I am a self-made man. Who else would help?
Oscar Levant The Portable Curmudgeon
Categories: independence ego loneliness

Let's face it. In most of life we really are interdependent. We need each other. Staunch independence is an illusion, but heavy dependence isn't healthy, either. The only position of long-term strength is interdependence: win/win.
Greg Anderson The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness
Categories: independence co-dependence need interdependence win/win

Be yourself and think for yourself; and while your conclusions may not be infallible, they will be nearer right than the conclusions forced upon you.
Elbert Hubbard The Book of Positive Quotations
Categories: independence thought opinions self-confidence

Learn to depend upon yourself by doing things in accordance with your own way of thinking.
Grenville Kleiser The Book of Positive Quotations
Categories: independence character strength courage

People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived.' They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.
Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Categories: freedom life independence co-dependence

All are needed by each one. Nothing is fair or good alone.
Ralph Waldo Emerson The Forbes Book of Business Quotations
Categories: interdependence independence sharing giving relationship need

I am a true labourer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other's good.
William Shakespeare (As You Like It) Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
Categories: work effort independence self-confidence character

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion--it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson The Forbes Book of Business Quotations
Categories: opinion self-confidence independence thought peace serenity

You don't have to sit on top of a mountain to discover what's right for you. You always know in your heart what you need to do. But you do have to ask yourself if you're willing to make choices. Put yourself in a position where you're making choices about your life, rather than letting other people make those choices for you. That's what balance is all about.
Liz Dolan Fast Company magazine
Categories: balance responsibility free will choice self-determination independence

To be a philosopher is...so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.
Henry David Thoreau Walden
Categories: wisdom simplicity independence generosity trust life values balance

No doubt another may also think for me; but it is not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my thinking for myself.
Henry David Thoreau Walden
Categories: thought independence self-esteem opinions think control self-determination standards peer pressure

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.
Albert Einstein The Quotable Einstein
Categories: spirit thought independence self-determination peer pressure responsibility choice judgemental criticism self-expression courage of your convictions strength bravery beliefs integrity character

A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
Rita Mae Brown Treasury of Women's Quotations
Categories: action fear courage apprehension optimism the best defense is a good offense independence freedom liberty strength bravery self-confidence proactive action control self-determination