Quotes about responsibility
page 35

“Of course, when you are in office, you have certain responsibilities. But when you are out of office, you also have more freedom to express your ideas.”

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician

Source: "When You Live Next to an Autocracy" in The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/12/china-democracy-mongolia/617391/ (15 December 2020)

Idea, Freedom

“I did not expect that God would act so quickly in my life. Building my relationship with God, I have never envisioned myself as a bishop. To be one is a great privilege and responsibility. From the human perspective, it is a very challenging life.”

Karol Kulczycki (1966) Polish Roman Catholic prelate, working in Australia, who was been bishop of Port Pirie since 2020

Source: Statement from Bishop-Elect Karol Kulczycki SDS https://www.pp.catholic.org.au/__files/d/9824/Statement%20from%20Bishop-Elect%20Karol%20Kulczycki.pdf (1 August 2020)

Life, God

“It is not only others who are to blame for all our evils. Nor will in any circumstances only others shape our destiny. And for the present situation we all bear part of the responsibility in our own way. And especially for the future: our personal, our vocation and our people.”

Franjo Tuđman (1922–1999) Croatian politician, soldier and president

Source: Source https://arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr/11121999/prilozi.htm (1999)

People, Way, Evil, Future

“Many people operate as if there are two separate and equal sources of information—the self and others, where the number of others is irrelevant. The result is a “truly” false-consensus effect in the context of knowing one’s own plus a certain number of others’ responses.”

Robyn Dawes (1936–2010) American psychologist

Source: Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (2001), Chapter 8, “Connecting Ourselves with Others, Without Recourse to a Good Story” (p. 148)

People, Falseness

“Our actions whether good or evil have an ultimate significance and have effects of infinite range and scope. We stand under incalculable responsibility. We must be faithful in little things because there are no little things; we must be faithful in God’s absence because God is never absent.”

Arulselvam Rayappan (1960) Indian prelate

Source: Responsible Servants https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/responsible-servants-arulselvam-rayappan-sermon-on-parable-general-77029 (7 March 2005)

God, Faith, Evil

“[W]hen people talk about climate, I think jobs. Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, April 2021 <br class="br">Source: 22 April 2021 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/22/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-virtual-leaders-summit-on-climate-opening-session/

People, Thinking

“Rather will it be a public of inherently free individuals w'ho can keep an individual purpose, learnt in the fields of intense suffering and experience. Such a public are likely to accept and wield responsibility in respect of their own government and their own religion and education.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XXXV The Opportunity Today

Education, Religion, Suffering

“My responsibility as a supermodel is to put fame aside and use my actions to encourage those who might need support, so that others also feel motivated on their own journeys.”

Liu Wen (model) (1988) Chinese model

Source: "Liu Wen opens up about fame, responsibility and finding meaning in her career" in Vogue https://vogue.sg/liu-wen-cover-vogue-singapore-leslie-zhang/ (1 March 2021)

Feeling, Motivation, Support

“China has always followed the path of peaceful development, pursued a mutually beneficial and win-win opening strategy, strengthened friendly exchanges with other countries, and actively fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations.”

Liu Yandong (1945) Chinese politician

Source: "刘延东出席第五届世界和平论坛开幕式并致辞" https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/celk//chn/zgxw/t1382124.htm (16 July 2017)

Peace, Country

“Surely the human race is at last reaching the stage of adulthood — that adulthood of character which does not depend upon physical age at all — so that it is deliberately embracing responsibility for its own development and government, and trying to face up to the causes of its failures?”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

Age, Failure, Dependency, Adulthood

“True leadership does not believe in grand titles but in taking responsibility of other people’s lives.”

Neo Masisi (1962) first lady of Botswana

Source: https://www.weekendpost.co.bw/17805/news/neo-masisi-on-first-lady-duties/ Neo Masisi ,Neo Masisi on First Lady Duties by Keamogetse Motone, (18 November 2019) Retrieved 5 November.

People

“Citizens. Great is the burden of responsibility that falls on me at this dramatic moment in Polish history. It is my duty to take this responsibility. Poland’s future is at stake-the future for which my generation fought and for which it gave the best years of its life.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)

Life, History, Future

“I find such a moralistic response to be profoundly immoral.”

James D. Watson (1928) American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist.

Coda: Our Genes and Our Future (p. 433)
Source: DNA: The Story of the Genetic Revolution (2003/2017)

“It's our *white* responsibility to make sure people who speak out about racism are safe at all times. This means ending structural racism in our societies, authorities and media.”

Carola Rackete (1988) German merchant navy captain

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/CaroRackete/status/1276803845465636864 (27 June 2020)

People, Time

“Yet, whatever the negative effects of such external factors may be, surmounting our deficiencies is primarily our own task and responsibility.”

Bülent Ecevit (1925–2006) former Prime Minister of Turkey (1925-2006)

Source: "Statement of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in Helsinki on Turkey´s Candidacy to the EU" https://web.archive.org/web/20160716153818/https://www.mfa.gov.tr/statement-of-prime-minister-bulent-ecevit-in-helsinki-on-turkey_s-candidacy-to-the-eu_br_december-11_-1999-.en.mfa (11 December 1999)

“I pledge hereby that I shall act according to the Constitution and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people of Japan, while always wishing for the happiness of the people and the peace of the world, turning my thoughts to the people and standing by them.”

Naruhito (1960) Emperor of Japan since 2019

Source: "Naruhito: Japan’s emperor formally proclaims enthronement in centuries-old ceremony" in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/asia/japan-enthronement-emperor-intl-hnk/index.html (22 October 2019)

Happiness, People, World, Peace

“220,000 deaths.
If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this:
Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain President of the United States.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2020, October 2020 <br class="br">Source: 22 October 2020 tweet https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1319446692236791814 about Donald Trump as of December 2021 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59645307 the death toll under Biden's administration surpassed 800,000

Death

“I made mistakes, in communication. In the beginning, I put too much emphasis on people's own responsibility and not enough on the mandatory measures (with regards to COVID-19 pandemic). The second is that I did not succeed in convincing people to a sufficient extent about the basic measures.”

Mark Rutte (1967) 50th Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Source: Mark Rutte (2021) cited in: " Rutte: I made coronavirus policy mistakes; King can help speed up Cabinet formation https://nltimes.nl/2021/12/24/rutte-made-coronavirus-policy-mistakes-king-can-help-speed-cabinet-formation" in NL Times, 24 December 2021.

People, Communication

“The major weapon now being used by the combined Forces of Evil is chaos, disruption, lack of established security, and consequent fear... The entire rhythm of international thinking has to be altered, and that constitutes a slow and arduous task; the evil personalities which, in every country, are responsible for the chaos and uncertainty, have eventually to be replaced by those who can work in co-operation with the rhythm of the seventh Ray, and thus produce ordered beauty.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Source: The Externalization of the Hierarchy (1957) p. 668

Fear, Beauty, Thinking, Evil

“Injustice ... regardless to whomever acted upon or performed against, is still injustice. The unjust person is never relieved of the responsibility of these acts under the pretext that the injustice is done against a heterodox and not to a believer. As our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels said do not oppress or accuse anyone falsely; do not make any distinction or give room to the believers to injure those of another belief.”

Metrophanes III of Constantinople (1520–1580) Patriarch of Constantinople

Statement condemning the mistreatment of Jews on the Island of Crete by Orthodox powers. <br class="br">Source: An Orthodox Christian View of Non-Christian Religions https://www.goarch.org/-/an-orthodox-christian-view-of-non-christian-religions by Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetriou; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Christ, Personality, Falseness

“I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor that is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I will insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”

Charlton Heston (1923–2008) American actor

Winning the Cultural War (1999), Video farewell (2002)

Life, Spring, Change, Loss

“Here’s some miscellaneous information. First, wear what you like. Personally I dislike uniforms. I never have worn a uniform. Secondly, if you have a religion, keep it to yourself. I dislike religions. I have always disliked religions. In response to the thought passing through each of your skulls, I do not think of myself as God. But you may do so, if you choose.”

Jack Vance (1916–2013) American mystery and speculative fiction writer

Sail 25 (p. 75)
Short fiction, Future Tense (1964)

God, Religion, Thinking, Personality

“I believe that the religious have two main tasks. On the one hand, as Ezekiel says, to behave like sentinels, not spies: when there is a threat we must warn and try to solve the problem before it explodes, it is a very big responsibility and if there are so many problems it means that the sentinels did not carry out their job well. Then we must be intercessors and when there is hostility between two groups, families or people, we have to mediate in truth. It is also essential to always keep prayer alive for the Country and for the protagonists so that God converts the heart. Now, it can be said, that the heart of many is of stone, it is up to us to make it flesh. Religions here seek a common line to promote peace.”

Jean Zerbo (1943) Malian Roman Catholic cardinal

Source: Cardinal Zerbo: Catholic sentinels and mediators among violence and conflict http://www.fides.org/en/news/68204-AFRICA_MALI_Cardinal_Zerbo_Catholic_sentinels_and_mediators_among_violence_and_conflict (24 June 2020)

God, Hostility, People, Truth

“Many girls are studying just for earning and employment, although the work of a woman is not Employment. This trend of employment of women is one reminiscence from the cursed reminiscences of western culture. Islam has placed the responsibility of providing income on men.”

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1889–1965) Caliph of the Messiah

Source: Anwarul Ulum, vol. 13, p. 94, Meri Sarah, p. 23

Women, Men, Girl, Study

“The writer has a fundamental responsibility to write well or to write the best he can, because if he doesn’t he’s not a writer. And when a writer writes, he’s always referring to a social and historical context…”

Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990) Cuban poet/novelist/playwright

Source: On a writer’s responsibility in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-literature-of-uprootedness-an-interview-with-reinaldo-arenas in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

“I would like everyone to understand that the Church in this society is not a foreign element but a profoundly domestic reality that truly wants the good for each person. We hope to find agreement and a suitable response from the other side.”

Josip Mrzljak (1944) Croatian Roman Catholic bishop

Source: Josip Mrzljak Appointed as the New Bishop of Varaždin https://ika.hkm.hr/english/josip-mrzljak-appointed-as-the-new-bishop-of-varazdin/ (2007)

Hope, Understanding, Reality, Personality

“This was once a land where every sane person knew how to build a shelter, grow food, and entertain one another. Now we have been rendered permanent children. It’s the architects of forced schooling who are responsible for that.”

John Taylor Gatto book Dumbing Us Down

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992), p. 100

Children, School, Food, Personality

“As a black woman I feel a responsibility to black people and to women. My responsibility is not to be compromising. Even if the content is not positively biased or doesn’t fall in line with an agenda or ideology, I want people to be satisfied by the honesty.”

Theresa Ikoko English psychologist, playwright

Source: quoted in Award winning and unapologetic playwright Theresa Ikoko brings Girls to Soho Theatre, Mattie Lacey-Davidson, 29th September 2016, 2016, en, 25 January 2022, 2022 https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/leisure/latest/14770119.award-winning-and-unapologetic-playwright-theresa-ikoko-brings-girls-to-soho-theatre/,

Women, People, Feeling

“There's a right of self-defense here that's involved: We know the government has to respond, so we will not be subjected to these types of attacks in the future. But the response should be measured, restrained as much as possible, to protect innocent civilians. It should not just be military. We should pursue diplomatic ways, legal ways, any other ways we can address that.”

Joseph Fiorenza (1931–2022) US Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Bishops Write Bush to Back U.S. Efforts https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/us/a-nation-challenged-support-from-churches-bishops-write-bush-to-back-us-efforts.html (21 September 2001)

Way, Future

“1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.
2. Lead from the front. Say, "Follow me!" and then lead the way.
3. Stay in top physical shape- physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.
4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.
5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their jobs. You can't do a good job if you don't have a chance to use your imagination or your creativity.
6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don't wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.
7. Remain humble. Don't worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.
8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.
9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to a successful leader is to earn respect- not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.
10. Hang Tough!

Never, ever give up.”

Dick Winters (1918–2011) American military personnel

Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (2006)
Source: Leadership at the Point of the Bayonet: Ten Principles for Success, p. 293

People, Way, Imagination, Courage

“An absolute majority doesn't mean absolute power. It doesn't mean governing alone. It's an increased responsibility.”

António Costa (1961) Prime Minister of Portugal

Source: António Costa (2022) cited in: " Portugal election: Socialists win unexpected majority https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60194375" in BBC News, 31 January 2022.

“I have been opposed to vivisection for many years; not just because it is unbelievably barbaric and unforgivably cruel but also because it is worthless, wasteful, inaccurate, uninformative and dangerously misleading. The cruelty is indefensible and an affront to human dignity, but in a desperate attempt to justify their evil practices many vivisectors still claim that what they do helps save human lives. They are lying. The truth is that animal experiments kill people and animal researchers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children every year; they are also directly responsible for a massive amount of human suffering.”

Vernon Coleman (1946) British doctor

"Why Animal Experiments Must Stop" (1991), in animalliberationfront.com http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Animal%20Testing/Vivisection/waems.htm.

Death, Women, Men, Children

“It is a private matter [sexuality], but if there are opportunities to say something . . . I wonder if, if it would be beneficial to someone else, that responsibility is on you. It’s complicated.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: From Broadchurch to the West End: the star of Sondheim’s smash hit Company in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/from-broadchurch-to-the-west-end-the-star-of-sondheims-smash-hit-company-mjppfprkr (31 October 2018)

“You should watch when you talk to young men about responsibility. They're so thrilled about it. It just blows me away. Really?! That's what the counter-culture is? Grow up and do something useful. "Really? I can do that? Oh, I'm so excited by that idea. No one ever mentioned that before."”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Rights, rights, rights, rights… Jesus! It's appalling. People have had enough of that. And they better have, because it's a non-productive mode of being. Responsibility, man: that's where the meaning in life is.
Other

Men, Idea

“That means we have nothing to shoot at, no efficacious response. So we do something pointless. And we feel better.”

Charles E. Gannon (1960) American novelist

Source: Trial by Fire (2014), Chapter 17 (p. 256)

Feeling

“Aggressive marketing of war affects people and they start thinking that war is acceptable. Governments and their propaganda supporters are fully responsible for the militaristic rhetoric on state-owned television channels.”

Dmitry Muratov (1961) Russian journalist and television presenter

War, People, Support, Thinking

“It’s okay to be a responsible member of society if only you know what you’re going to be held responsible for.”

John Brunner book The Jagged Orbit

Source: The Jagged Orbit (1969), Chapter 34 (p. 100; chapter title)

“I think that to safeguard the earth and maintain its great heritage it is important to exalt human responsibility, because the only being responsible for the other beings is man. Nothing less can come about from his humanity and his responsibility.”

Elio Sgreccia (1928–2019) Catholic cardinal

Christian Personalism's Place in Bioethics https://zenit.org/2004/07/06/christian-personalism-s-place-in-bioethics/ (6 July 2004)

Thinking

“We must work together to create an America where everyone feels safe in their community, where children feel safe in their schools. And, of course, that responsibility that we collectively have to ensure that all people feel safe in their community is what brings us together today.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2022, May 2022 <br class="br">Source: Remarks by President Biden and Vice President Harris at Signing of Executive Order to Advance Effective, Accountable Policing and Strengthen Public Safety (May 25, 2022) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/05/25/remarks-by-president-biden-and-vice-president-harris-at-signing-of-executive-order-to-advance-effective-accountable-policing-and-strengthen-public-safety/

Children, People, School, Feeling

“It has taken since time immemorial for us to organize ourselves, biologically and socially, into the functional hierarchies that both specify our perceptions and actions, and define our interactions with the natural and social world. Profound gratitude for that gift is the only proper response.”

Jordan Peterson book Beyond Order

Source: Books, Beyond Order (2021), p. 34

World, Nature, Time, Gratitude

“Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self.”

Max Stirner (1806–1856) German philosopher

Attributed in Forbes Vol 38 Iss. 2 (1936) p. 18, and in Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia (1962) by Jacob Morton Braude, p. 275

Freedom

“Are you getting bored doing interviews? That's work. It's the most responsible, representative and solemn work there is — like sport. Anyone who does not aim for the Olympic Games or championships should not be in the sports industry.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"Zhirinovsky: 'Europe, you shall tremble!'" in DW News https://www.dw.com/en/zhirinovsky-europe-you-shall-tremble/a-42923191 (11 March 2018)

Game, Sport

“Our sacred duty is to overcome the shadows of the past, make new tragedies possible. Any encroachments on the peaceful future of Ukraine will meet with instant and resolute response...”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

Source: [2011-06-22, Янукович обмовився, пообіцявши "уможливити нові трагедії", https://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/yanukovich-obmovivsya-poobicyavshi-umozhliviti-novi-tragediyi.html, 2022-06-12, ТСН.ua, uk]

Peace, Past, Future

“I am against the idea when we, so to say, throw someone behing the bars, which is the place where they would hide and flee from responsibility. We will surely find them, but they first have to return public money.”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

Source: [Янукович про корупціонерів: ховатись не будуть, - одна розмова, будуть – інша, https://www.unian.ua/politics/482166-yanukovich-pro-koruptsioneriv-hovatis-ne-budut-odna-rozmova-budut-insha.html, 2022-06-12, www.unian.ua, uk, 2011-04-11]

Money, Idea

“Bilingual humor may be viewed as a relatively benign response to the frustrations inherent in living in such a linguistically and racially heterogeneous region as the hills and valleys of backwoods Southeast Asia.”

James Matisoff (1937) linguist

"Lahu bilingual humor" (1969) (p.172)

“Too many so-called historians are really 'hysterians'; their thinking is more visceral than cerebral. When their duties as citizens clash with their responsibilities as scholars, Clio frequently takes a back seat.”

Thomas A. Bailey (1902–1983) American historian

Essays Diplomatic and Undiplomatic of Thomas A. Bailey (1969), p. 10

Thinking

“I think: what is my responsibility to my roots-both white and brown, Spanish-speaking and English? I am a woman with a foot in both worlds; and I refuse the split. I feel the necessity for dialogue. Sometimes I feel it urgently”

Cherríe Moraga (1952) American writer

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Fourth Edition (2015)

World, Feeling, Thinking

“Time and time again, I have observed that the usual response among white women's groups when the "racism issue" comes up is to deny the difference. I have heard comments like, "Well, we're open to all women; why don't they (women of color) come? You can only do so much..."”

Cherríe Moraga (1952) American writer

But there is seldom any analysis of how the very nature and structure of the group itself may be founded on racist or classist assumptions. More important, so often the women seem to feel no loss, no lack, no absence when women of color are not involved; therefore, there is little desire to change the situation. This has hurt me deeply. I have come to believe that the only reason women of a privileged class will dare to look at how it is that they oppress, is when they've come to know the meaning of their own oppression. And understand that the oppression of others hurts them personally.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Fourth Edition (2015)

Women, Color, Time

“Time requires of all of us to act in unity with resolve and to assume the responsibility for the future of the United Nations.”

Leonid Kuchma (1938) Second president of Ukraine

Speech at the 55th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (2000)

Time, Future

“The pride of any mother is to give birth to a responsible and successful child.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657
Works, Pride and Prejudice

Birth, Success

“Responsibility is a must; if you fail to be responsible, you are still responsible for your failure.”

Yusuf Cornelius Otijenu

Failure

“It is impossible for anyone to be responsible for another person’s behavior. I spoke of myself as ‘responsible’ for this group, that was verbal shorthand. The most I can do—or you, or any leader—is to encourage each one to be responsible for himself.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Farnham's Freehold

Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 4 (p. 75)

Behavior, Personality

“You know we are all responsible for building peace in the world. Respond to blind violence and inhuman hatred with the extraordinary power of love. Forgive those who offend you. Do not let yourselves be dragged into manifestations of nationalism, racism and intolerance.”

Pedro López Quintana (1953) Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See

Dialogue and the extraordinary power of love, antidote to violence and hatred: Papal Nuncio visiting conflict torn states in north east India reminds Christians to be builders of peace (7 November 2005) Fides News Agency http://fides.org/en/news/6082-ASIA_INDIA_Dialogue_and_the_extraordinary_power_of_love_antidote_to_violence_and_hatred_Papal_Nuncio_visiting_conflict_torn_states_in_north_east_India_reminds_Christians_to_be_builders_of_peace

Love, World, Peace, Forgiveness

“I was a shit when I met you. I still am in lots of ways. But because of you I've had to give up trying to be a dedicated, full-time shit. I couldn't make it, hadn't the strength of character. Which is a pity in a way, because when you fall back into the ranks of the failed shits or amateur shits or incidental shits you start taking on responsibility for other people.”

Kingsley Amis (1922–1995) English novelist, poet, critic, teacher

Ronnie Appleyard to Simon (Simona) Quick in Ch. 4, p. 254
I Want It Now (1968)

People, Way, Time

““Eugenics Manifesto” was the name given to an article supporting eugenics. The document, which appeared in Nature, September 16, 1939, was a joint statement issued by America’s and Britain’s most prominent biologists, and was widely referred to as the “Eugenics Manifesto.” The manifesto was a response to a request from Science Service, of Washington, D. C. for a reply to the question “How could the world’s population be improved most effectively genetically?” Two of the main signatories and authors were Hermann J. Muller and Julian Huxley. Julian Huxley, as this book documents, was the founding director of UNESCO from the famous Huxley family. Muller was an American geneticist, educator and Nobel laureate best known for his work on the physiological and genetic effects of radiation. Put into the context of the timeline, this document was published 15 years after “Mein Kampf” and a year after the highly publicized violence of Kristallnacht. In other words, there is no way either Muller or Huxley were unaware at the moment of publication of the historical implications of eugenic agendas.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848

Books, World, Education, Family

“WHO WAS J. F. LEHMANN?
This book postulates that Adolf Hitler made a subtle, but all-important shift from proselytizing the myth of Germans as the oppressed victims of an “international Jewish conspiracy” to that of the superior race and oppressor because of J. F. Lehmann. It is not until after J. F. Lehmann brought Hitler the infamous Baur-Fischer-Lenz book on eugenics that Hitler’s speeches shifted from the stab-in-the-back myth, or the “Dolchstoßlegende,” with Germans as the oppressed victims of betrayal, to the eugenic propaganda of Germans as the pinnacle of white-supremacy. Weakness and superiority are incompatible attributes, and J. F. Lehmann is responsible for the shift away from the weakness inherent in victimhood to a racial superiority. Thus, it begs to question, who was this pivotal figure in Adolf Hitler's life, and why is his name and history not part of the commonly accepted history of The Holocaust? Nothing of The Holocaust or World War II can be understood without documenting who was Julius Friedrich Lehmann. Yet, J. F. Lehmann barely makes it onto the radar of even the most thorough books on the subject, and then only to name him as the person who delivered the Baur-Fischer-Lenz book to Adolf Hitler at Landsberg prison.”

A.E. Samaan

Source: From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848

Life, War, Books, World

““MENS REA”:
On January 16, 1944, the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and one of his deputies, Randolph Paul, personally visited the President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to coerce him to finally act and do something to help refugees escaping The Holocaust. More diplomatic efforts had failed, so Morgenthau's approach strengthened. The report brought to the President reveals a desperate and necessary act to coerce a response from an administration that was systematically and overtly preventing both private and official help for the victims escaping Hitler. The report documents a pattern of attempts by the State Department to obstruct rescue opportunities and block the flow of Holocaust information to the United States. Morgenthau warned that the refugee issue had become “a boiling pot on [Capitol] Hill,” and Congress was likely to pass the rescue resolution if faced with a White House unwilling to act. Roosevelt understood the deep implications and pre-empted Congress by establishing the War Refugee Board. The result was “Executive Order 9417” creating the War Refugee Board, issued on January 22, 1944”

A.E. Samaan

Source: From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848

Men, War, Effort, Help

“The upbringing of a personality begins with familiarization with the spiritual heritage of humanity, and the formation begins with its awareness of its responsibility for its multiplication.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

Personality

“If for ancient newborn Homo sapiens, the mind was a survival tool, for modern humans, it is an obligation to live responsibly and meaningfully.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

“The primary duty of humanity is a complex and philosophical question that has been debated for centuries. Some people believe that our duty is to serve a higher power or divine purpose, while others argue that our duty is to promote the well-being and happiness of all individuals in society. Ultimately, the answer depends on one's personal beliefs and values. However, it can be said that the core of our duty as human beings is to strive for a better world, one that promotes compassion, empathy and respect for all living beings. It is our responsibility to work towards a society where everyone has access to the basic necessities of life, where we protect the environment, and where we strive to understand and appreciate the diversity of our fellow human beings.

¹”

Titon Rahmawan

Life, Happiness, People, World

“The ego tends to put itself above everything that is philosophically corrupt and destructive. Can we accept the idea that the ego must accept the consequences of what it has done? It must take responsibility for the motive behind it. If that motive is virtue and goodness, then we have placed the ego in the right proportion. But on the contrary, if it denies the human traits that collectively uphold moral ethics, law, justice and honesty, then it will easily fall into the hole that it has dug for itself.”

Titon Rahmawan

Justice, Law, Motivation, Idea

“Is gratitude necessarily born as our response to the suffering of others?”

Titon Rahmawan

Suffering, Gratitude

“I know that our efforts all come to nothing. Analyze life, tear its trappings off, lay it bare with thought, with logic, with philosophy, and its emptiness is revealed as a bottomless pit; its nothingness frankly confesses to nothingness, and Despair comes to perch in the soulI know the end of us all is nothing, I know that at the end of Time, the reward of our toil will be nothing — and again nothing. I know that all our handiwork and all our ideas will be destroyed. I know that not even ash will be left from the fires that consume us. I know that our ideals, even those we achieve, will vanish in the eternal darkness of oblivion and final non-being. There is no hope, none, in my heart. I know, No promise, none, can I make to myself and to others. No recompense can I expect for my labors. No fruit will be born of my thoughts. I know the time — eternal seducer of all men, eternal cause of all effects — offers me nothing but the blank prospect of annihilation. So, my dignity is broken and weak, in recognition of my impending defeat.

The man who is alone, who stands on his own feet, who is stripped bare, who asks for nothing and wants nothing, who has reached the apex of disinterestedness not through blind renunciation but through excess of clear vision, turns to the world which stretches out before him as a burned prairie, as a devastated city — a world in which no churches, asylums, refuges, ideals, are left — and says: «Though you promise me nothing I am still with you, I am still an atom of your energies, my work is part of your work; I am your companion and your mirror as you march on your merciless way. But I owe nothing to any one. I would be responsible to freedom alone.”

Alexis Karpouzos (1967)

Source: https://alexiskarpouzos.medium.com/at-the-end-of-time-alexis-karpouzos-0b5a34cfbbe9

Life, Men, World, Hope

“Time is an excellent ally in learning to build self-confidence: having the ability to make decisions, manage emotions, and take responsibility for one's actions.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Il tempo è un ottimo alleato per imparare a costruire fiducia in sé stessi: avere la capacità di prendere decisioni, gestire le emozioni ed assumersi la responsabilità delle proprie azioni.
Source: prevale.net

Confidence, Decision, Learning, Time

“Silence is the most effective response to remove attention away from who seek only conflict and not understanding.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Il silenzio è la risposta più efficace per togliere l'attenzione a chi cerca solo il conflitto e non la comprensione.
Source: prevale.net

Understanding, Silence

“A single woman with the responsibility some raising children, willing to do more works to support them and, despite this she always manages to give a radiant smile to anyone who meets her, is a great example of life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Una donna single con la responsabilità di crescere dei figli, disposta a svolgere più lavori per sostenerli e, nonostante questo riesca a regalare sempre un radioso sorriso a chiunque la incontri, è un grande esempio di vita.
Source: prevale.net

Life, Children, Smile, Support

“The simplest, but also the most effective response, to those who show you no respect is total indifference.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La risposta più semplice, ma anche la più efficace, nei confronti di chi non ti mostra alcun rispetto è la totale indifferenza.
Source: prevale.net

Indifference

Quotes about responsibility page 35

Quotes about responsibility
page 35