Thoughts on independence

He was jeopardising his traditional rights of freedom and ­independence by daring to exercise them.
—Joseph Heller

When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.
—Ralph Ellison

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
—Mahatma Gandhi

I earn that I eat, get that I wear; owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness. Glad of other men’s good, content with my harm.
—William Shakespeare

If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.
—Noam Chomsky

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.
—Coco Chanel

I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
—Genesis 14:23

People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.
—Emma Goldman

Nothing grows well in the shade of a big tree.
—Constantin Brâncuși

The gods help those who help themselves.
—Aesop

The strongest man in the world is the man who stands alone.
—Henrik Ibsen

If you are a brain-worker, let nothing—nothing—crush your individuality. It is your contribution to the world.
—BC Forbes

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
—Henry David Thoreau

Images: Heller: Reuters; Chanel: Lipnitzki / Roger Viollet / Getty Images; Brâncuși, Ibsen, Goldman, Gibbon: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons; Thoreau, Shakespeare: Shutterstock.Com