Responsibility quotes
5.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside responsibility — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"I feel that adolescence has served its purpose when a person arrives at adulthood with a strong sense of self-esteem, the ability to relate intimately, to communicate congruently, to take responsibility, and to take risks. The end of adolescence is the beginning of adulthood. What hasn't been finished then will have to be finished later."
"My dad, like any coach, has always stressed the fundamentals. He taught me responsibility, accountability, and the importance of hard work."
"Those who, relying upon themselves only, not looking for assistance to anyone besides themselves, it is they who will reach the top-most height."
"I have such an extreme attitude about work, where I can just completely be derelict of my responsibilities and then when I am not derelict, I am completely indulged in it. I swing pretty wildly from the two extremes."
"To live a life of honesty and integrity is a responsibility of every decent person."
"Third, and finally, the educated citizen has an obligation to uphold the law. This is the obligation of every citizen in a free and peaceful society--but the educated citizen has a special responsibility by the virtue of his greater understanding. For whether he has ever studied history or current events, ethics or civics, the rules of a profession or the tools of a trade, he knows that only a respect for the law makes it possible for free men to dwell together in peace and progress."
"We are afraid that our adult sexuality will somehow damage our kids, that it’s inappropriate or dangerous. But whom are we protecting? Children who see their primary caregivers at ease expressing their affection (discreetly, within appropriate boundaries) are more likely to embrace sexuality with the healthy combination of respect, responsibility, and curiosity it deserves. By censoring our sexuality, curbing our desires, or renouncing them altogether, we hand our inhibitions intact to the next generation."
"Life is not accountable to us. We are accountable to life."
"Creating a strong business and building a better world are not conflicting goals - they are both essential ingredients for long-term success"
"I'm just as guilty for not doing anything as I am for doing things. Not with case (the 1994 sexual abuse conviction), but just my life. I was so scared of this responsibility that I was running away from it. But I see now that whether I show up for work or not, the evil forces are going to be at me. They're going to come 100 percent."
"There are many ways to cover up our sin. We may justify or minimize it by blaming circumstances and others people. However, real repentance first admits sin as sin and takes full responsibility. True confession and repentance begins when blame shifting ends...Just as real repentance begins only where blame shifting ends, so it also begins where self-pity ends, and we start to turn from our sin out of love for God rather than mere self-interest."
"I make all my own decisions and I take full responsibility."
"The term "intellectual" is used conventionally to refer to people who happen to have unusual opportunities in this regard, and as always, opportunity confers moral responsibility."
"Part of being a man is learning to take responsibility for your successes, and for your failures. You can't go blaming others, or being jealous. Seeing somebody else's success as your failure is a cancerous way to live."
"An excuse is a lie guarded."
"It is my firm belief that I have a link with the past and a responsibility to the future. I cannot give up. I cannot despair. There's a whole future, generations to come. I have to keep trying."
"If human life is to survive on this planet, the old dualistic worldview, with people on one side and the environment on the other, must yield to a new vision that connects us with everything else and leads us to care for and take responsibility for it."
"Other human beings have a right to peace and happiness that is equal to our own; therefore we have a responsibility to help those in need."
"As a nuclear power - as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon - the United States has a moral responsibility to act."
"Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility."
