Paul Auster Quotes

Manage what belongs to you, but not what belongs to others.

I think control is a two-way street; sometimes people want to control things to keep them safe if they are afraid of life.

My family comes first, and you have to be in charge to be able to protect that. You have to be the one who says no or you don't have a life, which is what I found out the first time.

They defined what was private and what was public and they would move it whenever they wished.

I hate jealousy, I hate possessiveness. I'm nobody's possession.

I can't be left unsupervised.

Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority.

Laws are made to protect the trusting as well as the suspicious.

Power without abuse loses its charm.

I respect someone's right to privacy and I want them to know it.

One thing I want you to understand is if I make a decision, it's my decision.

There couldn't be better parents than mine, loving yet strict. They disciplined with love. A child without discipline is, in away, a lost child. You cannot have freedom without discipline.

Let those who know know, and let me keep what little privacy I can.

My kids would probably say that I'm too strict. They probably would say that, and I try not to be, but I'm probably more on the conservative end of that. At the same time, I know full well that ultimately I don't really have control over them.

I've learned over the years that freedom is just the other side of discipline.

You have to be careful about how much you reveal to people that look up to you so much.

I'm going to have to be impressed and feel confident in the people I'm handing a book to - or I'm not going to do it. Once you hand it to them, you're out. You have no control over it.

I've always said to my men friends, If you really care for me, darling, you will give me territory. Give me land, give me land.

He who has great power should use it lightly.

They are amazing kids so we let them make decisions but also have discipline.

Our Founders always wondered about how long it would last. The price of liberty is everlasting vigilance. You've got to be on your guard every minute or you will lose it.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

You need responsibility in life.

There are two good rules which ought to be written on every heart - never to believe anything bad about anybody unless you positively know it to be true; never to tell even that unless you feel that it is absolutely necessary, and that God is listening.

Don't corral me, and I'll always come home. Just let me go out and play during the day.