Quotes about Autonomy

They also told me how I got the name "My." After Bailey learned definitely that I was his sister, he refused to call me Marguerite, but rather addressed me each time as "Mya Sister," and in later more articulate years, after the need for brevity had shortened the appellation to "My," it was elaborated into "Maya.

If you don't protect yourself, you look like a fool asking somebody else to protect you. [..] A woman needs to support herself before she asks anyone else to support her.

under my eye, but not my thumb.

The only person you can now or ever change is yourself. The only person that it is your business to control is yourself.

You are not responsible for making other people "see the light," and you do not need to "set them straight." You are responsible for helping yourself see the light and for setting yourself straight.

If we abdicate responsibility for our choices, we may become angry, sometimes full of rage at others for running our lives, for telling us what to do. We need to take responsibility. We need to trust ourselves.

To believe in people, to believe in each person's inherent ability to think, feel, solve problems, and take care of themselves is a great gift we can give and receive from others.

Detachment is based on the premises that each person is responsible for himself, that we can't solve problems that aren't ours to solve, and that worrying doesn't help.

No amount of control will effect a permanent or desirable change in another person. We can sometimes do things that increase the probability that people will want to change, but we can't even guarantee or control that. And

When you're doing what's right for you, it's okay to say it once, simply, and then refuse to discuss anything further.

I do not deserve and will not tolerate abuse or constant mistreatment.

If we absolutely can't feel good about something we're doing, then we shouldn't do it - no matter how charitable it seems. We also shouldn't do things for others that they ought to and are capable or doing for themselves. Other people aren't helpless. Neither are we.