Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

It's a life's journey of finding ourselves, finding our power, and living for yourself, not for everyone else.

For me, a happy ending is not everything works out just right and there is a big bow, it's more coming to a place where a person has a clear vision of his or her own life in a way that enables them to kind of throw down their crutches and walk.

I didn't have anybody, really, no foundation in life, so I had to make my own way. Always, from the start. I had to go out in the world and become strong, to discover my mission in life.

In silence - and in self-defense - I figured things out in my own little way.

A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.

Since being quite young, I've had a very strong sense of independence and survival. As a child, I was on my own two feet emotionally.

We become strong, I feel, when we have no friends upon whom to lean, or to look to for moral guidance.

More than anything, I think my connection to the sea has really helped me develop my independence and a sense of the importance and value of my own vision.

You have to empower yourself.

I think being independent gives you a different confidence about yourself. It gives you more power, especially in certain relationships.

You should lead your own life, do what you have to. If people recognize you, it gives you support. If they don't, how does it matter?

We never really know what people are capable of until the only person they can rely on is themselves.

But I don't pay much attention to outside influences. People can say what they want. I always try to focus on my own environment.

Exercises cultivated self-reliance - the foundation of courage.

Be courageous. Be independent. Only remember where the true courage and independence come from.

Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own savior, Standing on my own two feet.

The Virgin (and I'm not speaking here of a sexual virgin) is the one whose search springs from her complete independence, and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone.

Wisdom's daughter walks alone. That didn't just mean without other people, Annabeth realized. It meant without any special powers.

Don't let anybody raise you. You've been raised.

It's not when you realize that nothing can help you — religion, pride, anything — it's when you realize that you don't need any aid.

I have my own life. And I am stronger than you know.

Independence is not a static condition; it is a continuous conquest, and in order to reach not only freedom, but also strength, and the perfecting on one's powers, it is necessary to follow this path of unremitting toil.

It is only as a man puts off from himself all external support, and stands alone, that I see him to be strong and to prevail.

I 'spect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me.

I think we have to go through everything we go through in our life, and I believe my purpose in life was to teach self-reliance. So I had the experience of relying on myself very early in life in order to have that knowing, because otherwise I would've just read about it. I think of it now as a great advantage that I had. It certainly taught me to rely upon myself at a very young age. And that's what I've been teaching since I was a little boy.