Self Ownership Quotes

• Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

  Toni Morrison

  Freedom, Self, Beloved

  FaceBook post by Toni Morrison from Aug 29, 2011

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• If you are an adult, you are responsible for your life and well-being. No one owes you the fulfillment of your needs or wants; no one is here on earth to serve you. If you respect the principle of self-ownership, you understand that no one else owns you and that you do not own anyone else. Only on this understanding can there be peace on earth and good will among human beings.

  Nathaniel Branden

  Self, Understanding, Adults

  Nathaniel Branden (1998). “Nathaniel Brandens Self-Esteem Every Day: Reflections on Self-Esteem and Spirituality”, p.162, Simon and Schuster

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• My philosophy is based on the principle of self-ownership. You own your life. To deny this is to imply that another person has a higher claim on your life than you do. No other person, or group of persons, owns your life nor do you own the lives of others.

  Ken Schoolland

  Life, Freedom, Philosophy

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• Human rights are an aspect of natural law, a consequence of the way the universe works, as solid and as real as photons or the concept of pi. The idea of self- ownership is the equivalent of Pythagoras' theorem, of evolution by natural selection, of general relativity, and of quantum theory. Before humankind discovered any of these, it suffered, to varying degrees, in misery and ignorance.

  L. Neil Smith

  Real, Ignorance, Self

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• If a man has the right to self-ownership, to the control of his life, then in the real world he must also have the right to sustain his life by grappling with and transforming resources; he must be able to own the ground and the resources on which he stands and which he must use. In short, to sustain his human right.

  Murray Rothbard

  Real, Men, Self

  Murray Newton Rothbard (1978). “For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto”, p.52, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• Most libertarians agree that all rights are, in effect, property rights, beginning with this fundamental right to self-ownership and control of one's own life. As owners of their own lives, individuals are completely free to do absolutely anything they wish with them provided, of course, that it doesn't violate the identical right of others whether the people around them approve of what they do or not.

  L. Neil Smith

  Rights, Self, People

  "What Libertarians Believe, 'Introduction: The Zero Aggression Principle'". The Libertarian Enterprise, www.ncc-1776.org. January 04, 2009.

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• The basis of self-ownership is the fact that each person has direct control over the scarce resource of his body and therefore has a better claim to it than any third party (and any third party seeking to dispute my self-ownership must presuppose the principle of self-ownership in the first place since he is acting as a self-owner).

  Stephan Kinsella

  Party, Self, Acting

  "Stephan Kinsella on the Logic of Libertarianism and Why Intellectual Property Doesn't Exist". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 18, 2012.

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• The libertarian view is that human actors are self-owners and these self-owners are capable of appropriating unowned scarce resources by Lockean homesteading − some type of first use or embordering activity. Obviously, an actor must already own his body if he is to be a homesteader; self-ownership is not acquired by homesteading but rather is presupposed in any act or defense of homesteading.

  Stephan Kinsella

  Self, Views, Defense

  "Stephan Kinsella on the Logic of Libertarianism and Why Intellectual Property Doesn't Exist". Interview with Anthony Wile, www.thedailybell.com. March 18, 2012.

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