Quotes About Responsibility

Few rich men own their property. The property owns them.

Leadership that is not well-grounded in followership—following Jesus—is dangerous to both the church and the world.41

His point is that we are what we think, and our lives run in the direction of our thoughts. If we think angry thoughts, we'll be angry; if we think positive thoughts, we'll be positive; if we think negative thoughts, we'll be negative. The mind is a garden, and we have to cultivate it, and we are responsible for the kind of seed we sow into the furrows of our mind.

Is your place a small place? Tend it with care!— He set you there. Is your place a large place? Guard it with care!— He set you there. Whate'er your place, it is Not yours alone, but His Who set you there. —John Oxenham1

I had rather get ten men to work than to do the work of ten men. —D. L. Moody2

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. – Romans 14:7

I can't ever let the actions of other people cause me to sin.

Our ability to influence the world is directly proportional to our knack for managing our own lives

If you're over twenty-one, you are certainly aware that one of the most commonly used intimidation ploys is to make a person feel guilty for concentrating too much on his own well-being.

Scientists aren't responsible for the facts that are in nature. It's their job to find the facts. There's no sin connected with it—no morals. If anyone should have a sense of sin, it's God. He put the facts there. —Percy Bridgman

It is the difference: we generalize do not. Specific bad humans did specific bad things; those humans do we not like. But the rest of humanity we judge one by one.

did miss with the first shot, I'd be able to get off at least three shots before you get more than four hundred yards out on your horse," Jess replied bluntly. "What if you miss with all three shots?" Jess finally put the cartridge back into his front pocket. "I'd feel bad about it, but

The most feared situation is to end up inadvertently in the wrong place at the wrong time and get blamed. Yet this is exactly what happens in a structure that systematically diffuses responsibility. It is because managers fear blame-time that they diffuse responsibility; however such a diffusion inevitably means that someone, somewhere is going to become a scapegoat when things go wrong.

I accept all of the responsibility, but none of the blame. - Nixon

When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children, in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected to move again only you don't remember what moves you because no one has asked in so long. Not even yourself.

The world does not need white people to civilize others. The real White People's Burden is to civilize ourselves.

Mainstream politicians will continue to protect existing systems of power, corporate executives will continue to maximize profit without concern, and the majority of people will continue to avoid these questions. It's the job of people with critical sensibilities—those who consistently speak out for justice and sustainability, even when it's difficult—not to back away just because the world has grown more ominous.

Those four effects described above—shaping a male-dominant view of sexuality, initiating victims, contributing to difficulty in separating sexual fantasy and reality, and providing a training manual for abusers—are at work just as much with men who have not engaged in activities that meet the legal definition of rape. Here we have to let go of a comforting illusion—that there is some clear line between men who rape and men who don't, between the bad guys and the good guys.

As long as there are only 3 to 4 people on the floor, the country is in good hands. It's only when you have 50 to 60 in the Senate that you want to be concerned.

The atomic scientists had become important people. That was their first discovery when they returned from their laboratories to the world at large. "Before the war we were supposed to be completely ignorant of the world and inexperienced in its ways. But now we are regarded as the ultimate authorities on all possible subjects, from nylon stockings to the best for of international organisation.

Trustees have the obligation to oversee the use of power in order to check its corrupting influence on those to whom it is entrusted, and to assure that those affected by its use are positively helped and are not harmed.

Trustees are accountable to all parties at interest for the best possible performance of the institution in the service of the needs of all constituencies—including society at large.

Create Dangerously." And, as I ponder the fusing of servant and leader, it seems a dangerous creation: dangerous for the natural servant to become a leader, dangerous for the leader to be servant first, and dangerous for a follower to insist on being led by a servant.

W. Edwards Deming—that arguably, over 90 percent of problems are due to bad systems, not bad people. However, Greenleaf correctly points out that people are the programmers.