Deirdre O'Kane Quotes

I guess becoming an adult and learning how to survive on your own is exciting.

Actually going to the supermarket to get my own groceries was a revelation. I'd never had to fill the fridge before, do my laundry, put petrol in my car. It was scary - but there was a kind of joy about it, too.

I learned so much because I moved out of my mom's when I was 18. It teaches you to be responsible, to be independent.

I don't need adult supervision.

Grow up and let anyone try to contend with the adult you.

The same independence that got me into trouble in high school got me praise in college.

Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

I'm ready to live on my own. It's a really big step, but I'm ready.

Universities can teach maturity. They can teach teenagers how to be adults, and that means to function outside a clique or a tribe.

It's not that I don't respect my parents' authority or appreciate all that they did for me, but when I was 18 I was able to move out, and I was out. I feel like a different person since then; I mean, it's obviously a big turning point in life. I feel like I've established myself, and I'm a smarter and more mature for it.

The finest inheritance you can give to a child is to allow it to make its own way, completely on its own feet.

I'm not here to - as a parent, I believe we are specifically here to help our children mature in the way that they can take on their own lives. I'm not here to live their lives for them. That's not my job.

As you grow and mature, you will want and will earn more freedom to live your lives your way and to make your own choices. This you should do.

I was ironing my own clothes when I was 11 years old. My mental strength goes back to those days.

I'll handle living on my own. You've got to learn somehow. I'll take it all in my stride like I do everything else.

Coming to the Waratahs was the first time I felt I gained some independence. I was telling my parents I had to go out on my own, and learn and grow, and if I made mistakes, then so be it.

Once I got to the age where I was like, "I could just do it by myself," they was like, "Go do it."

Being on my own was liberation, it was liberty, it was freedom, it was responsibility! It was the greatest thing in the world, getting old enough to be on my own. And today we have to deal with the fact that being on your own is so frightening and so scary and makes you feel so vulnerable. I wouldn't be where I am today if I had that attitude, if I had been afraid to be on my own.

Remember what being an adult is: It has nothing to do with money or awards.

Even when I was modelling, I never had a mom sitting on my head and a bunch of people waiting on me. I've always been independent. I'll do my thing and go.

When you grow up your mother says, 'Wear rubbers or you'll catch cold.' When you become an adult you discover that you have the right not to wear rubbers and to see if you catch cold or not. It's something like that.

The way I look at it, I'd rather make my own mistakes than have people make them for me.

Grown men do not need leaders.

I think I'm mostly looking forward to the college life. I'm looking forward to more freedom. Here everything is really structured and scheduled, but in college you've got to be more responsible and you can get things done on your own time. I'm really looking forward to that.