Quotes About Responsibility

There's one good thing about being in the bomb disposal unit: No superior officer is ever looking over your shoulder.

The challenge is to maintain a high-level, broad perspective, understand enough details to make sensible and executable decisions, and then delegate responsibility for implementation. "Microknowledge" must not become micromanagement, but it sure helps keep people on their toes when they know that the secretary knows what the hell he's talking about. If the secretary of defense doesn't

we had pulled a bait and switch on the National Guard and Reserves—most men and women had joined the Guard in particular expecting to go to monthly training sessions and summer training camp, and to be called up for natural disasters or a national crisis; instead, they had become an operational force, deploying for a year or more to join an active and dangerous fight and potentially deploying more than once.

A leader, or those who aspire to that role, regardless of whether in the public or the private sector, must have integrity.

A leader must be friendly, approachable, and accessible but ought not to allow too much familiarity. After all, he's still the boss. It may sound stuffy, but a leader has to maintain his dignity, another old-fashioned notion. He must be cautious about the activities he agrees to join.

We've got to get rid of the mentality that if there are no holes in you, then you're ready for duty.

One lesson from Syria is that American presidents should not call for another leader, however odious, to relinquish power without a plan for, or some prospect of, making that happen. It severely limits political and diplomatic options.

I will do my duty, but I can't wait to lay down this burden.

It was one thing for the country and much of the executive branch of government not to feel involved in the war, but for the DoD—the "department of war"—that was unacceptable.

I have always believed that firing someone or asking for a resignation should be carried out face-to-face by the one making the decision. (The only two presidents I had worked for who were willing to do this were Ford and Carter.)

Presidents and Congress expect senior military leaders to provide their personal and professional military opinions candidly and honestly. There is no requirement for them to do so through the news

As I look back, there is a parallel theme to my four and a half years at war: love. By that I mean the love—there is no other word for it—I came to feel for the troops, and the overwhelming sense of personal responsibility I developed for them.

Never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricane he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that, once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." I

Never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricane he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that, once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

A fourth was that in matters of national security, Congress absolutely hates to challenge the president directly in a way that would saddle them with clear and full responsibility if things went to hell.

Dad? What? A small bird rises from a tree in front of us. What should I be when I grow up? The bird disappears over a far ridge. I don't know what to say. Honest, I finally say.

My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of the world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and that's all.

Can I have a motorcycle when I get old enough? If you take care of it. What do you have to do? Lot's of things. You've been watching me. Will you show me all of them? Sure. Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitudes. It's having the right attitudes that's hard. Oh. After a while I see he is sitting down again. Then he says, Dad? What? Will I have the right attitudes? I think so, I say. I don't think that will be any problem at all.

Dad?" "What?" A small bird rises from a tree in front of us. "What should I be when I grow up?" The bird disappears over a far ridge. I don't know what to say. "Honest," I finally say.

Peace of mind isn't at all superficial to technical work. It's the whole thing. That which produces it is good work and that which destroys it is bad work. The specs, the measuring instruments, the quality control, the final check-out, these are all means toward the end of satisfying the peace of mind of those responsible for the work. What really counts in the end is their peace of mind, nothing else.

Can I have a motorcycle when I get old enough? If you take care of it. What do you have to do? Lot's of things. You've been watching me. Will you show me all of them? Sure. Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitudes. It's having the right attitudes that's hard.

A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who's bound to have some characteristic of quality.

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there. Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle.

The student's biggest problem was a slave mentality which had been built into him by years of carrot-and-whip grading, a mule mentality which said, "If you don't whip me, I won't work." He didn't get whipped. He didn't work. And the cart of civilization, which he supposedly was being trained to pull, was just going to have to creak along a little slower without him.