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Autonomy Quotes

Browse 495 quotes about Autonomy.

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Autonomy Quotes

“Freedom guides our actions in powerful ways. I hadn't been so much under the external control of other people as my own rigid belief system. The one that told me to conform to a set of rules. I hadn't even thought through and honestly considered whether it was a good choice or not.”

ChoicesFreedomBehaviorPersonal GrowthDecision MakingSelf DeterminationIntrospectionSensitivityAutonomyHsp
Book:Mere Sense: A Memoir of Men, Migraine, and the Mysteries of Being Highly Sensitive
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“I sat still for awhile, and I saw something when the mist cleared that I had never fully seen before. If you see my truth as a sign of disrespect (because it conflicts with your truth), then nothing I can ever say can ever have an effect that isn't negative... So I didn't contradict anything. Anything. I just took it all in. And then, yes, I get to go back to my world and do with it what I will. I wouldn't do it for just anyone. But for them, it was worth it. It was so worth it.”

LoveTruthVisionListeningDisciplinePrioritiesClarityAutonomyDisrespectMist Clears
Author:Shellen Lubin
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“I belong to myself. Always. Eternally. Without question. My own safe house. My own sheltered harbor. I am my own solid ground. I am the lighthouse beacon. I call the ships safely home from sea. I am the North Star and the compass. I am my own port in the wildest storm. I am the spell caster and the spell breaker. I am a witch of alchemy and transformation. I am the pages in the grimoire of knowledge, I am the source of all the magic ever known. I am the kiss that wakes us all from slumber. I am the white horse knight in shining armor. I am my own happily ever after fairytale godmother. I am my own rest stop on the longest journey of living. The final destination on every treasure map I will ever need. I am my own primary relationship, my own till death do us part. I am my own center and saving grace, my own best-kept secret. I am the lineage of wisdom itself, the home of my own belonging. I am my own. And my own. And always my own.”

Self EsteemSelf LoveSelf ImprovementSafetyPersonal GrowthSelf WorthBelongingSovereigntyAutonomyQuotes For Women
Author:Jeanette LeBlanc
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“. . . from her earliest days at Versailles, Marie Antoinette staged a revolt against entrenched court etiquette by turning her clothes and other accoutrements into defiant expressions of autonomy and prestige . . . it is my belief that she identified fashion as a key weapon in her struggle for personal prestige, authority, and sometimes mere survival.”

FashionAuthorityClothesSurvivalAutonomyPrestigeWeaponMarie AntoinetteExpressions
Book:Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
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“Autonomy, as I see it, is a condition of integration in which the possibility of living in harmony with one's own needs and feelings is realized. What is meant here are not those feelings and needs artificially produced by the consumer society but those originating in the joy produced by a mother's love for the aliveness of her child or in the sorrow stemming from the lack of this love.”

MotherhoodAutonomyEmotional AbuseChild DevelopmentFree Wil
Book:The Insanity of Normality: Toward Understanding Human Destructiveness
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“To think, to judge, to choose our values is to be individuated, to create a distinct, personal identity. But thus to affirm that I exist is to open myself to the realization that I am finite, that my life is limited, that I am mortal, that one day I will die. The rebellion against the inevitability of death results in a rebellion against the challenges and opportunities of life. If I refuse to fully live, I cannot die. So: fear of autonomy entails fear of self-responsibility entails fear of identity entails fear of aloneness entails fear of death. That which does not exist cannot perish.”

TherapyJudgementAutonomyDependencyAssertivenessIndividuationSelf Responsibility
Book:Honoring the Self: Self-Esteem and Personal Transformation
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“Consensus, while comforting and harmonious as well as efficient, often leads us to make bad decisions. Dissent, while often annoying, is precisely the challenge that we need to reassess our own views and make better choices. It helps us consider alternatives and generate creative solutions. Dissent is a liberator. So why do we punish dissent? Most of us believe that we are open to differing views. Some of us believe that we like challenges to our ideas. In practice, however, most of us dislike a person who believes the opposite of a position we hold, and we creatively look for reasons for his “error.” We tend to think of him in negative terms. He is a troublemaker who is wasting time and blocking our goals. We are quite willing to punish him, most often through ridicule or rejection. We are continually advised “to go along and to get along.” It is powerful advice for most of us who prefer to be “in” rather than “out.” We like being accepted and valued—and we know that if we stand up against the majority, we will be “on the outs.” We thus remain silent. Sometimes we even nod in agreement, not knowing why we are nodding—because we choose not to ask ourselves what we really believe. There is a price for this as well.”

ScienceJusticeProgressIntellectualEthicsPhilosopherRationalityAutonomyDissentDivergence
Book:In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business
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“But freedom from an interfering state is no guarantee of individual autonomy; something more is needed for that. Genuine autonomy demands that we act deliberately, that our beliefs, values, and decisions are really are own, and this means that we need to have a handle on the reasons that shape our behaviour. But this is no easy task. Our reasons for acting are not always transparent, even to us. Self-knowledge is not a given, but it is not out of reach, either. It is something that we can work at, and with understanding comes options. Knowing why we behave the way we do can help us to see choices where we previously saw none.”

FreedomDemocracySelf KnowledgeAutonomy
Author:Karyn L. Freedman
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“.... freedom from an interfering government is not the only barrier to genuine autonomy. The right to reflect is not universal. It is a privilege afforded to those of us in affluent societies who have time to spare, and who are not otherwise burdened by fundamental problems, like poverty, malnutrition or ill health, problems that, at least in male-dominated societies, women suffer disproportionately. Add to this women’s lack of equality under the law in those same societies, as well as their lack of equal access to education and basic social institutions of welfare, and it becomes clear that it is not just women’s bodies but their basic human rights that are under attack in male-dominated societies.”

AutonomyWomen S Bodies
Book:One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery
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“The current system for refugees who remain in their region of origin is a disaster. It is premised upon an almost exclusively 'humanitarian' response. A system designed for the emergency phase - to offer an immediate lifeline - ends up enduring year after year, sometimes decade after decade. External provision of food, clothing, and shelter is absolutely essential in the aftermath of having to run for your life. But over time, if it is provided as a substitute for access to jobs, education, and other opportunities, humanitarian aid soon undermines human dignity and autonomy.”

HumanitarianRefugeRefugeeAutonomyRefugeesRefugee CrisisHumanitarian AidRefugee CampsInternational Aid
Book:Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System
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“For the period that refugees are in limbo, we should be creating an enabling environment that nurtures rather than debilitates people's ability to contribute in exile and when they ultimately go home. This should involve all of the things that allow people to thrive and contribute rather than merely survive: education, the right to work, electricity, connectivity, transportation, access to capital.”

FreedomRefugeRefugeeAutonomyRefugeesRefugee Crisis
Book:Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System
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“A person cannot have it both ways regarding his final standard or ultimate reference point. He presupposes and reasons either according to the authority of God or according to some other authority. Attempting to be neutral about God's ultimate authority in determining what we know is a result of a bad attitude toward God's ultimate authority. It is a way of saying that one does not really need the work of Christ to save him in his reasoning.”

AutonomyApologeticsChristian ApologeticsTheonomyChristian Epistemology
Author:Greg L. Bahnsen
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“In countries Where development is a Right and not a tool of trade; politicians using development projects to buy loyalty and votes, parliaments are more useful than statehouses. Where leaders- elected and appointed practice professionalism, independence, autonomy and dare to trust the courage of their convictions, corruption doesn't thrive. Most democracies have turned into cesspools because of corruption.”

PoliticsDemocracyCorruptionVotingPolitical PartiesAutonomyParliamentElectionsProfessionalismCross Carpeting
Author:Njau Kihia
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“If we want our children to be independent, to go out and take on the world, we have to give them full confidence that they can come back to us as needed. Autonomy and connection: That’s secure attachment.”

ConfidenceIndependentSecureConnectionAttachmentAutonomy
Book:Raising a Secure Child: How Circle of Security Parenting Can Help You Nurture Your Child's Attachment, Emotional Resilience, and Freedom to Explore
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“It takes a great personal audacity to question the status quo, to take exception to it, to redefine it, and, ultimately, decide for your Self what “normal” is going to be. But guess what? That autonomy to choose your own circumstances is your birthright.”

CircumstancesAutonomyChooseBirthrightAudacity
Book:You Are Not Stuck: How Soul-Guided Choices Transform Fear into Freedom
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“Children need a little space to test out their autonomy when on the top of the Circle, but they still need to know we’re nearby and available as needed.”

SpaceAvailableAutonomy
Book:Raising a Secure Child: How Circle of Security Parenting Can Help You Nurture Your Child's Attachment, Emotional Resilience, and Freedom to Explore
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“Neutrality always swallows all things mighty. The path of least resistance ensures all forks in the road are made comfortable descents into a mediocre valley of oblivion, an oblivion where nothing of note happens, where the audacity of uncomfortable choice is checked by the rank vanilla stank of stagnant stasis. In God's heaven, taking a hard stance is the heinous act of a heretic. Abandon all autonomy ye who enter here. Days of remembrance are reserved only for those who take a stand.”

PoliticsComfortUncertaintyLiberalismAutonomyNeutralityCenterVirtue SignallingCenterismSlactivists
Book:The Swarm
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“The migrant chain that connected Africa to America was seemingly endless, however, and its length was due primarily to the market. Africans made to ‘buy more’ Africans were thus compelled to be the agents of their own exploitation by an economic system that consumed the very lives of slaves. At stake for Africans was whether an American generation of African lineage would emerge and, more important still, also whether that generation could sustain itself by the fruit of its social networks, rather than by its labor, as bought and sold on the market.”

CommunitySlaveryAutonomyMigrant Chain
Book:Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora
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“The terror of sickness and old age is not merely the terror of the losses one is forced to endure, but also the terror of the isolation. As people become aware of the finitude of their life, they do not ask for much. They do not seek more riches. They do not seek more power. They ask only to be permitted, insofar as possible, to keep sharing the story of their life in the world - to make choices and sustain connections to others according to their own priorities. In modern society we have come to assume that debility and dependence rule out such autonomy.”

ChoicesAgingAutonomySocial Issues
Book:Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
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