# Quotes about responsibility - Quotes: 18 - Authors: 10 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility ## Quotes > All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder of society. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > The woods are lovely, dark and deep, > > But I have promises to keep, > > And miles to go before I sleep, > > And miles to go before I sleep. [Robert Frost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost.md) · [New Hampshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire/the-woods-are.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md), [perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance.md) > I wish that the people who sing about the deeds of heroes would think about the people who have to clear up after them. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [The Carpet People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people/i-wish-that.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > He is energetic only in evading responsibility. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/he-is-energetic.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > “How does it concern you people? It’s our problem. We’ll solve it. If not, it’s our own particular road to hell.” > > “Better your own road to hell than another’s road to heaven, eh?” [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Caves of Steel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel.md) · p. 90 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel/how-does-it-concern.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > “You’re a gang of robbers,” he said once. “You’re seeing how quickly you can loot this planet of its resources, and you don’t give a damn about the next generation.” > > “And what,” answered McKenzie, not very originally, “has the next generation ever done for us?” [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 620 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/youre-a-gang.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > Grove was inclined to allow the request. “I can’t see how we can be harmed by allowing the destruction of what I don’t understand anyhow,” he said dryly. “And besides—you say it is your duty, Warrant Officer. I respect that. Time and space may flow like toffee, but duty endures.” [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Time's Eye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye.md) · p. 61 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye/grove-was-inclined.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > Decision Points is based primarily on my recollections. With help from researchers, I have confirmed my account with government documents, contemporaneous notes, personal interviews, news reports, and other sources, some of which remain classified. There were instances in which I had to rely on memory alone. If there are inaccuracies in this book, the responsibility is mine. In the pages that follow, I have done my best to write about the decisions I got right, those I got wrong, and what I would do differently if given the chance. Of course, in the presidency, there are no do-overs. You have to do what you believe is right and accept the consequences. I tried to do that every day of my eight years in office. Serving as president was the honor of a lifetime, and I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to share my story. [George W. Bush](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush.md) · [Decision Points](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points/decision-points-is-based.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md), [choices](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/choices.md) > From the beginning, I knew the public reaction to my decisions would be colored by whether there was another attack. If none happened, whatever I did would probably look like an overreaction. If we were attacked again, people would demand to know why I hadn't done more. That is the nature of the presidency. Perceptions are shaped by the clarity of hindsight. In the moment of decision, you don't have that advantage. On 9/11, I vowed that I would do what it took to protect America, within the Constitution and laws of our nation. History can debate the decisions I made, the policies I chose, and the tools I left behind. But there can be no debate about one fact: After the nightmare of September 11, America went seven and a half years without another successful terrorist attack on our soil. If I had to summarize my most meaningful accomplishment as president in one sentence, that would be it. [George W. Bush](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush.md) · [Decision Points](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points.md) · p. 181 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points/from-the-beginning.md) Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md), [choices](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/choices.md) > The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [Resistance, Rebellion, and Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death/the-aim-of-art.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > When the throne of God is overturned, the rebel realizes that it is now his own responsibility to create the justice, order, and unity that he sought in vain within his own condition, and in this way to justify the fall of God. Then begins the desperate effort to create, at the price of crime and murder if necessary, the dominion of man. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/when-the-throne.md) Topics: [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > Yes, there was an element of abstraction and unreality in misfortune. But when an abstraction starts to kill you, you have to get to work on it. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/yes-there-was.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > There lay certitude; there, in the daily round. All the rest hung on mere threads and trivial contingencies; you couldn't waste your time on it. The thing was to do your job as it should be done. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/there-lay-certitude.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade, and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both. What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them. There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it. Civil Disobedience Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > A man has not everything to do, but something; and because he cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he should do something wrong. Civil Disobedience Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. Civil Disobedience Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > As a Consumer . . . Sign up for a green pricing program with your electric utility. . . . Reduce your home's emissions. . . . Buy an electric vehicle. . . . Try a plant-based burger. [Bill Gates](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-gates.md) · [How to Avoid a Climate Disaster](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-gates/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-gates/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster/as-a-consumer.md) Topics: [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > Like the mariner in the old story, the winds and streams had driven him within the influence of the Loadstone Rock, and it was drawing him to itself, and he must go. Everything that arose before his mind drifted him on, faster and faster, more and more steadily, to the terrible attraction. His latent uneasiness had been, that bad aims were being worked out in his own unhappy land by bad instruments, and that he who could not fail to know that he was better than they, was not there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of mercy and humanity. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/like-the-mariner.md) Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md)