Quotes About Autonomy

Our power is in our ability to decide.

A decision is what a man makes when he can't find anybody to serve on a committee.

One of the rewards of success is freedom. the ability to do whatever you like.

Success is the ability to do what you want, whenever you want, as often as you want.

Success gave me confidence as an artist. And now I'm able to do what I want without anybody thinking it's dumb.

Do you wait for things to happen, or do you make them happen yourself? I believe in writing your own story.

Feminism's ultimate success is that we don't need it anymore.

I strongly urge you to consciously consider what success means to you. Instead of allowing others or society to determine when you win, you determine it.

We make our own choices and we're each responsible for them. Blame and credit belong to the individual. You haven't the right to claim either from someone else.

The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.

I do as I please, Monsieur Beauchamp, and believe me, what I do is always well done.

although a companion is agreeable, perfect freedom is sometimes still more agreeable. I

I do what I please, M. Beauchamp, and it is always well done.

Athos, secondo il solito, né lo dissuadeva, né lo incoraggiava. Athos era del parere che bisognava lasciare ad ognuno la sua libera scelta. Non dava mai consigli senza esserne richiesto e bisognava anche chiederglieli due volte. - In generale, - egli diceva, - i consigli si chiedono soltanto per non seguirli, o, se si sono seguiti, per aver qualcuno a cui poter rimproverare d'averli dati.

It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my part, I should be inclined to think freedom less necessary in the great things than in the little ones, if it were possible to be secure of the one without the other.

He who in given cases consents to obey his fellows with servility, and who submits his will, and even his thoughts, to their control, how can he pretend that he wishes to be free?

The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.

Americans owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands. Thus democracy throws [a man] back forever upon himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart.

What good is it to me to have an authority always ready to see to the tranquil enjoyment of my pleasures, to brush away all dangers from my path without my having to think about them, if such an authority, as well as removing thorns from under my feet, is also the absolute master of my freedom or if it so takes over all activity and life that around it all must languish when it languishes, sleep when it sleeps and perish when it perishes.

Whoever seeks anything from freedom but freedom itself is doomed to slavery.

While the natural instincts of democracy persuade the people to remove distinguished men from power, the latter are guided by no less an instinct to distance themselves from a political career, where it is so difficult for them to retain their complete autonomy or to make any progress without cheapening themselves.

Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control.

The way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not by following directions.

We prattle about free will, but we're nothing but response . . . mechanical reaction in prescribed grooves.