“It’s a question of discipline,” the little prince told me later on. “When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet”.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Responsibility: A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one’s neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfect, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path, if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments.
—Aung San Suu Kyi (b.1945) Burmese Politician, Human Rights Activist
Rich people…take responsibility for the results in their lives and act upon the mind-set “It will work because I’ll make it work”.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
The mould of a man’s fortune is in his own hands.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.
—Les Brown
The burden one likes is cheerfully carried.
—Common Proverb
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have ? life itself.
—Walter Anderson
I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character-not wealth or power or position-is of supreme worth. I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
Responsibility always exceeds authority
—Unknown
The price of greatness is responsibility.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
A successful person realizes his personal responsibility for self-motivation. He starts with himself because he possesses the key to his own ignition switch.
—Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003) American Entrepreneur, Hotelier
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Debt is a trap which man sets and baits himself, and then deliberately gets into.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.
—Joan Didion (1934–2021) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
Accept the consequences of your actions in order to become the agent of your mental, physical, spiritual and material success.
—Les Brown
We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.
—Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) American Poet , Writer
Provision for others is a fundamental responsibility of human life.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Almost all unhappiness in life comes from the tendency to blame someone else.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
The assurance that this is a state of probation, should give vigor to virtue and solemnity to truth. Every hour assumes a fearful responsibility when we view it as the culturer of an immortal harvest.
—Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865) American Poetaster, Author
Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility … In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have … is the ability to take on responsibility.
—Michael Korda (b.1933) English-born Writer, Novelist
Taking responsibility means not blaming yourself… Anything that takes away your power or your pleasure makes you a victim. Don’t make yourself a victim of yourself!
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
God hath entrusted me with myself.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for “finding himself.” If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
Love yourself and watch –
Today, tomorrow, always.
To straighten the crooked
You must first do a harder thing –
Straighten yourself.
—Buddhist Teaching
It is tempting at one level to believe that bad things happen to people (especially other people) because God is a righteous judge who gives them exactly what they deserve. By believing that we keep the world orderly and understandable…. But [this belief] has a number of serious limitations…. It teaches people to blame themselves. It creates guilt when there is no basis for guilt. And most disturbing of all, it does not even fit the facts.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
True revolutionaries are like God—they create the world in their own image. Our awesome responsibility to ourselves, to our children, and to the future is to create ourselves in the image of goodness, because the future depends on the nobility of our imaginings.
—Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) American Journalist, Essayist, Memoirist, Travel Writer
The most important thought I ever had was that of my individual responsibility to God.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
The reason people blame things on the previous generations is that there’s only one other choice.
—Doug Larson (1926–2017) American Columnist
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Self-responsibility is the core quality of the fully mature, fully functioning, self-actualizing individual.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
It is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of action.
—Stanley Milgram (1933–84) American Social Psychologist
Responsibility is a tremendous engine in a free government
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Be more aware of responsibility than you are of your rights.
—Unknown
Look at the word responsibility—“response-ability”—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Accountability breeds response-ability.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Good men prefer to be accountable.
—Michael Edwardes (1930–2019) South African-British Business Executive
No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself, and no one else, has made it.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
What fate can be worse than to know we have no one but ourselves to blame for our misfortunes.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Let there be no doubt: as long as you continue to blame others instead of assuming your responsibilities, you will make no meaningful and enduring change for the better. What kind of people are we, if we don’t have the character to own up to our own shortcomings and responsibilities? To have and enjoy certain liberties requires us to hold each other and ourselves accountable for our actions.
—Gary Ryan Blair
Why do children want to grow up? Because they experience their lives as constrained by immaturity and perceive adulthood as a condition of greater freedom and opportunity. But what is there today, in America, that very poor and very rich adolescents want to do but cannot do? Not much: they can “do” drugs, “have” sex, “make” babies, and “get” money (from their parents, crime, or the State). For such adolescents, adulthood becomes synonymous with responsibility rather than liberty. Is it any surprise that they remain adolescents?
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst