“You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Variant: You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice...
Quotes about choice
A collection of quotes on the topic of choice, making, doing, use.
Quotes about choice
“You never know how strong you can be until being strong is the only choice you have left.”
Tupac Shakur book The Rose That Grew from Concrete
Source: The Rose That Grew from Concrete
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place--or not to bother”
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Not by Roosevelt, but from Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989).
Misattributed
“Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.”
John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor
“Drugs? Every one has a choice and I choose not to do drugs.”
Leonardo DiCaprio (1974) American actor and film producer
http://www.popmonk.com/actors/leonardo-dicaprio/quotes-leonardo-dicaprio.htm
2007
“freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.”
Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society
“There aren't any answers, only choices”
Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber
Source: Dragonfly in Amber
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love.”
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter
“There are no have-to's, just choices”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
"Roentgen Rays or Streams", Electrical Review (12 Aug 1896). Reprinted in The Nikola Tesla Treasury (2007), 307. By Nikola Tesla
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
Quoted in 2008-07-01, The Story Behind the Bus, Rosa Parks Bus, The Henry Ford http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp, (2002)
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736–1806) French physicist
as quoted by [C. Stewart Gillmor, Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in Eighteenth-century France, Princeton University Press, 1971, 069108095X, 255-261]
“When we understand this we see clearly that the subject round which the alternative senses play must be twofold. And we must therefore consider the subject of this work [the Divine Comedy] as literally understood, and then its subject as allegorically intended. The subject of the whole work, then, taken in the literal sense only is "the state of souls after death" without qualification, for the whole progress of the work hinges on it and about it. Whereas if the work be taken allegorically, the subject is "man as by good or ill deserts, in the exercise of the freedom of his choice, he becomes liable to rewarding or punishing justice."”
Hiis visis, manifestum est quod duplex oportet esse subiectum circa quod currant alterni sensus. Et ideo videndum est de subiecto huius operis, prout ad litteram accipitur; deinde de subiecto, prout allegorice sententiatur. Est ergo subiectum totius operis, litteraliter tantum accepti, status animarum post mortem simpliciter sumptus. Nam de illo et circa illum totius operis versatur processus. Si vero accipiatur opus allegorice, subiectum est homo, prout merendo et demerendo per arbitrii libertatem iustitie premiandi et puniendi obnoxius est.
Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet
Letter to Can Grande (Epistle XIII, 23–25), as translated by Charles Singleton in his essay "Two Kinds of Allegory" published in Dante Studies 1 (Harvard University Press, 1954), p. 87.
Epistolae (Letters)
Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) German mathematician and philosopher
Or, comme il y a une infinité d'univers possibles dans les idées de Dieu, et qu'il n'en peut exister qu'un seul, il faut qu'il y ait une raison suffisante du choix de Dieu qui le détermine à l'un plutôt qu'à l'autre. Et cette raison ne peut se trouver que dans la convenance, dans les degrés de perfection que ces mondes contiennent, chaque possible ayant droit de prétendre à l'existence à mesure de la perfection qu'il enveloppe.
La monadologie (53 & 54).
The Monadology (1714)
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer
Wenn Du durchaus nur die Wahl hast, zwischen einer Unwahrheit und einer Grobheit, dann wähle die Grobheit. Wenn jedoch die Wahl getroffen werden muß zwischen einer Unwahrheit und einer Grausamkeit, dann wähle die Unwahrheit.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 39.
George Best (1946–2005) British footballer
In the book The Afterlife by Paul Morley " http://footyfactor.com/tag/the-afterlife", Footy Factor (April 23, 2009).
Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) Bengali feminist writer and social worker
When she was asked, in 1926, to chair the Bengal women's educational conference. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/28/rokeya-sakhawat-hossain-hero-tahmima-anam <br class="br">Context: Although I am grateful to you for the respect that you have expressed towards me by inviting me to preside over the conference, I am forced to say that you have not made the right choice. I have been locked up in the socially oppressive iron casket of 'porda' for all my life. I have not been able to mix very well with people – as a matter of fact, I do not even know what is expected of a chairperson. I do not know if one is supposed to laugh, or to cry.
“I think it's your own choice if you turn from an angry young man to a bitter, old bastard.”
Billie Joe Armstrong (1972) American singer and guitarist
“Choices determine character.”
Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
“When the choice is to be right or to be kind, always make the choice that brings peace”
Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer
“We must believe in free will — we have no choice.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author
An ironic statement which Singer made in many interviews over many years; here quoted in "Isaac Singer’s Promised City" http://www.city-journal.org/html/7_3_urbanities-isaac.html City Journal (Summer 1997) <br class="br">Variants or variant translations:<br>We must believe in free will — we have no other choice.<br>You must believe in free will; there is no choice.<br>We have to believe in free will. We’ve got no choice. <br class="br">This makes more sense if you consider the statement "we must believe in free will; we have no [other logical] choice"
Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
Kristin Cast book Marked
Source: Marked
“Women have two choices: Either she's a feminist or a masochist.”
Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist
Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989) Japanese cartoonist and animator
That was their merit as propaganda against the Japanese. <br class="br"> Tezuka Osamu and American Comics http://www.tcj.com/tezuka-osamu-and-american-comics/, (1973), as quoted by Ryan Holmberg, The Comics Journal, Jul 16, 2012.
Lucian Freud (1922–2011) British painter and engraver
Lucian Freud: Paintings (1987), p. 20
Lucian Freud : Paintings (1987)
Shirin Ebadi (1947) Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient
From 2006 interview with Ebadi by Harry Kreisler (translator, Banafsheh Keynoush) about her newly released book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope. <br class="br"> From May 10 2006 interview with Ebadi at Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Ebadi/ebadi-con3.html (retrieved Oct. 15, 2008)
“Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”
Dallin H. Oaks (1932) Apostle of the LDs Church
Desire https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire, Dallin H. Oaks, April 2011
Paul Robeson (1898–1976) American singer and actor
As quoted in Paul Robeson, The Whole World in His Hands (1981) by Susan Robeson, p. 60
“Much of the debate in Washington has put forward a false choice when it comes to Libya.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2011, Address on interventions in Libya (March 2011)
Context: Much of the debate in Washington has put forward a false choice when it comes to Libya. On the one hand, some question why America should intervene at all — even in limited ways — in this distant land. They argue that there are many places in the world where innocent civilians face brutal violence at the hands of their government, and America should not be expected to police the world, particularly when we have so many pressing needs here at home.
It’s true that America cannot use our military wherever repression occurs. And given the costs and risks of intervention, we must always measure our interests against the need for action. But that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what’s right. In this particular country — Libya — at this particular moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale. We had a unique ability to stop that violence: an international mandate for action, a broad coalition prepared to join us, the support of Arab countries, and a plea for help from the Libyan people themselves. We also had the ability to stop Qaddafi’s forces in their tracks without putting American troops on the ground.
To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and — more profoundly — our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.
James D. Watson (1928) American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist.
Children from the Laboratory (May 1973), An Interview in Prism Magazine
Context: Watson: Our society just hasn't faced up to this problem. In a primitive society, if you saw that a baby was deformed, you would abandon it on a hillside. Today this isn't permissible, and with our medicine getting better and better in the sense of being able to keep sick people alive longer, we are going to produce more people living wretched lives. I don't know how you get a society to change on such a basic issue; infanticide isn't regarded lightly by anyone. Fortunately, now through such techniques as amniocentesis, parents can often learn in advance whether their child will be normal and healthy or hopelessly deformed. They then can choose either to have the child or opt for a therapeutic abortion. But the cruel fact remains that because of the present limits of such detection methods, most birth defects are not discovered until birth. If the child were not declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice that only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so chose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this view is the only rational, compassionate attitude to have.
“The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils.”
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"No, Not One," The Adelphi (October 1941), p. 7 http://books.google.com/books?id=hdwYAQAAIAAJ&q=%22The+choice+before+human+beings%22&pg=PA7#v=onepage- 8 http://books.google.com/books?id=hdwYAQAAIAAJ&q=%22is+not+as+a+rule+between+good+and+evil+but+between+two+evils%22&pg=PA8#v=onepage <br class="br">Context: The choice before human beings, is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world: that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war, which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands.
“You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you.”
George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian
Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
Context: There's a reason for this, there's a reason education sucks, and it's the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better. Don't look for it. Be happy with what you've got... because the owners of this country don’t want that. I'm talking about the real owners now... the real owners. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls. They got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying. Lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right.
2017
Sukirti Kandpal (1987) Indian actress
On working in webseries https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/sukriti-kandpal-except-for-supernatural-and-naagin-shows-i-dont-think-much-has-changed-on-tv/articleshow/70315084.cms/
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence
Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire
Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/
“We must never forget that it is through our actions, words, and thoughts that we have a choice.”
Sogyal Rinpoche (1947–2019) Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1993 Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. As quoted in: Olivia Waxman (August 2, 2018): Ruth Bader Ginsburg Wishes This Case Had Legalized Abortion Instead of Roe v. Wade. In: Time Magazine. Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20220527151841/https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ from [hhttps://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/ the original] on May 27, 2022. As quoted in: Louise Melling (Deputy Legal Director and Director of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Liberty, ACLU) (September 23, 2020): For Justice Ginsburg, Abortion Was About Equality. In: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20220527144342/https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/for-justice-ginsburg-abortion-was-about-equality from the original https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/for-justice-ginsburg-abortion-was-about-equality on May 27, 2022. <br class="br">1990s
William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) United States Secretary of State
"America's Mission", speech delivered by the leader of the Democratic Party at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association at Washington, D.C., (22 February 1899), as published in The Book of Public Speaking (Vol. 2) http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Book_of_Public_Speaking_v2_1000538531/149
“But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?”
Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See
Source: All the Light We Cannot See
“Love is a choice you make from moment to moment.”
Barbara De Angelis (1951) American psychologist
Marc Bekoff (1945) American biologist
Source: Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.”
Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer
“True happiness
Consists not in the multitude of friends,
But in the worth and choice.”
Cynthia's Revels (1600), Act III, scene ii
Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
“There's small choice in rotten apples.”
William Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew
Source: The Taming of the Shrew
Michael H. Hart (1932) American astronomer
Muhammad
Source: About Muhammad, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, p.3
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell, Act III
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
“Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices. Then our choices make us.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary