Quotes About Autonomy

It was during the war, too, that I learned how to be comfortable sitting alone in a bar or restaurant. For many women, this is a strangely difficult thing to do, but eventually I mastered it. (The trick is to bring a book or newspaper, to ask for the best table nearest to the window, and to order your drink just as soon as you sit down.) Once I got the hang of it, I found that eating alone by the window in a quiet restaurant is one of life's greatest secret pleasures.

There was no better path to autonomy for an ambitious young businesswoman than to be married off to a respectable corpse.

Sometimes it's just true that other people have better ideas for your life than you do.

Don't believe a single thing any cunt or bastard tells you in this world. You go find out.

Maybe because they didn't worry too much about me, I didn't worry too much about me, either.

I was not rescued by a prince; I was the administrator of my own rescue

This was not a man to be swayed by gentleness, beauty, or sweet words. He would bend—assuming he was even capable of bending—only for reasons of his own.

there are things you have to do for yourself, even if everyone else thinks you're crazy.

Besides, there are things you have to do for yourself, even if everyone else thinks you're crazy.

Better to embrace what lies within yourself than search for happiness in another,' she says. 'Don't be feared to discover your own power.

At least he was choosing who wielded power over him. There was a wildness to the thought, a freedom, that set him alight as much as it chilled him to the core.

My advice is, the next time you see someone you think you need to rescue, walk quickly away on the far side of the street.

Each life deserves its own measure of respect; they are not kindling wood, to be bundled together.

could not endure a man who would let himself be ruled by me, and I would not endure a man who tried to rule me. However

Its best to turn to no one, to seek to please no one, as if there were only oneself in the world. The pleasure of others is a by-product after all, and if ever the whispering voices are allowed to crowd out the one voice, the result is this...a sort of high-pitched silliness, a terrible silliness.

Lotty, who never wanted anything of anybody, but was complete in herself and respected other people's completeness?

And I envied her that she had chosen her work herself and was doing what she wanted to do. I don't suppose I had any idea what I 'wanted' and so I was chosen, not choosing. There's glory and honor in being chosen. But not much room for free will.

No man is going to solve my problems, no one can rescue me, because I am too sick.

I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. About anything. Don't apologize unless you have done something wrong. It is nasty to feel sorry for anyone for any reason because it pushes her away.

I'm a stranger wherever I go because I'm strange to myself. My mind just goes off doing its own thing, never consulting me at all about whether it's all right to feel this way or that.

Thinking for yourself and making your own decisions can be frightening. Letting go of other people's expectations can leave you feeling empty for a time. And yet seeing yourself as an independent adult who can stand up for your own choices frees you to accept yourself as you are.

You have the right to set ground rules. This means deciding if, when, and how you want to see the people in your family. Many survivors feel that if they open up the channels at all, they have to open them up all the way. When you were a child you had two options—to trust or not to trust. Your options are broader now.

But why should I cast myself in the ancient female part of victim of men's plots and passions?

I do not make the rules [. . .] This annoys me, and so I comfort myself by breaking them