Quotes About Autonomy

No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.

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.

Abortion is a moral right—which should be left to the sole discretion of the woman involved.

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 what is the state but a servant and a convenience for a large number of people, just like the electric light and the plumbing system? And wouldn't it be preposterous to claim that men must exist for their plumbing, not the plumbing for the men?

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.

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.

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

The thinking child seeks equals; the conformist seeks protectors.

I do not wish to work in a world that regards me as a slave.

If you want my advice, Peter," he said at last, "you've made a mistake already. By asking me. By asking anyone. Never ask people. Not about your work. Don't you know what you want? How can you stand it, not to know?

The egotist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man—and he asks no other man to exist for him.

You'll get everything society can give a man. You'll keep all the money. You'll take any fame or honor anyone might want to grant. You'll accept such gratitude as the tenants might feel. And I—I'll take what nobody can give a man, except himself.

Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.

I would have to think on a nice clean job. I don't want to think. Not their way. It will have to be their way, no matter where I go. I want a job where I won't have to think.

My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose. 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.

Reason is not automatic, those who deny it cannot be conquered by it

A thinking child cannot conform. Thought does not bow to authority.