Herman Melville Quotes

I stopped looking at people's opinions. It's easy to get caught up in what other people think.

You have trust in what you think. If you splinter yourself and try to please everyone, you can’t. It’s important to stay the course. I don’t think I would have lasted this long if I’d listened to anyone. You have to listen somewhat and then put that to the side and know that what you do matters.

I cannot be defined by what other people think.

What other people think of me is not my business. What I do is what I do. How people see me doesn’t change what I decide to do.

I hate to tell people what they should think 'cause I really have an aversion when people tell me what to think.

The fortune my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.

My desire is to be as independent as I can be, as long as I can be, subject to being effective.

It's no good being too easily swayed by people's opinions. You have to believe in yourself.

Never let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries. Continue steadfastly on one's way.

I stayed on my own path and did not follow the herd. I made a way for myself.

There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one's self.

Even if I was in prison, I could be free in my head. I can adapt easily.

In silence - and in self-defense - I figured things out in my own little way.

I don't need anybody to tell me how to be alive.

True elegance for me is the manifestation of an independent mind.

The best thing we can do is develop our own.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

No matter what a man does, he is not fully sane or human unless there is a spirit of freedom in him

You have your thoughts and I have mine. This is the fact and you can't change it even if you kill me.

I don't think I need to prove anything to anybody.

More than anything, I think my connection to the sea has really helped me develop my independence and a sense of the importance and value of my own vision.

I am a fiercely independent person, and I am no one's pawn.

I was always extremely independent growing up.

I've learned not to buy into what other people say. I've learned not to put dreams in other people's hands.

I am a strong believer to follow your own path, no matter what people think.