Quotes About Independence

I take the only desire one can really permit oneself. Freedom, Alvah, freedom." "You call that freedom?" "To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.

A man who seeks escape from the responsibility of supporting his life by his own thought and effort, and wishes to survive by conquering, ruling and exploiting others, is NOT an Individualist.

Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth, the man who would make his fortune no matter where he started.

I am done with the monster of We, the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: I.

Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.

It's not a question of who will allow me to do it, it's a question of who will stop me.

We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it.

Man is an end in himself.

Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth - the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him.

A right doesn't include the material implementation of that right by other men; it includes only the freedom to earn that implementation by one's own effort.

There was a great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and obtain by our own hand.

It was a long story and the spirt which moved it was the spirit of man's freedom. But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. that is freedom. This and nothing else. ~Equality 7-2521 (as Prometheus), pg 101

A man of self respect doesn't turn into a milch cow for anybody.

And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone.

I don't want to fight for the people, I don't want to fight against the people, I don't want to hear of the people. I want to be left alone—to live.

It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.

Happiness is self-contained and self-sufficient. Happy men have no time and no use for you. Happy men are free men.

You don't care what others think - which might be understandable. But you don't care even to make them think as you do? No. But that's...that's monstrous. Is it? Probably. I couldn't say.

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires.

Well, whose opinion did you take?" "I don't ask for opinions." "What do you go by?" "Judgment." "Well, whose judgment did you take?" "Mine." "But whom did you consult about it?" "Nobody.

But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue.

What are you really seeking?' 'Freedom – to want nothing, to expect nothing, to depend on nothing.

Why is it so important - what others have done? Why does it become sacred by the mere fact of not being your own? Why is anyone and everyone right - so long as it's not yourself? Why does the number of those others take the place of truth? Why is truth made a mere matter of arithmetic - and only of addition at that? Why is everything twisted out of all sense to fit everything else?

The thinking child seeks equals; the conformist seeks protectors.