Quotes About Independence

Magdalen drew further and further back. A twig from a tree near caught her cloak; she turned petulantly, broke it off, and threw it on the ground. What right have you to question me? she broke out on a sudden. Whether I like Frank, or whether I don't, what interest is it of yours? As she said the words, she abruptly stepped forward to pass her sister and return to the house.

If I only had the privileges of a man, I would order out Sir Percival's best horse instantly, and tear away on a night-gallop, eastward, to meet the rising sun—a long, hard, heavy, ceaseless gallop of hours and hours, like the famous highwayman's ride to York. Being, however, nothing but a woman, condemned to patience, propriety, and petticoats for life, I must respect the house-keeper's opinions, and try to compose myself in some feeble and feminine way.

I have degraded myself by ever thinking of him as my husband.

the long luxury of your own freedom has made you incapable of doing us justice now.

The little children of my brain may be weakly enough, and may be sadly in want of a helping hand to aid them in their first attempts at walking on the stage of this great world; but, at any rate, they are not borrowed children.

Cultivate a superiority to reason, and see how you pare the claws of all the sensible people when they try to scratch you for your own good!

No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. Men! They are the enemies of our innocence and our peace—they drag us away from our parents' love and our sisters' friendship—they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel. And what does the best of them give us in return?

Are you free of each other, pretty Mrs. Valeria, by common consent of both parties?

No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. Men! They are the enemies of our innocence and our peace—they drag us away from our parents' love and our sisters' friendship—they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel. And what does the best of them give us in return?

You musn't talk of a young lady *belonging* to anybody, as if she was a piece of furniture, or money in the Three per Cent, or something of that sort.

It will be better for both of us Let me go.

Nature has never read the Declaration of Independence. It continues to make us unequal.

He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing great in his eyes. He cannot live in complaisance with others, except it be a friend; complaisance is the characteristic of a slave . . . .

Let us trust to ourselves, see all with our own eyes; Let these be our oracles, our tripods and our gods.

To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.

When the Duke of Wei offered him the prime ministry he dismissed the royal messengers with a curtness indicative of a writer's dreams: "Go away quickly, and do not soil me with your presence. I had rather amuse and enjoy myself in a filthy ditch than be subject to the rules and restrictions in the court of a sovereign.

if you are alone, you are all your own; with a companion you are half yourself; so you squander yourself according to the indiscretion of your company.

He thought everything out carefully before acting; and therefore remained a bachelor all his life long.

God preserve me from my friends," he concluded; "I will take care of my enemies myself.

To be happy means to be self-sufficient.

Until a person has discovered and dares to follow his own inner gleam, we may be sure of one thing: he will be leaning in either negative or positive dependence on someone outside himself!

But you don't make people safe by giving up their most basic rights What good is being safe if we have no freedom. - Mike

If I lived in North Korea, I'd want my own army, too.

A man can't soar too high, when he flies with his own wings.