quotations about independence
The world looks with some awe upon a man who appears unconcernedly indifferent to home, money, comfort, rank, or even power and fame. The world feels not without a certain apprehension, that here is someone outside its jurisdiction; someone before whom its allurements may be spread in vain; some one strangely enfranchised, untamed, untrammelled by convention, moving independent of the ordinary currents of human action.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
speech at the unveiling of a memorial to T. E. Lawrence, Oct. 3, 1936
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Jane Eyre
Though elite men considered themselves to be the most independent people, aspiring yeoman farmers and working men shared their preoccupation with independence, detested the yoke of obligation, and often coveted dependents, who would underscore their status as men capable not only of independence but of patronage and means. Thus, manly American "independence" was spun out of slave labor and all that it made possible for elite and non-elite whites alike.
NANCY BERCAW & TED OWNBY
The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture
Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, "Go to sleep by yourselves." And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.
MARGARET MEAD
Family Circle, July 26, 1977
It is precisely those who are apparently aloof from the world who build for themselves a remarkable and thoroughly individual world in miniature, using their own special equipment, termite-like.
STEFAN ZWEIG
Chess Story
The fewer our wants the more independent we are of our fellow creatures.
WALTER MATTHEWS
"Independence", Human Life from Many Angles
True independence is to be found where a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortunes.
A. KNEELAND
attributed, Day's Collacon
A great step towards independence is a good-humored stomach.
SENECA
Letters from a Stoic
I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Jane Eyre
But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness.
MEGAN WHALEN TURNER
The King of Attolia
I never thrust my nose into other men's porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine: Every man for himself and God for us all.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quixote
So the fact that I'm me and no one else is one of my greatest assets. Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent.
HARUKI MURAKAMI
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walden
Being independent doesn't exclude us from needing support from others. Being independent means having freedom and responsibility to walk our own path. Being independent means being self-reliant. Being independent is knowing when we need help without feeling helpless or powerless.
M. EUGENE MORGAN
Change for Health
Let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate, independence; without it no man can be happy, nor even honest.
JUNIUS
letter to H. S. Woodfall, March 5, 1772
All we ask is to be let alone.
JEFFERSON DAVIS
First Message to the Confederate Congress, April 29, 1861
The value of money is that with it we can tell any man to go to the devil.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
attributed, 20,000 Quips & Quotes
The individual must be independent and free within his own sphere or cease to be an individual.
CALVIN COOLIDGE
speech, May 30, 1924
Voyager upon life's sea:--
To yourself be true,
And whate'er your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe.
EDWARD P. PHILPOTS
"Paddle Your Own Canoe", Harper's Monthly, May 1854
Independence is for the very few; it is a privilege of the strong. And whoever attempts it even with the best right but without inner constraint proves that he is probably not only strong, but also daring to the point of recklessness. He enters into a labyrinth, he multiplies a thousandfold dangers which life brings with it in any case, not the least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way, becomes lonely, and is torn piecemeal by some minotaur of conscience. Supposing one like that comes to grief, this happens so far from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it nor sympathize. And he cannot go back any longer.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Beyond Good and Evil