Quotes About Accountability

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. —Henry Ford

What gets measured gets done.

In the Macintosh Division, you had to prove yourself every day, or Jobs got rid of you. He demanded excellence and kept you at the top of your game. It wasn't easy to work for him; it was sometimes unpleasant and always scary, but it drove many of us to do the finest work of our careers. I wouldn't trade working for him for any job I've ever had—and I don't know anyone in the Macintosh Division who would.

Take responsibility for your fate. You still may not succeed, but at least you'll try.

you can't just let people down, dammit.

As citizens, we must prevent wrongdoing because the world in which we all live, wrong-doer, wrong sufferer and spectator, is at stake.

Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever, not unlike the sorcerer's apprentice who lacked the formula to break the spell.

Today we ought to add to these terms the latest and perhaps most formidable form of such dominion, bureaucracy or the rule by an intricate system of bureaux in which no men, neither one nor the best, neither the few nor the many can be held responsible and which could be properly called the rule by Nobody.

and if he suffers, he must suffer for what he has done, not for what he has caused others to suffer.

The argument that we cannot judge if we were not present and involved ourselves seems to convince everyone everywhere, although it seems obvious that if it were true, neither the administration of justice nor the writing of history would ever be possible.

si personne ne peut rendre la justice, c'est que tout le monde est coupable.

Ce n'est ni une question d'intelligence ou de stupidité. Celui qui ne connaît pas le dialogue avec lui-même ne verra aucune difficulté à se contredire luimême, ce qui signifie qu'il ne sera jamais capable de – ni ne voudra - rendre compte de ce qu'il a dit ou fait ; il ne pourra non plus s'inquiéter de commettre quelque crime puisqu'il peut être sûr qu'aussitôt il l'oubliera

Either the victors must judge the vanquished or we must leave the defeated to judge themselves. (Robert H. Jackson, Justice at Nuremberg)

Wo alle schuldig sind, ist es keiner; gegen die Entdeckung der wirklich Schuldigen und Verantwortlichen, die Mißstände abstellen könnten, gibt es keinen besseren Schutz als kollektive Schuldbekenntnisse

Qui si devono giudicare le sue azioni, non le sofferenze degli ebrei, non il popolo tedesco o l'umanità, e neppure l'antisemitismo e il razzismo

Eichmann said about this episode in his last statement: "Nobody," he repeated, "came to me and reproached me for anything in the performance of my duties. Not even Pastor Grüber claims to have done so.

I looked for a man among them who would … stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none" (Ezek. 22:30).

the cardinal rule: You never have to take back words you don't say.

Man may be evil or good, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that man rarely considered the consequences of his actions.

So even if I didn't wield the weapon that smashed my son's beautiful being into the mangled mess I found on that awful night five years ago, I didn't stop it either. I didn't do my job as his father. I didn't protect him. Guilty or not guilty of the actual murder, it is my fault and thus my sentence to serve.

I have made it totally clear to the players that my door will always be open.

We are totally open kimono with regulators.

You always hear about delegation, but people make the mistake of delegating and not following up. I give authority, but I stay in touch. Otherwise it doesn't work.

I feel responsibility for a lot of things that I manage to touch.