Booker T. Washington on responsibility

I have learnt that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.

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)