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Quotes about responsibility

87 quotes from 73 people

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The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936 “Debate on the Address”
- Change
Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves, but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.
Carl Sagan1934–1996Who Speaks for Earth? [Episode 13], 54 min 25 sec
- Nature
The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not to dominate the world.
Harry S. Truman1884–1972Address to Congress (April 16, 1945)
- Power
It is the fundamental duty of the citizen to resist and to restrain the violence of the state.
Noam Chomskyborn 1928Foreword to John Duffett (ed.), Against the Crime of Silence: Proceedings of the International War Crimes Tribunal (1970), p. xxiv
- Government
In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
Paulo Coelhoborn 1947Eleven Minutes (2003), p. 97.
- Love
One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on.
POP. J. O'Rourke1947–2022Rolling Stone (30 November 1989)
Care and responsibility are constituent elements of love, but without respect for and knowledge of the beloved person, love deteriorates into domination and possessiveness.
Erich Fromm1900–1980Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3
- Love
If you have an opportunity to accomplish something that will make things better for someone coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.
Roberto Clemente1934–1972Tris Speaker Award acceptance speech, Houston (29 January 1971), as quoted in The Sporting News (20 February 1971)
- Motivation & Goals
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
Marshall McLuhan1911–1980Lecture “Living in an Acoustic World”, University of South Florida (1970)
- Nature
It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.
Peter Ustinov1921–2004BBC obituary (2004)
You must intervene. You must interfere. And that is actually the motto of human rights.
Elie Wiesel1928–2016Commencement ceremony (Class of 2011) at Washington University in St. Louis.
- Justice
Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.
Audre Lorde1934–1992Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984), “Learning from the 60s”
- Change
We had all become used to the totalitarian system and accepted it as an unchangeable fact and thus helped to perpetuate it.
Václav Havel1936–2011New Year’s Address to the Nation (1990)
- Government
We create our own destiny by the way we do things. We have to take advantage of opportunities and be responsible for our choices.
Ben Carsonborn 1951Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (1990), p. 63
- Motivation & Goals
Civil courage, in fact, can grow only out of the free responsibility of free men.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945“After Ten Years” (Christmas 1942), in Letters and Papers from Prison
- Courage
- Freedom