Quotes About Responsibility

When a man takes an oath... he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then — he needn't hope to find himself again.

When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

The law is not a "light" for you or any man to see by; the law is not an instrument of any kind. ...The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps to it, a citizen may walk safely.

When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water (he cups his hands) and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again. Some men aren't capable of this, but I'd be loathe to think your father one of them.

The trouble with learning to parent on the job is that your child is the teacher.

We have a choice every day — to act on yesterday's good intentions or get an early start on tomorrow's regrets.

A nod, a bow, and a tip of the lid to the person who coulda and shoulda and did.

What you don't realize as a kid is that if your parents are always going to be there for you, they aren't going to be somewhere else doing exciting and glamorous things.

Life is a series of tasks that you absolutely must get done before they don't matter any more.

Life starts out as partly destiny and partly free will, but then you have kids, and it's all destiny.

When there is hell to pay, it is usually cheaper to pay it than to finance an endless purgatory.

You can awaken each day to obligations you never chose — or you can decide now to choose them.

I tell my child, if I seem obsessed to always know where you've been, it is because my DNA will be found at the scene.

There is no daily chore so trivial that it cannot be made important by skipping it two days running.

Parenting is a stage of life's journey where the milestones come about every fifty feet.

Eventually the person who tries to fix the problem will be blamed for causing it.

See yourself always as cause, and perhaps a better world will be found among your effects.

A relationship becomes easier when you realize that you don't have to be the one at fault to be the one who's sorry.

What you must accept as a parent is that you cannot always be there for your child without sometimes ruining everything.

In a dark moment I ask, "How can anyone bring a child into this world?" And the answer rings clear, "Because there is no other world, and because the child has no other way into it."

What if man were required to educate his children without the help of talking animals.

Yes, to be a good parent, you have to sacrifice, but this is not a requirement of parenting, it is a requirement of being good at something.

There comes a morning in life when you wake up a new person; that is to say, you wake up the same person but you realize it's your own fault.

The ultimate folly is to think that something crucial to your welfare is being taken care of for you.