Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Independence
I never thrust my nose into other men’s porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine: Every man for himself and God for us all.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. Pt. I. Bk. III. Ch. XI.
All we ask is to be let alone.
Jefferson Davis—First Message to the Confederate Congress. April 29, 1861.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Thomas Jefferson—Declaration of Independence.
The whole trouble is that we won’t let God help us.
George MacDonald—The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. XXVII.
Voyager upon life’s sea:—
To yourself be true,
And whate’er your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe.
Dr. Edward P. Philpots—Paddle your own Canoe. Written for Harry Clifton. Appeared in Harper’s Monthly, May 1854. See Notes and Queries, May 25, 1901. P. 414. Another song written by Mrs. S. K. Bolton has same refrain. Pub. in Family Herald, 1853. Also in Song by Mrs. Sarah Tittle. (Barritt.)
I’ll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand,
As if a man were author of himself
And knew no other kin.
Coriolanus. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 34.
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 60.
Thy spirit, Independence, let me share!
Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye,
Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
Smollett—Ode to Independence. L. 1.
***but while
I breathe Heaven’s air, and Heaven looks down on me,
And smiles at my best meanings, I remain
Mistress of mine own self and mine own soul.
Tennyson—The Foresters. Act IV. Sc. 1.
Hail! Independence, hail! Heaven’s next best gift,
To that of life and an immortal soul!
Thomson—Liberty. Pt. V. L. 124.
L’injustice à la fin produit l’indépendance.
Injustice in the end produces independence.
Voltaire—Tancrède. III. 2.
Independence now: and I
Daniel Webster—Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826.