Quotes About Accountability

If the dead were truly to come back, what would they come back knowing? Could we face them? We who allowed them to die?

There were, early on, certain aspects of this case that seemed not well handled by the police and prosecutors, and others that seemed not well handled by the press.

I could make promises to myself and to other people and there would be all the time in the world to keep them. I could stay up all night and make mistakes, and none of it would count.

Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.

Nonetheless, character--the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life--is the source from which self-respect springs.

If the dead were truly to come back, what would they come back knowing? Could we face them? We who allowed them to die? The clear light of day tells me that I did not allow John to die, that I did not have that power, but do I believe that? Does he?

It's easy to blame someone else for our failings...

you didn't intend to hit him, but you did hit him and he died as a result. Unfortunately in this case, whenever that happens there are consequences.

But I rather thought--I mean, I heard you'd killed Balder the Fair. I never did, snapped Loki crossly. Well, no one ever proved I did. What happened to the presumption of innocence? Besides, he was supposed to be invulnerable. Was it my fault that he wasn't?

Was it my fault that I got out of hand? --Loki

Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.

Whether or not you believe in Fate comes down to one thing: who do you blame when something goes wrong.

Sometimes we find ourselves walking through life blindfolded, and we try to deny that we're the ones who securely tied the knot.

You can't undo something that's happened; you can't take back a word that's already been said out loud.

When it's all over, you're remembered for what you did, not what you said you were going to do.

A man should live his life a certain way not because of some divine authority, but because of a personal moral obligation to himself and others.

But rules only work when everyone plays by them. What happens when someone doesn't, and the fallout bleeds right into his life? Whats stronger- the need to uphold the law, or the motive to turn one's back on it?

Mistakes are something that happen by accident. You didn't walk out the door one morning and fall into some guy's bed. You thought about it, for a while. You made that choice.

Her hands quieted. Yeah. Because even if the law says that no one is responsible for anyone else, helping someone who needs it is the right thing to do. I sat down beside her, close enough that the skin of her arm hummed right next to mine. You really believe that? She looked down at her lap Yeah. Then how, I asked, can you walk away from me?

An apology with a defense built in isn't much of an apology

I feel like I've been standing underneath an open window, just as a baby gets tossed out. I grab the baby, right, because who wouldn't? But then another baby gets tossed out, so I pass the baby to someone else, and I make the catch. This keeps happening. And before you know it there are a whole bunch of people who are getting really good at passing along babies, just like I'm good at catching them, but no one ever asks who the fuck is throwing the babies out the window in the first place.

Embarrassment isn't a just cause of action.

How does someone go from thinking that if he cannot rescue, he must destroy? And do you blame him, or do you blame the folks who should have told him otherwise?

You know why I think we still execute people? Because, even if we don't want to say it out loud-for the really heinous crimes, we want to know that there's a really heinous punishment. Simple as that. We want to bring society closer together-huddle and circle our wagons-and that means getting rid of people we think are incapable of learning a moral lesson. I guess the question is: Who gets to identify those people? And what if, God forbid, they got it wrong?