Individual Autonomy Quotes

• Men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.

  David Riesman

  Freedom, Men, Class

  David Riesman, Nathan Glazer, Reuel Denney (2001). “The Lonely Crowd”, p.307, Yale University Press

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• A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.

  Beverly Sills

  Art, Perception, Environmental

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• We face a conflict between civilisation and culture, which used to be on the same side. Civilisation means rational reflection, material wellbeing, individual autonomy and ironic self-doubt; culture means a form of life that is customary, collective, passionate, spontaneous, unreflective and arational.

  Terry Eagleton

  Mean, Reflection, Self

  "Culture conundrum" by Terry Eagleton, www.theguardian.com. May 20, 2008.

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• The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.

  Georg Simmel

  Being Yourself, Inspire, Historical

  Georg Simmel, Kurt H. Wolff (1950). “The Sociology of Georg Simmel”, p.409, Simon and Schuster

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• I'm for absolute autonomy of the individual, and an adult, competent woman has absolute autonomy. It's her choice.

  Jack Kevorkian

  Choices, Insecurity, Adults

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• Self-determination, the autonomy of the individual, asserts itself in the right to race his automobile, to handle his power tools, to buy a gun, to communicate to mass audiences his opinion, no matter how ignorant, how aggressive, it may be.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Determination, Gun, Race

  Herbert Marcuse (1971). “An Essay on Liberation”, p.12, Beacon Press

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• Placing the burden on the individual to break down doors in finding better education for a child is attractive to conservatives because it reaffirms their faith in individual ambition and autonomy. But to ask an individual to break down doors that we have chained and bolted in advance of his arrival is unfair.

  Jonathan Kozol

  Children, Ambition, Doors

  Jonathan Kozol (2012). “Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools”, p.76, Broadway Books

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• The spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies to the efficacy of the control.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Philosophy, Doe, Needs

  Herbert Marcuse (2013). “One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society”, p.10, Routledge

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• Both Faith and Terror are instruments for the elimination of individual self-respect. Terror crushes the autonomy of self-respect, where Faith obtains its more or less voluntary surrender. In both cases, the result of the elimination of individual autonomy is - automatism. Both Faith and Terror reduce the human entity to a formula that can be manipulated at will.

  Eric Hoffer

  Crush, Self, Religion

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• Science without religion is dangerous because it necessarily entails a mechanization of humanity and consequent loss of individual autonomy and spirituality. On the other hand, religion without science is powerless because it lacks an effective means through which to actualize the ultimate reality. Science and religion must work together harmoniously.

  Masao Abe

  Mean, Loss, Reality

  Masao Abe (2003). “Zen and the Modern World: A Third Sequel to Zen and Western Thought”, p.55, University of Hawaii Press

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• The political objective of universal capitalism is maximum individual autonomy, the separation of political power wielded by the holders of public office from economic power held by citizens, and the broad diffusion of privately owned economic power.

  Louis O. Kelso

  Wisdom, Office, Political

  Louis O. Kelso, Patricia Hetter Kelso (1967). “Two-factor Theory: the Economics of Reality; how to Turn Eighty Million Workers Into Capitalists on Borrowed Money, and Other Proposals”, New York : Vintage Books

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• The good news is that women's roles have changed so dramatically over the past three decades that women now expect to have careers, balance work and family, express their individual autonomy.

  Michael Kimmel

  Past, Careers, Balance

  "How hookups and hang-ups delay manhood". TODAYshow.com Q&A, www.today.com. August 26, 2008.

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