Quotes About Responsibility

How strange it is to realize now that although I was frightened of the emptiness between us, that emptiness was not his fault but mine: I was waiting to see what he would give me, how he would entertain me. And yet I was incapable of being profoundly interested in him or, maybe, in anyone. Just the reverse of what I thought at the time, when it seemed so simple: he was too callow, or too cautious, or just too young, not complex enough yet, and so he did not entertain me, and it was his fault.

I said I would write one letter every day after the mail came. But I did not do that for long. I did not answer most of the letters that came to me. I would plan to walk south in the early part of the afternoon, so as to get a little sun on my face. But I did not do that for long. Although I liked the idea of a rigid order, and seemed to believe that a thing would have more value if it was part of an order, I quickly became tired of the order.

as long as I felt I had to take some action, I was anguished, and when I gave up all responsibility and stopped trying to do anything at all, I was relatively at peace, even though the earth meanwhile was circling so far below us and we were so high up in a defective airplane that would have trouble landing.

It should be so simple. You do what you can while he is awake, and then once he is asleep, you do what you can only when he is asleep, beginning with the most important thing. But it is not so simple.

You, mother, are not responsible to set the whole world right; you are responsible only to make one pure, sacred, and divine household.

It is a poor sort of fatalism which makes men fold their hands and wait for fortune.

We made our own fish-lines, twisting and double-twisting and triple-twisting the silk, ganged on the hooks, bought the long bamboo poles and cut them up, and out of them made our own jointed fishing-rods. We always cleaned our fish ourselves. It was the law of the sport that our fun should not make work for others which we ourselves could do.

The qualities that get a man into power are not those that lead him, once established, to use power wisely.

We did not choose to be the guardians of the gate, but there is no one else.

A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he's going to get sick on it.

When things haven't gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.

All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.

We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

This is not Johnson's war. This is America's war. If I drop dead tomorrow, this war will still be with you.

I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

Freedom is not enough.

If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.

A compassionate government keeps faith with the trust of the people and cherishes the future of their children.

All that Hubert needs over there is a gal to answer the phone and a pencil with an eraser on it.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

Jack was out kissing babies while I was out passing bills. Someone had to tend the store.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for good.