“You can take my freedom, even my life, but not my thought, not my truth, not my contribution to the history of the people to which I belong.”

“It answers the question that was tormenting you: my love, you are not 'one thing in my life' - not even the most important - because my life no longer belongs to me because… you are always me.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

“When I eat a meal, I think of all the people whose labor has contributed to my nourishment, and that thought nourishes my appreciation. I hope it nourishes you too.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

“I thought of the brutal truths so often borne on predawn light. I'd had a few in my time, and they'd all led to this. I was a stranger to myself. I'd gone to law school for my father, married for my father; and for that same man, and for the vile woman who shared my bed, I'd surrendered my dreams of family — my very soul. Now he was dead and all I had was this truth: My life was not my own. It belonged to an empty shell that wore my face, Yet I refused to pity myself.”

John Hart (1965) American author with multiple books and awards

“The rest of my life belongs to my culture, my language, my God and my nation.”

Eugène Terre'Blanche (1941–2010) South African police officer, farmer, political activist, white supremacist

“You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The White Company

“I am a fighter. I believe in the bright future of my country. I believe that the people of my country deserve a decent life, and I know that my people want to live in freedom.”

Roza Otunbayeva (1950) Soviet diplomat

“I can never decide whether my dreams are the result of my thoughts or my thoughts the result of my dreams.”

D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter

“I do take responsibility. When you’re in public life, even if you believe that it’s not an opinion that you think is fair or founded, you do have to take responsibility. And I do. And I also have, you know, very much committed to the best of my ability my energies and efforts to helping people. That’s something that I care deeply about. And I will continue to do that, to demonstrate by my past actions and my present levels of commitment and plans that people can count on me.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

“How can we do justice even when it concerns truth itself, since for me only one truth exists, my truth, even if it is a delusion, yes, my delusion; my delusion.”

Imre Kertész book Kaddish for an Unborn Child