Self Reliance Quotes

Self reliance is a tricky subject to quote.  Do you rely ONLY on yourself to get things done right?  Or do you allow other people to help you, since it may be a necessary part of their own progression to do so?  Read on….

1. The best things in life must come by effort from within, not by gifts from the outside. -Fred Corson

2. Promises that you make to yourself are often like the Japanese plum tree: they bear no fruit. -Frances Marion

3. My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between I occupy myself as best I can. -Cary Grant (1904-1986)

4. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. -Carlos Castaneda

5. A man who finds no satisfaction in himself, seeks for it in vain else where. -Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

6. Chance never helps those who do not help themselves. -Sophocles (495-406 BC)

7. You can’t get spoiled if you do your own ironing. -Meryl Streep

8. You make yourself and others suffer just as much when you take offense as when you give offense. -Ken Keyes Jr. (1921-1995)

9. It’s a sign of your own worth sometimes if you are hated by the right people. -Miles Franklin (1879-1954)

10. Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one’s own person is its ultimate reward. -Patricia Sampson

11. It’s so important to believe in yourself. Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances. Because if you believe you can, then you really will. That belief just keeps you searching for the answers, and then pretty soon you get it. -Wally Amos

12. If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing. -Margaret Thatcher

13. God loves to help him who strives to help himself. -Aeschylus (525-456 BC)

14. What exactly is success? For me it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing one’s ideal. -Anna Pavlova (1881-1931)

15. A secure individual…knows that the responsibility for anything concerning his life remains with himself–and he accepts that responsibility. -Harry Browne

16. I take a simple view of living. It is, keep your eyes open and get on with it. -Sir Lawrence Olivier (1907-1989)

17. The closer one gets to the top, the more one finds there is no “top.” -Nancy Barcus

18. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. -John Henry Boetker

I admit these self-reliance quotes weren’t ALL on-topic.  But I really like #8 and #9.  Which ones do YOU like?