that depend upon yourself and your valor.