Quotes About Autonomy

The only thing that mattered was that the quarter century or so he had remaining would be his life, to live out as he chose and in his own best interests. Nothing took precedence over that: not work, not friendships, not relationships with women. Those were all components of his life, and valuable ones, but they did not define it or control it. That was up to him, and him alone.

The only thing that mattered was the quarter century or so he had remaining would be HIS life, to live out as he chose and in his own best interests. Nothing took precedence over that...The possibilities...were endless.

Your butt may like to sit, but your butt is not the boss of you! Say no to your butt.

If you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do, or into just being mule-stubborn and doing the opposite out of spite.

In the end what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No, a man chooses... a slave obeys.

Creative teams have a distinctive personality and come together to do something specific. They are together only for as long as they want to be or have to be to get the job done.

No one needs to be a victim of their own biography." Or, as Carl Jung puts it, "I am not what has happened to me, I am what I choose to become." PRINCIPLE #3: LIFE IS ORGANIC In my experience, very few people in middle age or beyond correctly anticipated the lives they have actually led.

This, for Homer, is the tragedy of being human: to desire freedom, and be tortured by a sense of autonomy, and yet be imprisoned by forces beyond our control.

How could a choice be called free when its consequences are unknown at the time of our choosing?

Freedom is the opportunity to make decisions...

Responsibility cannot be assigned; it can only be accepted. If someone tries to give you responsibility, only you can decide if you are responsible or if you aren't.

It's not my job to "manage" someone else's expectations. It's their job to manage their own expectations. It's my job to do my best and to communicate clearly.

I made up my mind I'm not going to pay attention to what people think. I've done that too long—all my life. I'm not going to live that way anymore.

You understand? If you can read you can cook. You can always feed yourselves. You remember that.

There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.

If a woman could take care of herself, would she still need a man? Would she even want one? And if she didn't want a man, what kind of woman would she be? Would she even be a woman? Because it seemed if you were a woman, the only thing you were really supposed to want was a man.

Sometimes, one must become a master to avoid becoming a slave.

It's not your job to like me - it's mine

When we think we lead, we are most led.

I'm unpredictable, I never know where I'm going until I get there, I'm so random, I'm always growing, learning, changing, I'm never the same person twice. But one thing you can be sure of about me; is I will always do exactly what I want to do.

I think that the best thing we can do for our children is to allow them to do things for themselves, allow them to be strong, allow them to experience life on their own terms, allow them to take the subway... let them be better people, let them believe more in themselves.

Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose.

The secret is that only that which can destroy itself is truly alive.

at this moment I came upon myself. Previously I had existed, too, but everything had merely happened to me. Now I happened to myself. Now I knew: I am myself now, now I exist. Previously I had been willed to do this and that; now I willed.