Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Even though you're married, you're still individuals. You still have to grow and nurture your individuality.

All I want, and I think all any parent with a semblance of a moral psychology wants, is for my kid to have his own experience, uninhibited.

I started my career in parent education with the idea that we needed to let our kids go. I believed that parents were suffocating for their children. There was no room for individuality and personhood.

It's just about keeping people who are close to me, near. It's important to have people around who love themselves, are true to themselves, who have their own hobbies and their world doesn't revolve around Hollywood.

Let me do me.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

There is one thing you and I as parents cannot do, not do we want to do if we really think about it, and that's control our children's will--that spirit that lets them be themselves apart from you and me. They are not ours to possess, control, manipulate, or even to make mind.

I think the best thing a parent can do, when raising a child, is simply get out of their way.

You may give them your love, but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.

Adults look upon a child as something empty that is to be filled through their own efforts, as something inert and helpless for which they must do everything, as something lacking an inner guide and in constant need of inner direction. . . . An adult who acts in this way, even though he may be convinced that he is filled with zeal, love, and a spirit of sacrifice on behalf of his child, unconsciously suppresses the development of the child's own personality.

It's important to have people around who love themselves, are true to themselves, who have their own hobbies and their world doesn't revolve around Hollywood. I can always go to my family with any doubts or questions I may have.

Children should have enough freedom to be themselves - once they've learned the rules.

I love my father, but I have worked to develop a separate and distinct identity in different projects I have worked on.

I'd like to thank my parents for always stressing, be an individual.

I know it can be difficult for parents, but I really do believe that kids need to play the predominant role in the choices that go into their own space.

For me, I want my kids to find their way. If they're interested in something, I want them to try it out.

I want an identity outside of my work.

I'm going to be true to what I want to do, because if I care what people think about me, I'm a puppet. Which I have been in my life. And you can't live life that way, man!

I don't need anyone to rectify my existence. The most profound relationship we will ever have is the one with ourselves.

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine.

You cannot belong to anyone else, until you belong to yourself.

Writing is something I can do by myself.

I think one of the most important things I can give my children is the right to be themselves.