Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

I am a great believer in people taking control of their own lives.

You never undertake a project because you think other people will like it - because that way lies madness - but rather because you believe in it.

The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping .

I know what I can do so it doesn't bother me what other people think or their opinion on the situation.

That's the kind of motif I bring to the books - that people take charge of their own lives.

I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I'm working for me.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't need the affirmation or anything.

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

I don't seek validation outside, not even with the audience. Today they like me, but tomorrow they may hate me. I don't want to be anybody's role model.

I set my own personal goals; I'm not playing to satisfy fans.

This work thing really has a specific purpose for me, which is to be an independent human being who doesn't rely on a guy or a family to be able to support myself. It's not about showing somebody that I'm successful. It's about having a wider breadth of option.

I've had to wean myself away to make sure that any choices I make are grounded in myself rather than the seeking of approval.

Forget what everybody says. I know what I want to do and what I need to improve on. Nobody needs to tell me.

I'm already self-motivated, so I don't really pay attention what people are saying.

To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. To achieve such autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself. She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.

You need to feel good about yourself, the motivation has to come from within. You have nobody to fall back on except yourself.

You have to do things for yourself, not for anybody else.

In the past there were two things that motivated me then: independence, and passion about what I was doing. And those are still the things that motivate me now. I still have that passion for creating a product. And I will never be dependent on a man. I will never be dependent on a husband or a boyfriend or a father. That's one thing that's really important to me.

Someone who does not draw strength from himself and who is incapable of finding the meaning of his life within himself will...seek the map to his own orientation somewhere outside himself-in some ideology, organization, or society, and then, however active he may appear to be, he is merely waiting, depending. He waits to see what others will do, or what roles they will assign to him, and he depends on them-and if they don't do anything or if they botch things, he succumbs to disillusion, despair, and ultimately, resignation.

I felt like it was time to set up my future, so I set a goal. My goal was independence.

Security is the slogan for people who feel unable to function by their own means.

A girl expecting rescue never learns to save herself. Even with the means, she will find her courage wanting.

No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty

My main goal was to not tell my mom anything or anyone anything. Even within our family, we like to do it ourselves, we like to be our own boss, and we don't like asking for help.

When you work for others, you are at their mercy. They own your work; they own you. Your creative spirit is squashed. What keeps you in such positions is a fear of having to sink or swim on your own. Instead you should have a greater fear of what will happen to you if you remain dependent on others for power. Your goal in every maneuver in life must be ownership, working the corner for yourself. When it is yours, it is yours to lose - you are more motivated, more creative, more alive. The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.