Mary Pipher Quotes

But to do this kind of work, you have to be very strong, otherwise you lose your personality, your identity.

Nothing goes further toward a man's liberation than the act of surviving his need for character.

Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you.

Solitude is the one place where we can gain freedom from the forces of society that will otherwise relentlessly mold us. Solitude requires relentless perseverance.

In order to realize our true self we must be willing to live without being dependent upon the opinion of others.

Freedom and constraint are two aspects of the same necessity, which is to be what one is and no other.

A man is a beggar who only lives to the useful, and, however he may serve as a pin or rivet in the social machine, cannot be saidto have arrived at self-possession.

The minute I was told what to do at any age, I did the opposite. Hopefully I'll do that for the rest of my life.

I am not yet born; O fill me with strength against those who would freeze my humanity.

All these boundaries - Africa, Asia, Malaysia, America - are set by men. But you don't have to look at boundaries when you are looking at a man - at the character of a man. The question is: What do you stand for? Are you a follower, or are you a leader?

I'm proud to say I've never been anybody's lapdog.

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself.

At which point should we let go and do what we want to do, and when should we submit to rules? Coming to terms with our true natures and who we really are has always been a fascination to humans. I know it fascinates me.

We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.

Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own self.

Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.

People can dress you the way they want, they can do your makeup the way they want, but they can never take away your voice.

The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is the source of all true empowerment.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

One doesn't want one's identity coerced.

Who am I to blow against the wind?

I want not, that everybody hears about. Then I can't longer be myself.

I don't care much about conforming.

For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught. To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels.

I gave it my body and mind, but I have kept my soul.