Quotes About Responsibility

Everybody in a village had a role to play in bringing up a child—and cherishing it—and in return that child would in due course feel responsible for everybody in that village. That is what makes life in society possible. We must love one another and help one another in our daily lives. That was the traditional African way and there was no substitute for it. None.

If we were all responsible for the misdeeds of the governments that represent us, thought Isabel, then the moral burden would be just too great.

If you punish somebody harshly, she said, then you are simply inflicting more pain on the world. You are also punishing not only that person, but his family and the people who love him. You are punishing yourself, really, because we are all brothers and sisters in this world, whether we know it or not; we are all citizens of the same village.

Mma Makutsi pondered this. Why are there fewer and fewer gentlemen, Mma Ramotswe? It is our fault, Mma. It is the fault of ladies. Why is that? Because we have allowed men to stop behaving as gentlemen, and when you allow people to do what they wish, then that is what they do. They stop doing the things they need to do. She looked at Mma Makutsi across the steering wheel. That is well known, I think, Mma. That is well known.

People who do that sort of thing may reap what they sow, but they also destroy the harvest of those who are around them.

If you did not keep your yard in reasonable order, then your whole life would be similarly untidy. A messy yard told Mma Ramotswe everything she needed to know about its owner.

Doctors are allowed to tell us things which they might not do themselves. They know what the right thing is, but they may not be able to do it themselves. That does not mean that their advice is bad advice.

When you allow people to do what they wish, then that is what they do. They stop doing the things they need to do.

And then the second thing you have to do is go and see your son. That is a duty of love, Andrew. It's as simple as that. A duty of love. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?

The trouble with this country...is that we are utterly surrounded by busybodies trying to stop us doing things. Or telling us what to do...Big Brother, with his ubiquitous closed-circuit cameras-which now monitored, it seemed, every square inch of public space-and his condescending imprecations and warnings, was everywhere...In his view, it was up to the individual whether or not to approach a cliff edge; it was not the Government's business.

The trouble with the world today, she thought, was that people were not prepared to stand up to bad behaviour.

Do not complain about your life. Do not blame others for things that you have brought upon yourself. Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.

Of course you could not allow yourself to think too much about these issues. One had to get on and to attend to the day-to-day business of living.

Leave them," said Isabel. "Jamie can iron them himself. It's very therapeutic for men to iron. Therapeutic for women, that is.

the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.

Is it hard to raise an elephant?" It was some minutes before anybody answered. But then Debra said, "I don't think so, Mma. It's not hard to do anything if you do it with love.

Putting Mr. Polopetsi in charge of the investigation is like putting a rabbit in charge of the airport.

We are the ones who first ploughed the earth when Modise (God) made it," ran an old Setswana poem. "We were the ones who made the food. We are the ones who look after the men when they are little boys, when they are young men, and when they are old and about to die. We are always there. But we are just women, and nobody sees us.

It shall be an offence for any man, either a husband or other person of the male sex, married or otherwise, being over the age of twelve years, to throw any item of clothing having been worn by the said person for whatever length of time, upon the floor of any bathroom or any room adjacent to and connected to a bathroom, without good cause.

We live in a culture of complaint because everyone is always looking for things to complain about. It's all tied in with the desire to blame others for misfortunes and to get some form of compensation into the bargain.

The trouble with having a conscience, she said to herself, is that it never sleeps.

She could turn away and say that they had nothing to do with her, or she could accept that they had somehow touched her skirt. ...we all had a skirt, and those who touched our skirt became our concern.

You can't condemn the present for the wrongs of the past.

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni warmed to the theme. "And you could have yet another list," he said. "Things that other people should do, but don't seem to be doing." Mma Ramotswe thought for a while. "That could be a very long list," she said. "There are many people who do not do what they should be doing.