independence

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
09887f1	I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.	integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment image realism gender flaws	Charlotte Brontë
3459977	I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.	stereotypes men equality feminism women-s-rights self-determination independence women reason empowerment strength rationality social-norms flattery misogyny hypocrisy double-standards gender	Jane Austen
13dd10a	There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.	stubbornness self-determination independence women fear empowerment strength elizabeth-bennet intimidation dignity	Jane Austen
fec94b8	care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.	solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment defiance self-reliance self-respect self-esteem	Charlotte Brontë
9378bcc	When I discover who I am, I'll be free.	independence self-awareness identity self-discovery	Ralph Ellison
78f9e34	I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.	men equality women-s-rights self-determination independence women freedom reason empowerment superiority submission experience gender	Charlotte Brontë
5c65487	I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate.	integrity men self-determination independence romance women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment love ideal-woman image realism gender flaws	Charlotte Brontë
ae26b5f	The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.	solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness inspirational self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust ataraxy self-containment self-reliance self-respect self-esteem	Michel de Montaigne
33bdd99	I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.	marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness love courtship husbands singles wooing	William Shakespeare
d2c421d	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.	independence hurt uniqueness	Haruki Murakami
3c3801e	"I will not be "famous," "great." I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one's self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded." --	independence self-worth	Virginia Woolf
0db84a7	People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.	independence inspirational anarchism liberty independent-thought revolution	Emma Goldman
c0cd1f7	"I am not an angel," I asserted; "and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself."	integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment ideal-woman image realism gender flaws	Charlotte Brontë
7fc52fe	The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.	independence freedom freedom-of-thought	Joseph Heller
acee414	Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me.	anchoring individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment inspirational country self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment homelessness belonging self-reliance nationality attachment roots home self-respect self-esteem	Hugo Hamilton
8be5d89	We need to help people to discover the true meaning of love. Love is generally confused with dependence. Those of us who have grown in true love know that we can love only in proportion to our capacity for independence.	independence love inspirational	Fred Rogers
07cf5a6	Rule your mind or it will rule you.	be-yourself be-strong stay-strong independence inspiration living strength life inspirational the-mind rule self-help	Horace
e5a8d22	Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?	humour independence bellwether fads	Connie Willis
c633c15	there's nothing to discuss there's nothing to remember there's nothing to forget it's sad and it's not sad seems the most sensible thing a person can do is sit with drink in hand as the walls wave their goodbye smiles one comes through it all with a certain amount of efficiency and bravery then leaves some accept the possibility of God to help them get through others take it staight on and to these I drink tonight.	poem independence poetry death sadness god life love bukowski goodbyes help goodbye forgetting forget sad	Charles Bukowski
17d61bf	"There are certain phrases potent to make my blood boil -- improper influence! What old woman's cackle is that?" "Are you a young lady?" "I am a thousand times better: I am an honest woman, and as such I will be treated."	integrity marriage influence self-determination independence women honesty love uprightness propriety matrimony respect gender self-respect expectations	Charlotte Brontë
15f12ab	You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore...But let there be spaces in your togetherness...Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not of the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.	independence love inspirational self-reliance	Kahlil Gibran
6696532	It is a very strange sensation to inexperience youth to feel itself quite alone the world, cut adrift from every connection, uncertain whether the port to which it is bound can be reached, and prevented by many impediments from returning to that it has quitted. The charm of adventure sweetens that sensation, the glow of pride warms it; but then the throb of fear disturbs it; and fear with me became predominant when half an hour elapsed, and still I was alone.	loneliness independence youth fear	Charlotte Brontë
f2eb217	There, did you think to kill me? There's no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. There's only an idea. Ideas are bulletproof. Farewell.	independence idea	Alan Moore
d6b8f43	LEONATO Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. BEATRICE Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a pierce of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.	marriage men equality self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles	William Shakespeare
b0f541d	Degrees of ability vary, but the basic principle remains the same: the degree of a man's independence, initiative and personal love for his work determines his talent as a worker and his worth as a man. Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn't done for others. There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence.	virtue worth independence	Ayn Rand
35cea24	Here's what we're not taught [about the Declaration and Constitution]: Those words at the time they were written were blazingly, electrifyingly subversive. If you understand them truly now, they still are. You are not taught - and it is a disgrace that you aren't - that these men and women were radicals for liberty; that they had a vision of equality that was a slap in the face of what the rest of their world understood to be the unchanging, God-given order of nations; and that they were willing to die to make that desperate vision into a reality for people like us, whom they would never live to see.	equality independence subversive usa liberty democracy	Naomi Wolf
c383efa	LEONATO Well, then, go you into hell? BEATRICE No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and say 'Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids:' so deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.	marriage heaven self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles	William Shakespeare
3b5cdcb	I am anchored on a resolve you cannot shake. My heart, my conscience shall dispose of my hand -- . Know this at last.	integrity marriage feminism self-determination independence women empowerment love matrimony dignity social-norms conscience gender courtship wooing	Charlotte Brontë
788bee0	Where we choose to be, where we choose to be--we have the power to determine that in our lives. We cannot reel time backward or forward, but we can take ourselves to the place that defines our being.	independence philosophy	Sena Jeter Naslund
3722bca	The presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right.	independence originality	J.K. Rowling
2428b8f	"No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne." "I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you." She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white marble slab and cornice behind her; her eyes flashed large, dilated, unsmiling. "And ask in what sense that young man is worthy of ?"	integrity marriage men equality feminism self-determination independence women self-awareness empowerment suitability worthiness marriage-proposal matrimony dignity social-norms inferiority gender courtship wooing	Charlotte Brontë
cd00c9c	I am often described to my irritation as a 'contrarian' and even had the title inflicted on me by the publisher of one of my early books. (At least on that occasion I lived up to the title by ridiculing the word in my introduction to the book's first chapter.) It is actually a pity that our culture doesn't have a good vernacular word for an oppositionist or even for someone who tries to do his own thinking: the word 'dissident' can't be self-conferred because it is really a title of honor that has to be won or earned, while terms like 'gadfly' or 'maverick' are somehow trivial and condescending as well as over-full of self-regard. And I've lost count of the number of memoirs by old comrades or ex-comrades that have titles like 'Against the Stream,' 'Against the Current,' 'Minority of One,' 'Breaking Ranks' and so forth--all of them lending point to Harold Rosenberg's withering remark about 'the herd of independent minds.' Even when I was quite young I disliked being called a 'rebel': it seemed to make the patronizing suggestion that 'questioning authority' was part of a 'phase' through which I would naturally go. On the contrary, I was a relatively well-behaved and well-mannered boy, and chose my battles with some deliberation rather than just thinking with my hormones.	rebellion words independence youth contrarianism dissidents harold-rosenberg honorifics hormones oppositionism memoirs free-thought dissent	Christopher Hitchens
abdf269	He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt.	independence revolt	Mervyn Peake
dccf0d0	Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say 'Father, as it please me.	marriage self-determination independence empowerment happiness love marriage-proposal matrimony dignity courtship husbands wooing pleasure	William Shakespeare
461a814	There's a lot of things wrong with this country, but one of the few things still right with it is that a man can steer clear of the organized bullshit if he really wants to. It's a goddamned luxury, and if I were you, I'd take advantage of it while you can.	america independence self	Hunter S. Thompson
55f0ed6	The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has--from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.	independence politics radicalism partisanship	Christopher Hitchens
4dbd6dc	If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening ...	marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness blessings matrimony husbands singles	William Shakespeare
f2e0593	[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman.	marriage men feminism women-s-rights history self-determination independence women empowerment wedlock subjugation self-abnegation married-life matrimony social-norms misogyny perception inequality gender	Antonia Fraser
96f1966	Praise and blame alike mean nothing. No, delightful as the pastime of measuring may be, it is the most futile of all occupations, and to submit to the decrees of the measurers the most servile of attitudes.	independence	Virginia Woolf
bf671ef	If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model and the San Fernando Valley is her teenybopper sister, then New York is their cousin. Her hair is dyed autumn red or aubergine or Egyptian henna, depending on her mood. Her skin is pale as frost and she wears beautiful Jil Sander suits and Prada pumps on which she walks faster than a speeding taxi (when it is caught in rush hour, that is). Her lips are some unlikely shade of copper or violet, courtesy of her local MAC drag queen makeup consultant. She is always carrying bags of clothes, bouquets of roses, take-out Chinese containers, or bagels. Museum tags fill her pockets and purses, along with perfume samples and invitations to art gallery openings. When she is walking to work, to ward off bums or psychos, her face resembles the Statue of Liberty, but at home in her candlelit, dove-colored apartment, the stony look fades away and she smiles like the sterling roses she has brought for herself to make up for the fact that she is single and her feet are sore.	independence women francesca-lia-block cities new-york	Francesca Lia Block
ff59144	Sofia the kind of woman no matter what she have in her hand she make it look like a weapon.	feminism humour independence defence strong-woman weapon	Alice Walker
9dc891a	At the evident risk of seeming ridiculous, I want to begin by saying that I have tried for much of my life to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously. I hope this isn't too melodramatic or self-centred a way of saying that I attempt to write as if I did not care what reviewers said, what peers thought, or what prevailing opinions may be.	independence writing death nadine-gordimer	Christopher Hitchens
b722bb8	She had shown him by her independence how it was only fear that held people together. The fear of being alone and the fear of being different.	independence revolution	Mervyn Peake
81786d5	The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent's own independence.	independence family-relationship family-values independent-woman family-saga	Rosamunde Pilcher
e6120c9	Nowadays, ads don't just sell a product. They sell an attitude! Look at this one! Here's a cool guy saying nobody tells him what to do. He does whatever he wants and he buys this product as a reflection of that independence. So basically, this maverick is urging everyone to express his individuality through conformity in brand-name selection?	individuality independence conformity peer-pressure	Bill Watterson
fae5dcf	"I can breathe easier now that the appointments are behind me. I missed them all, through deliberate negligence, Having waited for the urge to go, which I knew wouldn't come.	independence freedom imagination escapism introvert	Fernando Pessoa
984e3a9	Her upbringing had given her an independence of mind that made her more like a girl of today than one of her own time - which was why she had walked out, and why she was not daunted by the prospect of being alone.	independence sally-lockhart upbringing	Philip Pullman
421c020	"This is a perfectly good picture. And if I didn't know you, I would be impressed and charmed. But I do know you." He thought some more, wondering whether he dared say precisely what he felt, for he knew he could never explain exactly why the idea came to him. "It's the painting of a dutiful daughter," he said eventually, looking at her cautiously to see her reaction. "You want to please. You are always aware of what the person looking at this picture will think of it. Because of that you've missed something important. Does that make sense?" She thought, then nodded. "All right," she said grudgingly and with just a touch of despair in her voice. "You win." Julien grunted. "Have another go, then. I shall come back and come back until you figure it out." "And you'll know?" "You'll know. I will merely get the benefit of it."	individuality independence paintings daughters fulfillment skills duty gift expectation perception creativity obedience	Iain Pears
ea12e72	The only people we want to blame are ourselves, because it will be ourselves that we rely upon.	independence self-awareness self-awareness-honesty-self independent-thought self-realization	Markus Zusak
a192b01	Suddenly an unexpected series of sounds began to be heard in this place up against the starry sky. They were the notes of Oak's flute. It came from the direction of a small dark object under the hedge - a shephard's hut - now presenting an outline to which an unintiated person might have been puzzled to attach either meaning or use. ... Being a man not without a frequent consciousness that there was some charm in this life he led, he stood still after looking at the sky as a useful instrument, and regarded it in an appreciative spirit, as a work of art superlatively beautiful. For a moment he seemed impressed with the speaking loneliness of the scene, or rather with the complete abstraction from all its compass of the sights and sounds of man. ... Oak's motions, though they had a quiet energy, were slow, and their deliberateness accorded well with his occupation. Fitness being the basis of beauty, nobody could have denied tha his steady swings and turns in and about the flock had elements of grace. His special power, morally, physically, and mentally, was static. ... Oak was an intensely human man: indee, his humanity tore in pieces any politic intentions of his which bordered on strategy, and carried him on as by gravitation. A shadow in his life had always been that his flock should end in mutton - that a day could find a shepherd an arrant traitor to his gentle sheep.	nature independence freedom gabriel-oak shepherd gabriel	Thomas Hardy
0b5e12e	I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intellegent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as his only AVAILABLE one, thus proving that he is himself AVAILABLE for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.	independence politics independent-vote presidency politicians	Henry David Thoreau
00065c6	No soul ever fell away from God without giving up prayer. Prayer is that which establishes contact with Divine Power and opens the invisible resources of heaven. However dark the way, when we pray, temptation can never master us. The first step downward in the average soul is the giving up of the practice of prayer, the breaking of the circuit with divinity, and the proclamation of one's owns self sufficiency.	prayer independence faith god self-sufficiency	Fulton J. Sheen
c70d6e2	I'm happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.	independence singlehood jo-march singleness liberty	Louisa May Alcott
81f63b5	To be insular is to be independent. But it is also to be alone.	loneliness independence	Peter Ackroyd
52aeb89	In spite of her superficial independence, her fundamental need was to cling. All her life was an attempt to disprove it; and so proved it. She was like a sea anemone -- had only to be touched once to adhere to what touched her.	irony independence	John Fowles
1b854dd	Notice how they'll accept anything except a man who stands alone. They recognize him at once...There's a special, insidious kind of hatred for him. They forgive criminals. They admire dictators. Crime and violence are a tie. A form of mutual dependence. They need ties. They've got to force their miserable little personalities on every single person they meet. The independent man kills them--because they don't exist within him and that's the only form of existence they know. Notice the malignant kind of resentment against any idea that propounds independence. Notice the malice toward an independent man.	independence the-fountainhead independent	Ayn Rand
26733de	"I take the only desire one can really permit oneself. Freedom, Alvah, freedom." "You call that freedom?" "To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing."	independence freedom the-fountainhead	Ayn Rand
d802bdc	"Milton's Eve! Milton's Eve! ... Milton tried to see the first woman; but Cary, he saw her not ... I would beg to remind him that the first men of the earth were Titans, and that Eve was their mother: from her sprang Saturn, Hyperion, Oceanus; she bore Prometheus" -- "Pagan that you are! what does that signify?" "I say, there were giants on the earth in those days: giants that strove to scale heaven. The first woman's breast that heaved with life on this world yielded the daring which could contend with Omnipotence: the stregth which could bear a thousand years of bondage, -- the vitality which could feed that vulture death through uncounted ages, -- the unexhausted life and uncorrupted excellence, sisters to immortality, which after millenniums of crimes, struggles, and woes, could conceive and bring forth a Messiah. The first woman was heaven-born: vast was the heart whence gushed the well-spring of the blood of nations; and grand the undegenerate head where rested the consort-crown of creation. ... I saw -- I now see -- a woman-Titan: her robe of blue air spreads to the outskirts of the heath, where yonder flock is grazing; a veil white as an avalanche sweeps from hear head to her feet, and arabesques of lighting flame on its borders. Under her breast I see her zone, purple like that horizon: through its blush shines the star of evening. Her steady eyes I cannot picture; they are clear -- they are deep as lakes -- they are lifted and full of worship -- they tremble with the softness of love and the lustre of prayer. Her forehead has the expanse of a cloud, and is paler than the early moon, risen long before dark gathers: she reclines her bosom on the ridge of Stilbro' Moor; her mighty hands are joined beneath it. So kneeling, face to face she speaks with God. That Eve is Jehova's daughter, as Adam was His son."	self-determination nature independence women empowerment strength god godliness titans eve superiority greatness gender	Charlotte Brontë
69fcb91	It was a fact generally acknowledged by all but the most contumacious spirits at the beginning of the seventeenth century that woman was the weaker vessel; weaker than man, that is. ... That was the way God had arranged Creation, sanctified in the words of the Apostle. ... Under the common law of England at the accession of King James I, no female had any rights at all (if some were allowed by custom). As an unmarried woman her rights were swallowed up in her father's, and she was his to dispose of in marriage at will. Once she was married her property became absolutely that of her husband. What of those who did not marry? Common law met that problem blandly by not recognizing it. In the words of [the leading 17th century compendium on women's legal status]: 'All of them are understood either married or to be married.' In 1603 England, in short, still lived in a world governed by feudal law, where a wife passed from the guardianship of her father to her husband; her husband also stood in relation to her as a feudal lord.	fathers marriage men feminism women-s-rights history self-determination independence women empowerment wedlock common-law guardianship feudalism subjugation married-life property matrimony social-norms misogyny inequality gender husbands	Antonia Fraser
e52a40e	...they who exchange their independence for the sweet name of Wife must be prepared to find all is not gold that glitters... ...Es gibi tatli bir kelime karsiliginda ozgurluklerinden vazgecenler, parlayan her seyin altin olmadigini gormeye hazirlikli olmalidirlar...	marriage independence bunner evelina glitters ramy exchange letter gold wife sisters	Edith Wharton
1b21c86	It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt. But on an occasion such as this it was different, for the spirit of convention was being rigorously adhered to, and in between his ribs Mr. Flay experienced twinges of pleasure.	independence revolution	Mervyn Peake
3a71a5f	Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it--that no substitute can do your thinking--that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence.	virtue pain man mind good independence morality reason happiness life philosophy truth wisdom john-galt pursuit-of-happiness objectivism rational think thinking morals values evil	Ayn Rand
055e61c	We all have our own battles to fight, and sometimes we have to go it alone. I'm stronger than you think, you'd be surprised.	independence patrick strong	Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
c34a03f	I never want to put my whole world in any one person's hands again, Jason. If they die, I won't die with them.' 'So you'll hold a little of yourself back from everybody.' 'No,' I said, 'I'll hold back a piece of myself for myself. No one gets all of me, Jason, no one, except me.	relationships independence death strong-women love laurell-k-hamilton anita-blake-vampire-hunter jason-schuyler	Laurell K. Hamilton
fa4bfde	I'd trapped myself in a script.... But to be scripted at all is to be prepackaged, programmed, pinned to a page. Only the unwritten can truly live a life. So who I was, what I was, had to be unwritten.	individuality independence freedom	David James Duncan
60afddd	This teacher was kind and well-intentioned, but I wonder whether students like the young safety officer would be better off if we appreciated that not everyone to be a leader in the conventional sense of the word--that some people wish to fit harmoniously into the group, and others to be independent of it.	independence leadership	Susan Cain
b5c105c	God, if he believed in Him, and his conscience, if he had one, were the only judges to whom he was answerable.	independence god	Jules Verne
a992cd6	She's right, Kate's right, I'm right and you're wrong. If you drive her away from here it will be over my dead-- chair, has it never occurred to you at on one occasion you might be consummately wrong?	independence wrong-and-right james-keller	William Gibson
4a543bc	I knew what I stood for, even if nobody else did. I knew the piece of me on the inside, truer than all the rest, that never comes out. Doesn't everyone have one? Some kind of grand inner princess waiting to toss her hair down, forever waiting at the tower window. Some jungle animal so noble and fierce you had to crawl on your belly through dangerous grasses to get a glimpse.	individuality independence strength personhood strength-of-character individualism	Michelle Tea
05cdf62	She would never truly be her own woman if she allowed fear and old memories to dictate where she would or would not go.	memories independence	Mercedes Lackey
afb6385	The morning was a wretched time of day for him. He feared it and it never brought him any good. On no morning of his life had he ever been in good spirits nor done any good before midday, nor ever had a happy idea, nor devised any pleasure for himself or others. By degrees during the afternoon he warmed and became alive, and only towards evening, on his good days, was he productive active and sometimes, aglow with joy.	happy independence morning-person night-owl steppenwolf morning evening	Hermann Hesse
f06c345	"I could never, I knew then, lose myself "in love." Margery had accused me of coldness, and she was right, but she was also wrong: For me, for always, the paramount organ of passion was the mind. Unnatural, unbalanced, perhaps, but it was true: Without intellect, there could be no love."	passion independence romance feminist love feminist-quotes sherlock intellect mystery	Laurie R. King
6b48cc3	The aesthetic is an individual rather than a societal concern.	independence perspective	Harold Bloom
c510e74	Let's make our own way,' says the Mother, 'and not in this boat.	independence	Lorrie Moore
f4ae7cf	"Dickinson left the rostrum to applause, loud shouts of approval. Franklin was surprised, looked toward Adams, who returned the look, shook his head. The chamber was dismissed, and Franklin pushed himself slowly up out of the chair. He began to struggle a bit, pain in both knees, the stiffness holding him tightly, felt a hand under his arm. "Allow me, sir." Adams helped him up, commenting as he did so, "We have a substantial lack of backbone in this room, I'm afraid." Franklin looked past him, saw Dickinson standing close behind, staring angrily at Adams, reacting to his words. "Mr. Dickinson, a fine speech, sir," said Franklin. Adams seemed suddenly embarrassed, did not look behind him, nodded quickly to Franklin, moved away toward the entrance. Franklin saw Dickinson following Adams, began to follow himself. My God, let's not have a duel. He slipped through the crowd of delegates, making polite acknowledgments left and right, still keeping his eye on Dickinson. The man was gone now, following Adams out of the hall. Franklin reached the door, could see them both, heard the taller man call out, saw Adams turn, a look of surprise. Franklin moved closer, heard Adams say, "My apologies for my indiscreet remark, sir. However, I am certain you are aware of my sentiments." Dickinson seemed to explode in Adams' face. "What is the reason, Mr. Adams, that you New England men oppose our measures of reconciliation? Why do you hold so tightly to this determined opposition to petitioning the king?" Franklin heard other men gathering behind him, filling the entranceway, Dickinson's volume drawing them. He could see Adams glancing at them and then saying, "Mr. Dickinson, this is not an appropriate time..." "Mr. Adams, can you not respond? Do you not desire an end to talk of war?" Adams seemed struck by Dickinson's words, looked at him for a long moment. "Mr. Dickinson, if you believe that all that has fallen upon us is merely talk, I have no response. There is no hope of avoiding a war, sir, because the war has already begun. Your king and his army have seen to that. Please, excuse me, sir." Adams began to walk away, and Franklin could see Dickinson look back at the growing crowd behind him, saw a strange desperation in the man's expression, and Dickinson shouted toward Adams, "There is no sin in hope!"	war independence	Jeff Shaara
f8cfbb3	"There's a little war in progress here. There won't be anything left of the place if it goes on at this rate." (But it's hard to feign innocence if you've eaten the apple, he reflected.) "And it looks to me as if it is going to go on, because the French aren't going to give in, and certainly the Arabs aren't, because they can't. They're fighting with their backs the the wall." "I thought maybe you meant you expected a new world war," he lied. "That's the least of my worries. When that comes, we've had it. You can't sit around mooning about Judgement Day. That's just silly. Everybody who ever lived has always had his own private Judgment Day to face anyway, and he still has. As far as that goes, nothing's changed at all."	independence judgment-day uprising unrest eden paradise-lost morocco innocence french revolution	Paul Bowles
83114cd	Only through constant focus can you become independent. Only through independence can you know yourself. And only through knowing yourself will you be able to ask the key question of your life: What is is that I am destined to accomplish, and how can I make it happen?	independence yourself	Elizabeth Gilbert
112354c	"Among the darker nations, Paris is famous for two betrayals. The first came in 1801, when Napoleon Bonaparte sent General Victor Leclerc to crush the Haitian Revolution, itself inspired by the French Revolution. The French regime could not allow its lucrative Santo Domingo to go free, and would not allow the Haitian people to live within the realm of the Enlightenment's " Rights of Man." The Haitians nonetheless triumphed, and Haiti became the first modern colony to win its independence. The second betrayal came shortly after 1945, when a battered France, newly liberated by the Allies, sent its forces to suppress the Vietnamese, West Indians, and Africans who had once been its colonial subjects. Many of these regions had sent troops to fight for the liberation of France and indeed Europe, but they returned home emptyhanded. As a sleight of hand, the French government tried to maintain sovereignty over its colonies by repackaging them as " overseas territories." A people hungry for liberation did not want such measly hors d'oeuvres."	war independence global-south third-world imperialism	Vijay Prashad
790b6d8	"Jack Reed, whom The New York Times had labeled "the Bolshevik agitator," hesitated and then equivocated on the stand. But by then the defense of The Masses was plain: criticism of the government didn't amount to a desire to overthrow it. If all hostile opinion were suppressed, how could Americans believe they lived in a free country? Dissent was a safeguard to freedom, not an impediment." --	war independence politics philosophy liberty	Nancy Milford
71fba81	You are a single woman; you intend to remain one. You've acquired enough sexual experience to feel you belong to your times. You do not have children; you never intended to. Sustained romantic intensities have not been for you. Your explanation (not an untrue one,though not quite sufficient) is that you have let yourself be shaped by so many conventions, expectations, and requirements (institution's, people's), by so much dread of disapproval, that the discipline of solitude--severe solitude--has been required to give you the sense of an independent selfhood. The intensities of friendship suit you better. Friendship's choreography is for multiple partners: for varied groups and surprisingly sustained duets.	independence identity	Margo Jefferson
88abfb6	A lot of us are like that--I'm like that, Ed Abbey was like that, and it sounds like this McCandless kid was like that: We like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.	independence people social companionship isolation	Jon Krakauer
cfcf346	Suddenly, it occurred to me that my feelings towards the little man were distinctly maternal. Good God, I thought, how utterly revolting, and I turned my mind firmly to the problem at hand.	independence feminist maternal feminist-quotes sensible	Laurie R. King
e9e3df0	Joan has a right to love whom she likes, and to go where she likes and to work and be independent and happy, and if she can't be happy then she has a right to make her own unhappiness; it's a thousand times better to be unhappy in your own way than to be happy in someone else's.	unhappiness happy independence freedom happiness love unhappy	Radclyffe Hall

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment image realism gender flaws

Charlotte Brontë

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I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.

stereotypes men equality feminism women-s-rights self-determination independence women reason empowerment strength rationality social-norms flattery misogyny hypocrisy double-standards gender

Jane Austen

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There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.

stubbornness self-determination independence women fear empowerment strength elizabeth-bennet intimidation dignity

Jane Austen

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care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.

solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment defiance self-reliance self-respect self-esteem

Charlotte Brontë

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When I discover who I am, I'll be free.

independence self-awareness identity self-discovery

Ralph Ellison

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I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.

men equality women-s-rights self-determination independence women freedom reason empowerment superiority submission experience gender

Charlotte Brontë

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I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate.

integrity men self-determination independence romance women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment love ideal-woman image realism gender flaws

Charlotte Brontë

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The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

solitude individuality self-determination independence self-awareness inspirational self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust ataraxy self-containment self-reliance self-respect self-esteem

Michel de Montaigne

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I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.

marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness love courtship husbands singles wooing

William Shakespeare

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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.

independence hurt uniqueness

Haruki Murakami

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"I will not be "famous," "great." I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one's self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded." --

independence self-worth

Virginia Woolf

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People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.

independence inspirational anarchism liberty independent-thought revolution

Emma Goldman

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"I am not an angel," I asserted; "and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself."

integrity self-determination independence women freedom self-awareness identity empowerment ideal-woman image realism gender flaws

Charlotte Brontë

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The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.

independence freedom freedom-of-thought

Joseph Heller

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Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me.

anchoring individuality self-determination independence self-awareness empowerment inspirational country self-assurance self-sufficiency self-trust self-containment homelessness belonging self-reliance nationality attachment roots home self-respect self-esteem

Hugo Hamilton

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We need to help people to discover the true meaning of love. Love is generally confused with dependence. Those of us who have grown in true love know that we can love only in proportion to our capacity for independence.

independence love inspirational

Fred Rogers

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Rule your mind or it will rule you.

be-yourself be-strong stay-strong independence inspiration living strength life inspirational the-mind rule self-help

Horace

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Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?

humour independence bellwether fads

Connie Willis

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there's nothing to discuss there's nothing to remember there's nothing to forget it's sad and it's not sad seems the most sensible thing a person can do is sit with drink in hand as the walls wave their goodbye smiles one comes through it all with a certain amount of efficiency and bravery then leaves some accept the possibility of God to help them get through others take it staight on and to these I drink tonight.

poem independence poetry death sadness god life love bukowski goodbyes help goodbye forgetting forget sad

Charles Bukowski

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"There are certain phrases potent to make my blood boil -- improper influence! What old woman's cackle is that?" "Are you a young lady?" "I am a thousand times better: I am an honest woman, and as such I will be treated."

integrity marriage influence self-determination independence women honesty love uprightness propriety matrimony respect gender self-respect expectations

Charlotte Brontë

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You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore...But let there be spaces in your togetherness...Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not of the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

independence love inspirational self-reliance

Kahlil Gibran

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It is a very strange sensation to inexperience youth to feel itself quite alone the world, cut adrift from every connection, uncertain whether the port to which it is bound can be reached, and prevented by many impediments from returning to that it has quitted. The charm of adventure sweetens that sensation, the glow of pride warms it; but then the throb of fear disturbs it; and fear with me became predominant when half an hour elapsed, and still I was alone.

loneliness independence youth fear

Charlotte Brontë

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There, did you think to kill me? There's no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. There's only an idea. Ideas are bulletproof. Farewell.

independence idea

Alan Moore

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LEONATO Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. BEATRICE Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a pierce of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.

marriage men equality self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles

William Shakespeare

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Degrees of ability vary, but the basic principle remains the same: the degree of a man's independence, initiative and personal love for his work determines his talent as a worker and his worth as a man. Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn't done for others. There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence.

virtue worth independence

Ayn Rand

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Here's what we're not taught [about the Declaration and Constitution]: Those words at the time they were written were blazingly, electrifyingly subversive. If you understand them truly now, they still are. You are not taught - and it is a disgrace that you aren't - that these men and women were radicals for liberty; that they had a vision of equality that was a slap in the face of what the rest of their world understood to be the unchanging, God-given order of nations; and that they were willing to die to make that desperate vision into a reality for people like us, whom they would never live to see.

equality independence subversive usa liberty democracy

Naomi Wolf

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LEONATO Well, then, go you into hell? BEATRICE No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and say 'Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids:' so deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.

marriage heaven self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness matrimony husbands singles

William Shakespeare

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I am anchored on a resolve you cannot shake. My heart, my conscience shall dispose of my hand -- . Know this at last.

integrity marriage feminism self-determination independence women empowerment love matrimony dignity social-norms conscience gender courtship wooing

Charlotte Brontë

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Where we choose to be, where we choose to be--we have the power to determine that in our lives. We cannot reel time backward or forward, but we can take ourselves to the place that defines our being.

independence philosophy

Sena Jeter Naslund

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The presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right.

independence originality

J.K. Rowling

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"No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne." "I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you." She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white marble slab and cornice behind her; her eyes flashed large, dilated, unsmiling. "And ask in what sense that young man is worthy of ?"

integrity marriage men equality feminism self-determination independence women self-awareness empowerment suitability worthiness marriage-proposal matrimony dignity social-norms inferiority gender courtship wooing

Charlotte Brontë

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I am often described to my irritation as a 'contrarian' and even had the title inflicted on me by the publisher of one of my early books. (At least on that occasion I lived up to the title by ridiculing the word in my introduction to the book's first chapter.) It is actually a pity that our culture doesn't have a good vernacular word for an oppositionist or even for someone who tries to do his own thinking: the word 'dissident' can't be self-conferred because it is really a title of honor that has to be won or earned, while terms like 'gadfly' or 'maverick' are somehow trivial and condescending as well as over-full of self-regard. And I've lost count of the number of memoirs by old comrades or ex-comrades that have titles like 'Against the Stream,' 'Against the Current,' 'Minority of One,' 'Breaking Ranks' and so forth--all of them lending point to Harold Rosenberg's withering remark about 'the herd of independent minds.' Even when I was quite young I disliked being called a 'rebel': it seemed to make the patronizing suggestion that 'questioning authority' was part of a 'phase' through which I would naturally go. On the contrary, I was a relatively well-behaved and well-mannered boy, and chose my battles with some deliberation rather than just thinking with my hormones.

rebellion words independence youth contrarianism dissidents harold-rosenberg honorifics hormones oppositionism memoirs free-thought dissent

Christopher Hitchens

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He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt.

independence revolt

Mervyn Peake

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Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say 'Father, as it please me.

marriage self-determination independence empowerment happiness love marriage-proposal matrimony dignity courtship husbands wooing pleasure

William Shakespeare

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There's a lot of things wrong with this country, but one of the few things still right with it is that a man can steer clear of the organized bullshit if he really wants to. It's a goddamned luxury, and if I were you, I'd take advantage of it while you can.

america independence self

Hunter S. Thompson

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The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has--from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.

independence politics radicalism partisanship

Christopher Hitchens

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If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening ...

marriage self-determination independence freedom empowerment happiness blessings matrimony husbands singles

William Shakespeare

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[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman.

marriage men feminism women-s-rights history self-determination independence women empowerment wedlock subjugation self-abnegation married-life matrimony social-norms misogyny perception inequality gender

Antonia Fraser

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Praise and blame alike mean nothing. No, delightful as the pastime of measuring may be, it is the most futile of all occupations, and to submit to the decrees of the measurers the most servile of attitudes.

independence

Virginia Woolf

bf671ef

If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model and the San Fernando Valley is her teenybopper sister, then New York is their cousin. Her hair is dyed autumn red or aubergine or Egyptian henna, depending on her mood. Her skin is pale as frost and she wears beautiful Jil Sander suits and Prada pumps on which she walks faster than a speeding taxi (when it is caught in rush hour, that is). Her lips are some unlikely shade of copper or violet, courtesy of her local MAC drag queen makeup consultant. She is always carrying bags of clothes, bouquets of roses, take-out Chinese containers, or bagels. Museum tags fill her pockets and purses, along with perfume samples and invitations to art gallery openings. When she is walking to work, to ward off bums or psychos, her face resembles the Statue of Liberty, but at home in her candlelit, dove-colored apartment, the stony look fades away and she smiles like the sterling roses she has brought for herself to make up for the fact that she is single and her feet are sore.

independence women francesca-lia-block cities new-york

Francesca Lia Block

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Sofia the kind of woman no matter what she have in her hand she make it look like a weapon.

feminism humour independence defence strong-woman weapon

Alice Walker

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At the evident risk of seeming ridiculous, I want to begin by saying that I have tried for much of my life to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously. I hope this isn't too melodramatic or self-centred a way of saying that I attempt to write as if I did not care what reviewers said, what peers thought, or what prevailing opinions may be.

independence writing death nadine-gordimer

Christopher Hitchens

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She had shown him by her independence how it was only fear that held people together. The fear of being alone and the fear of being different.

independence revolution

Mervyn Peake

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The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent's own independence.

independence family-relationship family-values independent-woman family-saga

Rosamunde Pilcher

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Nowadays, ads don't just sell a product. They sell an attitude! Look at this one! Here's a cool guy saying nobody tells him what to do. He does whatever he wants and he buys this product as a reflection of that independence. So basically, this maverick is urging everyone to express his individuality through conformity in brand-name selection?

individuality independence conformity peer-pressure

Bill Watterson

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"I can breathe easier now that the appointments are behind me. I missed them all, through deliberate negligence, Having waited for the urge to go, which I knew wouldn't come.

independence freedom imagination escapism introvert

Fernando Pessoa

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Her upbringing had given her an independence of mind that made her more like a girl of today than one of her own time - which was why she had walked out, and why she was not daunted by the prospect of being alone.

independence sally-lockhart upbringing

Philip Pullman

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"This is a perfectly good picture. And if I didn't know you, I would be impressed and charmed. But I do know you." He thought some more, wondering whether he dared say precisely what he felt, for he knew he could never explain exactly why the idea came to him. "It's the painting of a dutiful daughter," he said eventually, looking at her cautiously to see her reaction. "You want to please. You are always aware of what the person looking at this picture will think of it. Because of that you've missed something important. Does that make sense?" She thought, then nodded. "All right," she said grudgingly and with just a touch of despair in her voice. "You win." Julien grunted. "Have another go, then. I shall come back and come back until you figure it out." "And you'll know?" "You'll know. I will merely get the benefit of it."

individuality independence paintings daughters fulfillment skills duty gift expectation perception creativity obedience

Iain Pears

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The only people we want to blame are ourselves, because it will be ourselves that we rely upon.

independence self-awareness self-awareness-honesty-self independent-thought self-realization

Markus Zusak

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Suddenly an unexpected series of sounds began to be heard in this place up against the starry sky. They were the notes of Oak's flute. It came from the direction of a small dark object under the hedge - a shephard's hut - now presenting an outline to which an unintiated person might have been puzzled to attach either meaning or use. ... Being a man not without a frequent consciousness that there was some charm in this life he led, he stood still after looking at the sky as a useful instrument, and regarded it in an appreciative spirit, as a work of art superlatively beautiful. For a moment he seemed impressed with the speaking loneliness of the scene, or rather with the complete abstraction from all its compass of the sights and sounds of man. ... Oak's motions, though they had a quiet energy, were slow, and their deliberateness accorded well with his occupation. Fitness being the basis of beauty, nobody could have denied tha his steady swings and turns in and about the flock had elements of grace. His special power, morally, physically, and mentally, was static. ... Oak was an intensely human man: indee, his humanity tore in pieces any politic intentions of his which bordered on strategy, and carried him on as by gravitation. A shadow in his life had always been that his flock should end in mutton - that a day could find a shepherd an arrant traitor to his gentle sheep.

nature independence freedom gabriel-oak shepherd gabriel

Thomas Hardy

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I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intellegent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as his only AVAILABLE one, thus proving that he is himself AVAILABLE for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.

independence politics independent-vote presidency politicians

Henry David Thoreau

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No soul ever fell away from God without giving up prayer. Prayer is that which establishes contact with Divine Power and opens the invisible resources of heaven. However dark the way, when we pray, temptation can never master us. The first step downward in the average soul is the giving up of the practice of prayer, the breaking of the circuit with divinity, and the proclamation of one's owns self sufficiency.

prayer independence faith god self-sufficiency

Fulton J. Sheen

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I'm happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up for any mortal man.

independence singlehood jo-march singleness liberty

Louisa May Alcott

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To be insular is to be independent. But it is also to be alone.

loneliness independence

Peter Ackroyd

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In spite of her superficial independence, her fundamental need was to cling. All her life was an attempt to disprove it; and so proved it. She was like a sea anemone -- had only to be touched once to adhere to what touched her.

irony independence

John Fowles

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Notice how they'll accept anything except a man who stands alone. They recognize him at once...There's a special, insidious kind of hatred for him. They forgive criminals. They admire dictators. Crime and violence are a tie. A form of mutual dependence. They need ties. They've got to force their miserable little personalities on every single person they meet. The independent man kills them--because they don't exist within him and that's the only form of existence they know. Notice the malignant kind of resentment against any idea that propounds independence. Notice the malice toward an independent man.

independence the-fountainhead independent

Ayn Rand

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"I take the only desire one can really permit oneself. Freedom, Alvah, freedom." "You call that freedom?" "To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing."

independence freedom the-fountainhead

Ayn Rand

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"Milton's Eve! Milton's Eve! ... Milton tried to see the first woman; but Cary, he saw her not ... I would beg to remind him that the first men of the earth were Titans, and that Eve was their mother: from her sprang Saturn, Hyperion, Oceanus; she bore Prometheus" -- "Pagan that you are! what does that signify?" "I say, there were giants on the earth in those days: giants that strove to scale heaven. The first woman's breast that heaved with life on this world yielded the daring which could contend with Omnipotence: the stregth which could bear a thousand years of bondage, -- the vitality which could feed that vulture death through uncounted ages, -- the unexhausted life and uncorrupted excellence, sisters to immortality, which after millenniums of crimes, struggles, and woes, could conceive and bring forth a Messiah. The first woman was heaven-born: vast was the heart whence gushed the well-spring of the blood of nations; and grand the undegenerate head where rested the consort-crown of creation. ... I saw -- I now see -- a woman-Titan: her robe of blue air spreads to the outskirts of the heath, where yonder flock is grazing; a veil white as an avalanche sweeps from hear head to her feet, and arabesques of lighting flame on its borders. Under her breast I see her zone, purple like that horizon: through its blush shines the star of evening. Her steady eyes I cannot picture; they are clear -- they are deep as lakes -- they are lifted and full of worship -- they tremble with the softness of love and the lustre of prayer. Her forehead has the expanse of a cloud, and is paler than the early moon, risen long before dark gathers: she reclines her bosom on the ridge of Stilbro' Moor; her mighty hands are joined beneath it. So kneeling, face to face she speaks with God. That Eve is Jehova's daughter, as Adam was His son."

self-determination nature independence women empowerment strength god godliness titans eve superiority greatness gender

Charlotte Brontë

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It was a fact generally acknowledged by all but the most contumacious spirits at the beginning of the seventeenth century that woman was the weaker vessel; weaker than man, that is. ... That was the way God had arranged Creation, sanctified in the words of the Apostle. ... Under the common law of England at the accession of King James I, no female had any rights at all (if some were allowed by custom). As an unmarried woman her rights were swallowed up in her father's, and she was his to dispose of in marriage at will. Once she was married her property became absolutely that of her husband. What of those who did not marry? Common law met that problem blandly by not recognizing it. In the words of [the leading 17th century compendium on women's legal status]: 'All of them are understood either married or to be married.' In 1603 England, in short, still lived in a world governed by feudal law, where a wife passed from the guardianship of her father to her husband; her husband also stood in relation to her as a feudal lord.

fathers marriage men feminism women-s-rights history self-determination independence women empowerment wedlock common-law guardianship feudalism subjugation married-life property matrimony social-norms misogyny inequality gender husbands

Antonia Fraser

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...they who exchange their independence for the sweet name of Wife must be prepared to find all is not gold that glitters... ...Es gibi tatli bir kelime karsiliginda ozgurluklerinden vazgecenler, parlayan her seyin altin olmadigini gormeye hazirlikli olmalidirlar...

marriage independence bunner evelina glitters ramy exchange letter gold wife sisters

Edith Wharton

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It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt. But on an occasion such as this it was different, for the spirit of convention was being rigorously adhered to, and in between his ribs Mr. Flay experienced twinges of pleasure.

independence revolution

Mervyn Peake

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Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it--that no substitute can do your thinking--that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence.

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Ayn Rand

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We all have our own battles to fight, and sometimes we have to go it alone. I'm stronger than you think, you'd be surprised.

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Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

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I never want to put my whole world in any one person's hands again, Jason. If they die, I won't die with them.' 'So you'll hold a little of yourself back from everybody.' 'No,' I said, 'I'll hold back a piece of myself for myself. No one gets all of me, Jason, no one, except me.

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Laurell K. Hamilton

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I'd trapped myself in a script.... But to be scripted at all is to be prepackaged, programmed, pinned to a page. Only the unwritten can truly live a life. So who I was, what I was, had to be unwritten.

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David James Duncan

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This teacher was kind and well-intentioned, but I wonder whether students like the young safety officer would be better off if we appreciated that not everyone to be a leader in the conventional sense of the word--that some people wish to fit harmoniously into the group, and others to be independent of it.

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Susan Cain

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God, if he believed in Him, and his conscience, if he had one, were the only judges to whom he was answerable.

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Jules Verne

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She's right, Kate's right, I'm right and you're wrong. If you drive her away from here it will be over my dead-- chair, has it never occurred to you at on one occasion you might be consummately wrong?

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William Gibson

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I knew what I stood for, even if nobody else did. I knew the piece of me on the inside, truer than all the rest, that never comes out. Doesn't everyone have one? Some kind of grand inner princess waiting to toss her hair down, forever waiting at the tower window. Some jungle animal so noble and fierce you had to crawl on your belly through dangerous grasses to get a glimpse.

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Michelle Tea

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She would never truly be her own woman if she allowed fear and old memories to dictate where she would or would not go.

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Mercedes Lackey

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The morning was a wretched time of day for him. He feared it and it never brought him any good. On no morning of his life had he ever been in good spirits nor done any good before midday, nor ever had a happy idea, nor devised any pleasure for himself or others. By degrees during the afternoon he warmed and became alive, and only towards evening, on his good days, was he productive active and sometimes, aglow with joy.

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Hermann Hesse

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"I could never, I knew then, lose myself "in love." Margery had accused me of coldness, and she was right, but she was also wrong: For me, for always, the paramount organ of passion was the mind. Unnatural, unbalanced, perhaps, but it was true: Without intellect, there could be no love."

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Laurie R. King

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The aesthetic is an individual rather than a societal concern.

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Harold Bloom

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Let's make our own way,' says the Mother, 'and not in this boat.

independence

Lorrie Moore

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"Dickinson left the rostrum to applause, loud shouts of approval. Franklin was surprised, looked toward Adams, who returned the look, shook his head. The chamber was dismissed, and Franklin pushed himself slowly up out of the chair. He began to struggle a bit, pain in both knees, the stiffness holding him tightly, felt a hand under his arm. "Allow me, sir." Adams helped him up, commenting as he did so, "We have a substantial lack of backbone in this room, I'm afraid." Franklin looked past him, saw Dickinson standing close behind, staring angrily at Adams, reacting to his words. "Mr. Dickinson, a fine speech, sir," said Franklin. Adams seemed suddenly embarrassed, did not look behind him, nodded quickly to Franklin, moved away toward the entrance. Franklin saw Dickinson following Adams, began to follow himself. My God, let's not have a duel. He slipped through the crowd of delegates, making polite acknowledgments left and right, still keeping his eye on Dickinson. The man was gone now, following Adams out of the hall. Franklin reached the door, could see them both, heard the taller man call out, saw Adams turn, a look of surprise. Franklin moved closer, heard Adams say, "My apologies for my indiscreet remark, sir. However, I am certain you are aware of my sentiments." Dickinson seemed to explode in Adams' face. "What is the reason, Mr. Adams, that you New England men oppose our measures of reconciliation? Why do you hold so tightly to this determined opposition to petitioning the king?" Franklin heard other men gathering behind him, filling the entranceway, Dickinson's volume drawing them. He could see Adams glancing at them and then saying, "Mr. Dickinson, this is not an appropriate time..." "Mr. Adams, can you not respond? Do you not desire an end to talk of war?" Adams seemed struck by Dickinson's words, looked at him for a long moment. "Mr. Dickinson, if you believe that all that has fallen upon us is merely talk, I have no response. There is no hope of avoiding a war, sir, because the war has already begun. Your king and his army have seen to that. Please, excuse me, sir." Adams began to walk away, and Franklin could see Dickinson look back at the growing crowd behind him, saw a strange desperation in the man's expression, and Dickinson shouted toward Adams, "There is no sin in hope!"

war independence

Jeff Shaara

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"There's a little war in progress here. There won't be anything left of the place if it goes on at this rate." (But it's hard to feign innocence if you've eaten the apple, he reflected.) "And it looks to me as if it is going to go on, because the French aren't going to give in, and certainly the Arabs aren't, because they can't. They're fighting with their backs the the wall." "I thought maybe you meant you expected a new world war," he lied. "That's the least of my worries. When that comes, we've had it. You can't sit around mooning about Judgement Day. That's just silly. Everybody who ever lived has always had his own private Judgment Day to face anyway, and he still has. As far as that goes, nothing's changed at all."

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Paul Bowles

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Only through constant focus can you become independent. Only through independence can you know yourself. And only through knowing yourself will you be able to ask the key question of your life: What is is that I am destined to accomplish, and how can I make it happen?

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Elizabeth Gilbert

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"Among the darker nations, Paris is famous for two betrayals. The first came in 1801, when Napoleon Bonaparte sent General Victor Leclerc to crush the Haitian Revolution, itself inspired by the French Revolution. The French regime could not allow its lucrative Santo Domingo to go free, and would not allow the Haitian people to live within the realm of the Enlightenment's " Rights of Man." The Haitians nonetheless triumphed, and Haiti became the first modern colony to win its independence. The second betrayal came shortly after 1945, when a battered France, newly liberated by the Allies, sent its forces to suppress the Vietnamese, West Indians, and Africans who had once been its colonial subjects. Many of these regions had sent troops to fight for the liberation of France and indeed Europe, but they returned home emptyhanded. As a sleight of hand, the French government tried to maintain sovereignty over its colonies by repackaging them as " overseas territories." A people hungry for liberation did not want such measly hors d'oeuvres."

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Vijay Prashad

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"Jack Reed, whom The New York Times had labeled "the Bolshevik agitator," hesitated and then equivocated on the stand. But by then the defense of The Masses was plain: criticism of the government didn't amount to a desire to overthrow it. If all hostile opinion were suppressed, how could Americans believe they lived in a free country? Dissent was a safeguard to freedom, not an impediment." --

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Nancy Milford

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You are a single woman; you intend to remain one. You've acquired enough sexual experience to feel you belong to your times. You do not have children; you never intended to. Sustained romantic intensities have not been for you. Your explanation (not an untrue one,though not quite sufficient) is that you have let yourself be shaped by so many conventions, expectations, and requirements (institution's, people's), by so much dread of disapproval, that the discipline of solitude--severe solitude--has been required to give you the sense of an independent selfhood. The intensities of friendship suit you better. Friendship's choreography is for multiple partners: for varied groups and surprisingly sustained duets.

independence identity

Margo Jefferson

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A lot of us are like that--I'm like that, Ed Abbey was like that, and it sounds like this McCandless kid was like that: We like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.

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Jon Krakauer

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Suddenly, it occurred to me that my feelings towards the little man were distinctly maternal. Good God, I thought, how utterly revolting, and I turned my mind firmly to the problem at hand.

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Laurie R. King

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Joan has a right to love whom she likes, and to go where she likes and to work and be independent and happy, and if she can't be happy then she has a right to make her own unhappiness; it's a thousand times better to be unhappy in your own way than to be happy in someone else's.

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Radclyffe Hall