We carry our homes within us which enables us to fly.
—John Cage (1912–92) American Composer
No man who is not willing to help himself has any right to apply to his friends, or to the gods.
—Demosthenes (384–322 BCE) Greek Statesman, Orator
Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men.
—Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American Philosopher, Educator
If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Chance never helps those who do not help themselves.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
God helps them that help themselves.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The moral progression of a people can scarcely begin till they are independent.
—James Martineau (1805–1900) English Philosopher, Religious Leader
Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
I equally dislike the favor of the public with the love of a woman—they are both a cloying treacle to the wings of independence.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
I don’t need anyone to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we will ever have is the one with ourselves.
—Shirley MacLaine (b.1934) American Actor, Dancer, Author, Activist
Injustice in the end produces independence.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
You can’t get spoiled if you do your own ironing.
—Meryl Streep (b.1949) American Actor
Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
To character and success, two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together – humble dependence and manly independence: humble dependence on God and manly reliance on self.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.
—Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American Jurist
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Be your own palace, or the world is your jail.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
Independence? That’s middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Don’t let them fool ya,
Or even try to school ya! Oh, no!
We’ve got a mind of our own,
So go to hell if what you’re thinking is not right!
Love would never leave us alone,
A-yin the darkness there must come out to light.
—Bob Marley (1945–81) Jamaican Musician, Singer, Songwriter
The word independence is united to the ideas of dignity and virtue; the word dependence, to the ideas of inferiority and corruption.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
Help yourself, and Heaven will help you.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
The best lightning-rod for your protection is your own spine.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
He is a good man whose intimate friends are all good, and whose enemies are decidedly bad.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
Happy the man to whom heaven has given a morsel of bread without laying him under the obligation of thanking any other for it than heaven itself.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
No one’s gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong.
—Unknown
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
The ship of heaven guides itself and will not accept a wooden rudder.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) English Writer, Feminist
No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person.
—Willa Cather (1873–1947) American Novelist, Writer
Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
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 Unidentified English Writer
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 (1817–62) American Philosopher
Impatience is the mark of independence, not of bondage.
—Marianne Moore (1887–1972) American Poet
True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.
—Brigham Young (1801–77) American Mormon Leader
I am lord of myself, accountable to none.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Even as people take pride in their national independence, we know we are becoming more and more interdependent.
—Bill Clinton (b.1946) American Head of State, Lawyer, Public Speaker
No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
—David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) Russian-born Israeli Head of State
A great step towards independence is good humored stomach
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Elevated levels of confidence are omnipresent among history’s greatest overachievers. Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous men in the world even before he signed the Declaration of Independence once lamented about humility, “I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue”.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be self-sufficient.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Do not depend on others.
—Buddhist Teaching