Quotes About Autonomy

But I want him to live if he wants to live. If he doesn't, then by forcing him to carry in, you, me - no matter how much we love him - we become just another shitty bunch of people taking away his choices.

Quiénes se creen los demás para decidir cómo han de ser nuestras vidas?

The woman of the mountains leads a difficult life, while the man is lord of the household. Whether he works, visits, or roams through the woods with dog and gun is nobody's business but his own. . . . He is entirely unable to understand any interference in his affairs by society; if he turns his corn into "likker," he is dealing with what is his. • WPA, The WPA Guide to Kentucky

I liked the fact that I could be who I wanted to be without my sister's voice reminding me of who I had been.

Quiero que viva si él quiere vivir. Si no es así, al obligarlo a seguir adelante, tú, yo, por mucho que lo queramos, nos habremos convertido en otro hatajo de imbéciles que no sabe respetar su voluntad".

No one owns you, I know that. No one owns me. No one owns anyone. We just get to borrow each for a while.

No one could tie you tighter than you could tie yourself and it was the ropes you couldn't see that bound you tightest.

In another illustration of reactance, children (and adults too) may refuse all proposals about how to spend the day, even the one they prefer, because they do not want to feel imposed upon.

Rule #1 You're the Driver of Your Bus.

The immature conscience is not its own master. It simply parrots the decisions of others. It does not make judgments of its own; it merely conforms to the judgments of others. That is not real freedom, and it makes true love impossible, for if we are to love truly and freely, we must be able to give something that is truly our own to another. If our heart does not belong to us, asks Merton, how can we give it to another?

To die with dignity does not require company

There are no exact duplicates in nature. Each human is unique. When we seek to be like the next person, we lose autonomy. Failure often is the result of following the crowd. If the character of the person we are following lacks strength, honesty, and courage, that person's weaknesses can become ours. Conversely, following someone who exhibits those attributes reinforces one's own resolve and character.

The snowflake never needs to feel responsible for the avalanche.

By the way, once you get over your dependence, you may actually find, as this client did, that it feels good to be self-sufficient; your resourcefulness will then build your self-esteem and give you confidence.)

Without privacy there was no point in being an individual.

The first step away from being manipulated, and towards a more autonomous outlook, is to stand back from a set of responses and think.

I believe it is dangerous for the ethic of divinity to supersede the ethic of autonomy in the governance of a diverse modern democracy. However, I also believe that life in a society that entirely ignored the ethic of divinity would be ugly and unsatisfying.

Some constraint is good for us; absolute freedom is not.

The Penn students spoke almost exclusively in the language of the ethic of autonomy, whereas the other groups (particularly the working-class groups) made much more use of the ethic of community, and a bit more use of the ethic of divinity.14

In this world, equality and personal autonomy were not sacred values. Honoring elders, gods, and guests, protecting subordinates, and fulfilling one's role-based duties were more important.

There seem to be just two primary ways of answering this question. Most societies have chosen the sociocentric answer, placing the needs of groups and institutions first, and subordinating the needs of individuals. In contrast, the individualistic answer places individuals at the center and makes society a servant of the individual.

Indeed, in this age in which everything is held to be permissible so long as it is freely done, in which our given human nature no longer commands respect, in which our bodies are regarded as mere instruments of our autonomous rational wills, repugnance may be the only voice left that speaks up to defend the central core of our humanity. Shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder.48

You cannot teach antifragility directly, but you can give your children the gift of experience—the thousands of experiences they need to become resilient, autonomous adults.

Most societies have chosen the sociocentric answer, placing the needs of groups and institutions first, and subordinating the needs of individuals. In contrast, the individualistic answer places individuals at the center and makes society a servant of the individual.