Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes

But the egoist has no ideals, for the knowledge that his ideals are only his ideals, frees him from their domination. He acts for his own interest, not for the interest of ideals.

Nature... is nothing but the inner voice of self-interest.

I am responsible for me. I can kind of take care of what I need to do and should do what I like to do.

I know that no one can really stop me but myself and that really no one can help me but myself.

The efficient man is the man who thinks for himself.

I don't think anyone has made me except myself. I think I have done it on my own.

I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do.

You have to be concerned with yourself because if you're not on it all the time, nobody else is going to be.

I didn't do this for other people; I did this for me. I fought for this right for me - does that sound selfish?

But egoism is more than this. It is the realization by the individual that he is above all institutions and all formulas; that they exist only so far as he chooses to make them his own by accepting them.

The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.

A man's neighbors or his landlord may be much cleverer than himself, and not without an indirect interest in his prosperity, but for all that his interests will be better attended to in his own keeping than in theirs.

What people have thought of me, of the turns that I've taken, has never really played into my decisions.

Nature governs man by no principle more fixed than that which leads him to pursue his interest.

I always say to the players, 'You can either create or wait.' If you're waiting, you're relying on someone else, as simple as that. But if you create it, you've got to do it.

Ultimately, I play for myself, and I take responsibility for my own actions.

If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one's actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.

No one else has ever opened doors for me. I opened them myself.

I think I have enough of a sense to know what works for me and what doesn't, without going into some big thing and analyzing what I do. I'm in a position that allows me to do what I want to do, and I do it.

You don't have to buy from anyone. You don't have to work at any particular job. You don't have to participate in any given relationship. You can choose.

There are points in your life, especially if you have creative ambitions, where selfishness is necessary.

Everything comes out of what works for me.

The divine is God's concern; the human, man's. My concern is neither the divine nor the human, not the true, good, just, free, etc., but solely what is 'mine,' and it is not a general one, but is - 'unique,' as I am unique. Nothing is more to me than myself!

I think that's important for all ages, to not be afraid of being an individual. I grew up on my own, as an only child, so early on I think I was quite capable of making decisions by myself and being an individual.

There's always a lot of talk about motivation to race, but nobody really knows what I do or what I think apart from myself, so I don't really care what people think.