Quotes About Responsibility

I feel like I owe it to the readers to try to pull back the veil and give them the honest version of what's going on. But it's not more fun. If Obama, as he does sometimes already, gets a little snippy with me about something I've written, you're thinking, 'Oh God, the president of the United States is already annoyed with me.'

I don't know... part of, I suppose, my way out of everything, has been really taking care of myself. I think that comes from an awareness that my children really need me, and they need me to be the healthiest version of myself that I can possibly be.

In 2008, while the film version of my book 'Choke' was coming to market, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. That meant that I had to appear in public to promote a comedy about a son trying to save his dying mother - the plot of Choke - while privately I was caring for my own dying mother. It was torture.

John Howard, willing to apologise to home owners for rising interest rates, would not say sorry to Aborigines. He refused to condone what he referred to as 'a black armband version' of history, preferring a jingoistic nationalism.

People try not to think about what's going on in sub-Saharan Africa. They edit it out of their daily lives. Especially Americans. We prefer a fantasy version of Africa.

What actor doesn't want to walk around a set and be called 'Mr. President?' Playing POTUS is a kind of rite of passage among American actors - our version of playing Hamlet.

I try not to get too rattled about things that aren't that important - there's a different outburst for when the kids are reaching for a knife in the kitchen versus the reaction I have when they just won't stop talking. And my wife and I have mellowed out as we've gone along.

If you botch a handoff or stutter step in a relay, then your team has to make up that lost time. It's always you versus the clock.

I think I'm a disciplined mom versus a strict mom. But also, that job - the disciplining was from birth until about 12, and at 12, I set my kids free, and they learned to become independent human beings.

I'm a good uncle, but I'm not a great caretaker. I feel oftentimes pretty selfish within the relationships I have with my siblings and, historically, with what I give back versus what I've taken over the years.

I remember feeling proud as I cast my first vote in Chicago in the 1972 presidential election - President Richard Nixon versus Senator George McGovern. Finally, I could participate. There was so much at stake.

I think there's too much emphasis on making sure our corporations are OK versus making sure our people are OK.

There has to be more pressure on entrepreneurs, when they create great value, to give back. I always bank on an entrepreneur to give back and get great results versus giving that same money to the government.

Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.

We only have one life, and it is very precious, and there's a lot we can do, and there's a lot we should do.

Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.

We need to save the Arctic not because of the polar bears, and not because it is the most beautiful place in the world, but because our very survival depends upon it.

I think quotes are very dangerous things.

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.

The thing that motivates me is a very common form of motivation. And that is, with other folks counting on me, it's so easy to be motivated.

My first job is big sister and I take that very seriously.

How accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.