Quotes About Independence

Conforming to social norms, you will listen more to others than to your own voice.

Preserve the unspoken option of being able to leave at any moment and reclaim your freedom if the side you are allied with starts to collapse.

We must learn to develop ourselves. At the same time, it is a world teeming with critical problems and opportunities, best solved and seized by entrepreneurs—individuals or small groups who think independently, adapt quickly, and possess unique perspectives. Your individualized, creative skills will be at a premium.

In dealing with your career and its inevitable changes, you must think in the following way: You are not tied to a particular position; your loyalty is not to a career or a company. You are committed to your Life's Task, to giving it full expression.

Nunca haga lo que otros pueden hacer por usted.

Be like a slippery ball that cannot be held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses like.

Be like a slippery ball that cannot be held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses lie.

Be careful in assembling this team that you are not seduced by expertise and intelligence. Character, the ability to work under you and with the rest of the team, and the capacity to accept responsibility and think independently are equally key.

Somos criaturas que no soportan sentir que obedecen a una voluntad ajena. Si tus objetivos lo descubrieran, tarde o temprano se volverán contra ti.

What we most deeply desire, however, is to create our world for ourselves. Whenever we can do that, even in the slightest degree, we are happy. Now in play we create our own world...

Daily Law: With some distance and awareness, you can become much more than a follower of or a rebel against your generation; you can mold your own relationship to the zeitgeist and become a formidable trendsetter.

Preferiría ser mendiga y soltera, que reina y casada. REINA ISABEL I, 1533-1603

When you hold yourself back, you incur not anger but a kind of respect. You instantly seem powerful because you make yourself un-graspable, rather than succumbing to the group, or to the relationship, as most people do. As your reputation for independence grows, more and more people will come to desire you, wanting to be the one who gets you to commit. The moment you commit, the magic is gone. You become like everyone else. People will try all kinds of underhanded methods to get you to commit.

Daily Law: It is simple: depending on others is misery; depending on yourself is power.

La autoestima es decisiva en la seducción. Una autoestima baja repele, la seguridad y autosuficiencia atraen. Cuanto menos parezcas necesitar de los demás, es más probable que se sientan atraídos hacia ti. Comprende la importancia de esto en todas las relaciones y descubrirás que tu necesidad es más fácil de suprimir.

This is a lesson that the stars in the sky teach us—they may be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

Recuerda mantener distancia emocional y física. Esto te permitirá llorar y reír a voluntad, y proyectar autosuficiencia; y con tal desapego, podrás jugar con las emociones de la gente como si tocaras un piano.

Create Mental Space from the Group

The Laws of Human Nature, 14: Resist the Downward Pull of the Group—The Law of Conformity

To resist this downward pull that groups inevitably exert on us, we must conduct a kind of experiment in human nature with a simple goal in mind—to develop the ability to detach ourselves from the group and create some mental space for true independent thinking.

Embrace Your Weirdness The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. —Coco Chanel

We are entering a world in which we can rely less and less upon the state, the corporation, or family or friends to help and protect us. It is a globalized, harshly competitive environment. We must learn to develop ourselves.

It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself.

the ability to reason on your own, your most prized possession as a human.