Quotes About Independence

To take an analogy from botany, she imagined a child as an unopened flower; a parent had a responsability to provide light and water, but also to stand back and watch. 'He can do anything he wants', she said, 'as long as he's happy and cool.' In contrast, I saw no reason why the flower should not be bracketed to a bamboo stick, pruned, exposed to artificial light; if it made for a stronger, more resilient plant, why not? (pag. 337)

Search all he parks in all your cities; you'll find no statues of committees.

In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. 'Search the parks in all your cities You'll find no statues of committees.

When they no longer need parental support, they also no longer need the defense mechanisms that blinded them (in order to keep them feeling secure) to their parents' failings.

And what if I can't behave myself? What if I don't fucking want to?" "You will," you laugh. "Because I'm not asking you, I'm fucking telling you.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way

Many people could not understand that the idea of government is not to provide, the way parents provide for a child.

spirituality. In healthy intimate relationships we do not seek more than 25 percent of our nurturance from a partner; we learn to find the rest within ourselves.

When we look deeply into our fears, we see that, at base, every fear is a fear of not having control

The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.

Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness.

If you are antisocial, far northern Maine is the place for you. Of course, other preferences and characteristics besides not liking to have people around would help as well. You should be rugged, like living off the land, not care very much about eating out and cable TV, and have a healthy disdain for paved roads.

Where there are kings, there must be the greatest cowards. For men's souls are enslaved and refuse to run risks readily and recklessly to increase the power of somebody else. But independent people, taking risks on their own behalf and not on behalf of others, are willing and eager to go into danger, for they themselves enjoy the prize of victory.

Play the game by their rules (professionals), or play your own game, with your own set of rules, that follow common sense and have a much better chance of winning. It is your choice!

I wanted to be able to do things at my own pace," he said. "I wanted to make mistakes and nobody would care.

It doesn't mean that you have so much money coming in you don't have to work anymore. It means having the freedom to do what you really want in life, and the freedom to be the person you are striving to be. What

Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might can fuck him up some times, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?

Also, I used to think that one day I might get someone to iron my shirts, but the truth is I really like doing them myself.

Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might can fuck him up some times, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?

I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.

our children live or die with or without us. No matter what we do, no matter how we agonize or obsess, we cannot choose for our children whether they live or die. It is a devastating realization, but also liberating. I finally chose life for myself. I chose the perilous but essential path that allows me to accept that Nic will decide for himself how—and whether—he will live his life.

it has sunk in and I now know it emotionally. My children will live with or without me. It is a staggering realization for a parent, but one that ultimately frees us to let our children grow up.

It took my near death, however, to comprehend that his fate—and Jasper's and Daisy's—is separate from mine. I can try to protect my children, to help and guide them, and I can love them, but I cannot save them. Nic, Jasper, and Daisy will live, and someday they will die, with or without me.

Its motto was grand: "There are no limitations, no boundaries; since we are on our own, there is nothing we cannot do; when you start with nothing you can do everything.