Paulo Coelho on responsibility

To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life.

We must never forget that spiritual experience is above all a practical experience of love. And with love, there are no rules.

Solitude is not the absence of Love, but its complement… Solitude is not the absence of company, but the moment when our soul is free to speak to us and help us decide what to do with our life.

The United States stands at the pinnacle of world power. This is a solemn moment for the American democracy. For with primacy in power is joined an awe-inspiring accountability for the future.

Winston Churchill1874–1965

• America

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let me label you as they may.

Mark Twain1835–1910Papers of the Adam Family (1939), Part VI: “Two Fragments from a Suppressed Book Called ‘Glances at History’ or ‘Outlines of History’ “

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Colin Powell1937–2021The Powell Principles (2003)