Quotes about Autonomy

As you become truly independent, you have the foundation for effective interdependence.

No one can hurt you without your consent." In the words of Gandhi, "They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.

It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.

No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or by emotional appeal." If you decide

We are responsible for our own effectiveness, for our own happiness, and ultimately, I would say, for most of our circumstances.

They want other people to be the way they want them to be. They often want to clone them, and they surround themselves with "yes" people—people who won't challenge them, people who are weaker than they.

But much of our current emphasis on independence is a reaction to dependence—to having others control us, define us, use us, and manipulate us.

Our secret life is where we are able to tap into the power of the four human endowments: self-awareness, conscience, imagination, and independent will.

We choose—either to live our lives or to let others live them for us. By making and keeping promises to ourselves and to others, little by little we increase our strength until our ability to act is more powerful than any of the forces that act upon us.

Effective interdependence can only be built on a foundation of true independence.

No one can hurt you without your consent.

No human being can ever 'own' another, whether in friendship, love, marriage, or parenthood.