Quotes About Responsibility

Trouble comes to those who bring it upon themselves, her mother used to say

I keep telling him that whatever secrets I contain are nothing compared to the average German's secrets. Just what was that smell carried south from Sachsenhausen into the village? Somebody had a father, mother, sister, brother who looked the other way. What are my secrets as against theirs?

Verily I say unto you," Stuart said, looking Cyril straight in the eye and folding his arms, "that if you do not mind your sister Millie, you will be smitten both hip and thigh

War happens to people, one by one. That is really all I have to say and it seems to me I have been saying it forever. Unless they are immediate victims, the majority of mankind behaves as if war was an act of God which could not be prevented; or they behave as if war elsewhere was none of their business. It would be a bitter cosmic joke if we destroy ourselves due to atrophy of the imagination.

Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it

No wars, in the war-logged record of our species, have been terminal. Until now, when we know that nuclear war would be the death of our planet. It is beyond belief that any governments–those brief political figures–arrogate to themselves the right to stop history, at their discretion.

Politics really must be a rotten profession considering what awful moral cowards most politicians become as soon as they get the job.

As citizens, I think we all have an exhausting duty to now what our governments are up to, and it is cowardice or laziness to ask: what can I do about it anyway? Every squeak counts, if only in self-respect.

Someday our children, whom we love, may blame us for dishonoring America because we did not care enough about children 10,000 miles away [written, 1967].

In democracies where the citizens may read, hear or say what they like, the leaders are no better and no worse than the followers. So perhaps, if we cannot blame the leaders because the job of peacemaking is a sorry mess, we can only blame ourselves.

It is an almost overpowering effort to be just, informed, sane and strong when you are worried about a roof over your head, money for food, for the children's shoes, for coal, for a little fun, worried and harassed by the daily unending problem of living. But it is an effort that must be made, for lasting peace is not going to come of itself, nor cheaply, nor due to someone else.

Change must begin with the parent. In Deuteronomy 6:6, God tells parents, "these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." Our children need to see in our own lives daily what we want to see in theirs.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Eph. 6:4)

children have two basic biblical responsibilities: (1) to obey their parents, and (2) to honor their parents.

Before I was a mom I used to think that parents who worried about their kids watching MTV were just clueless. Now that I'm a mom, I see what the fuss was all about!

Lead singers not only do the majority of the work, but their personalities are singled out and taken as the general attitude of the unit.

Do not make the mistake of treating your dogs like humans or they will treat you like dogs.

In most states, on the day that a child in foster care turns eighteen, these supports largely disappear. The people who once attended to that child's needs are now either unable or unwilling to continue; a new case demands their time, a new child requires the bed.

As with all my new pets, I gently bit each kitten on the face. This is how I let my animals know that I am now their mother.

Unless under the spell of a psychotic delusion, extreme rage, inescapable deprivation, drugs, or a destructive authority figure, a person who is conscience-bound does not—in some sense he cannot—kill or rape in cold blood, torture another person, steal someone's life savings, trick someone into a loveless relationship as sport, or willfully abandon his own child. Could you?

Surprisingly, even twenty-first-century society relies rather heavily on the honor system, and when we encounter an individual who simply is not bound by honor, conscience, or connection, we may find ourselves in big trouble.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. —Thomas Jefferson

A substantial proportion of people will do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority." Milgram believed that authority could put conscience to sleep because the obedient person makes an "adjustment of thought," which is to see himself as not responsible for his own actions.

Albert Einstein once said, "The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.