36 Independent Quotes

Independent Thinking And Being Yourself

Independence begins with knowing what matters to you. These quotes encourage you to think for yourself while respecting the choices of others.

The first of earthly blessings, independence.
Edward Gibbon

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes

There is often as much independence in not being led as in not being driven.
Tryon Edwards

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Thomas Paine

If you are an independent person, you may not be the best fit to give someone else the support they may require.
Mary S. Scotsburn

To be a gardener allows you to be as independent as you wish.
Sam Fickinsen

To be independent does not describe a Christian; Christians need fellowship, love, and support both offered and received.
Theodore W. Higgingsworth

I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not defined by another person.
Oscar Wilde

Teaching our children to be independent is one of the greatest skills we can teach them.
Catherine Pulsifer

Taking Responsibility For Your Life

Being independent means taking responsibility for your decisions and having the courage to follow your own path.

Interdependency follows independence.
Stephen Covey

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Rudyard Kipling

...grant us wisdom and love to help this child learn to sing his own song.
Anne Spring, Prayer For A New Baby

Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others.
Wayne Dyer

No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
William Blake

We are all meant to be wild and independent and free, our hearts filled with a ferocious passion for life.
Brendon Burchard, The Motivation Manifesto

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln

... the foremost rule is that you must take responsibility for your own life. Period. We are not happy, technically speaking, unless we see ourselves progressing—and the very idea of progression implies value.
Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life

Freedom, Family And Financial Independence

Freedom has many forms, from raising confident children to making wise financial decisions and living by your principles.

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right.
Brigham Young

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.
Denis Waitley

Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.
Walt Disney

It's easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing - that's the Lord's test.
Mahalia Jackson

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.
Henry Ford

To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
Mahatma Gandhi

Independence is essential for permanent but fatal to immediate success.
Samuel Butler

The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the image of a global village.
Marshall McLuhan

When you marry, share, love, but never let go of your independence.
A Lynch

The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
Thomas Edison

Independence And Our Need For One Another

Even when we stand on our own, we remain connected to others. These quotes consider the balance between freedom, solitude, and community.

Even as people take pride in their national independence, we know we are becoming more and more interdependent.
Bill Clinton

The price for independence is often isolation and solitude.
Steve Schmidt

Independence - is loyalty to one's best self and principles, and this is often disloyalty to the general idols and fetishes.
Mark Twain

Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
George Bernard Shaw

The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive.
Ayn Rand

Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only set their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to any other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily done.
P.T. Barnum

You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
Abraham Lincoln

Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn
Henry Louis Mencken

To become true independent thinkers and sound decision makers, your children cannot be reliant on others for approval or praise.
Pat Quinn, How to Parent a Genius: Raising Kids that are Smart, Successful, Nice and Happy!