Self Determination Quotes

Arise and pursue your dreams.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The law of karma says that no matter what context I find myself in, it is neither my parents, nor my science teacher, nor the mailman, but I alone who have brought myself into this state because of my past actions. Instead of trapping me in a fatalistic snare, this gives me freedom. Because I alone have brought myself into my present condition, I myself, by working hard and striving earnestly, can reach the supreme state which is nirvana.

~ Eknath Easwaran

You can posses what you desire.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.

~ Bob Moawad

It takes a lot of practices to get it right. The key is to keep practicing.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I'd rather die my way than live yours.

~ Lauren Oliver

What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them.

~ Henry Ford Ii

My family subscribed to this rigid belief system. They were unaware of the reality that gender, like sexuality, exists on a spectrum. By punishing me, they were performing the socially sanctioned practice of hammering the girl out of me, replacing her with tenets of gender-appropriate behavior. Though I would grow up to fit neatly into the binary, I believe in self-determination, autonomy, in people having the freedom to proclaim who they are and define gender for themselves. Our genders are as unique as we are. No one's definition is the same, and compartmentalizing a person as either a boy or a girl based entirely on the appearance of genitalia at birth undercuts our complex life experiences.

~ Janet Mock

On whose authority, who gives the right to religion, the law, medicine, the others, to choose on my behalf but without consulting me, the way, the place and the time I am allowed to die?

~ Alexandros Velios

You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.

~ John Green

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

~ William Shakespeare

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

~ Maya Angelou

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.

~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.

~ Confucius

It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

~ Benjamin Franklin

There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you how you respond to it.

~ Isaac Marion

They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

You are not stuck where you are unless you decide to be.

~ Wayne W. Dyer

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.

~ Virginia Satir

...wanting change is step one, but step two is taking it.

~ Isaac Marion

I'll fight when needed, revel when there's an occasion, mourn when there is grief and die if my time comes...But I will not let anyone use me against my will.

~ Christopher Paolini

The little things, I can obey. The big things—how we think, what we value—those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone—or any society—determine those for you.

~ Mitch Albom

Always in life an idea starts small, it is only a sapling idea, but the vines will come and they will try to choke your idea so it cannot grow and it will die and you will never know you had a big idea, an idea so big it could have grown thirty meters through the dark canopy of leaves and touched the face of the sky.' He looked at me and continued. 'The vines are people who are afraid of originality, of new thinking. Most people you encounter will be vines; when you are a young plant they are very dangerous.' His piercing blue eyes looked into mine.' Always listen to yourself, Peekay. It is better to be wrong than simply to follow convention. If you are wrong, no matter, you have learned something and you grow stronger. If you are right, you have taken another step toward a fulfilling life.

~ Bryce Courtenay

The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

you're not a bad person because you want to be yourself.

~ Jodi Picoult

You've already decided what you're going to do, and all that's left is to set the wheels in motion. I mean, it's your life. Basically, you gotta go with what you think is right.

~ Haruki Murakami

Best be yourself, imperial, plain, and true.

~ Robert Browning

Always listen to yourself... It is better to be wrong than simply to follow convention.

~ Bryce Courtenay

And now, the end is near,And so I face the final curtain.My friend, I'll say it clear,I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.I've lived a life that's full.I've traveled each and every highway;And more, much more than this,I did it my way.

~ Jacques Revaux

... no one can ever save someone else, you know? We can only save ourselves. You know that, don't you?

~ Carrie Jones

The only life worth living is the one we take responsibility for choosing.

~ Alexandra Stoddard

It's not what happens to us that molds us. It's what we do with what happens to us.

~ Anita Stansfield

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the

~ Eagles

I judge the world by my own lightsand I come by my own hand.

~ Catherine Madsen

This is the twenty-first century - you have to know what you want, then set upon it with everything you've got.

~ Manil Suri

If your weakness is love then you are extremely strong.

~ Efrat Cybulkiewicz