Quotes About Responsibility

Evil is done by the living.

What should I be doing right now?" is a question that feels more urgent than ever.

As a parent, you do have to constantly remind yourself that you are not a god, molding a human in your own image. You are merely supporting whatever your child chooses to become, even if those choices don't always thrill you.

But we weren't married yet, so he still thought he could do whatever he wanted.

one of my biggest illusions was that other people were meant to assuage my anxiety by filling some lack that I was responsible for filling myself. If I wanted to give, the giving had to be "for fun and for free." The giving couldn't be out of guilt, nor because I secretly wanted to get something back, nor because I wanted the other person to respond in such a way as to satisfy my longing to be useful. Thérèse

Was he really meant to give up his own life to care for her every hour of the day? Had he really signed up for that?

Distant shareholders have no understanding of the damage caused by their investments.

it feels as if this big tree must have a direct connection to whoever is in charge.

The Franklin didn't only belong to Tasmanians. Nor our forests. They belonged to the world. We were custodians.

He explained that ethics are the principles or rules for how we act in the world... 'The thing is, it doesn't matter whether or not (she) had it coming... What does matter is your behavior, not hers. Your ethics, not hers. The way you conduct yourself, not the way she conducts herself... We all must learn to act, not react.

Promise little and do much.

In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. —Mary Poppins

Everybody has to look at his or her own footprint and do the best they can. It's not about being perfect, it's about doing something. If we're looking for perfection, we'll never, ever get there.

She wasn't sure that parenting ever qualified as brave. Or maybe it always did. Because it's not like you got a choice.

Parenthood is like that...the harder the choice, the less likely any of the options are good ones

You never have enough information. You don't get to see the future. And if you screw up, if with your incomplete, contradictory information you make the wrong call, well, nothing less than your child's entire future and happiness is at stake. It's impossible. It's heartbreaking. It's maddening. But there's no alternative.

Parenthood is like that." She tried to be doctorly. "The harder the choice, the less likely any of the options are good ones.

Parent time is like fairy time but real. It is magic without pixie dust and spells. It defies physics without bending the laws of time and space.

that was how Penn lost the argument regardless because of course you could uproot a whole family of seven for the needs of just one of them because that's what family means.

tiny human whose fate and future is entirely in your hands, who trusts you to know what's good and right and then to be able to make that happen. You never have enough information. You don't get to see the future. And if you screw up, if with your incomplete, contradictory information you make the wrong call, well, nothing less

Rosie appreciated the support but wasn't sure parenting ever really qualified as brave—or maybe it always did—because it's not like you had a choice.

He could say it,' Roo explained, and his mother was surprised to hear his voice, 'and it wouldn't matter. For just a minute, it was like we didn't all have to be carrying around this crazy secret.' Rosie and Penn found themselves looking at Ben as if he were the one who could tell them whether all this was true or just boyish bullshittery. 'Secrets are heavy things,' he said, absolving neither his brothers nor his parents.

planet when Americans and Europeans cleaned up their towns and cities in the postindustrial era. And they certainly won't become extinct simply because human beings choose to ignore their existence.

To my students, I say this: one day each of you will be confronted by a decision that requires you to put the needs of the land above your own need to be right. Until you can accept that humiliation, you cannot be a Truthken.