Quotes about Self-reliance

I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.

Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt, Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee, In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night, Kindling a fire and broiling the freshkilled game, Soundly falling asleep on the gathered leaves, my dog and gun by my side.

For America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without;

Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.

Whatever is manufactured outwardly by our own effort is not real and is doomed to frustration and defeat.

My wish simply is to live my life as fully as I can. In both our work and our leisure, I think, we should be so employed. And in our time this means that we must save ourselves from the products that we are asked to buy in order, ultimately, to replace ourselves.

If someone is bent on hurting herself, she'll find a way to do it. She was a grown woman; sooner or later, she was responsible for herself.

In the end you have only you.

Do I tell you how to braid your hair? Don't tell me how to plow a field.

The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.

I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.

It's all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.