Self Determination Quotes - Page 3

[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.

There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead.

If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married.

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.

[I]n the end this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin.

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

Look deeply into your soul. You have enough grace and strength to overcome any struggle.

She could just pack up and leave, but she does not visualize what's beyond ahead.

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.

Jupiter: I am not your king, impudent larva? Who then has created you?
Orestes: You. But you should not have created me free.

Book buying habits; I can afford to live without food and save the money to a book.

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

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

I'm single because I was born that way.

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.

Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.

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

It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.

What we ask is to be human individuals, however peculiar and unexpected. It is no good saying: "You are a little girl and therefore you ought to like dolls"; if the answer is, "But I don't," there is no more to be said.