Quotes about responsibility
page 8

R. Venkataraman photo

“Remember, under this Flag National Flag of India, there is no prince and there is no peasant, there is no rich no poor. There is no privilege; there is only duty and responsibility and sacrifice. Whether we be Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs or Zoroastrians and others, our Mother India has one undivided heart and on indivisible spirit. Men and women of reborn India, rise and salute this Flag!”

R. Venkataraman (1910–2009) seventh Vice-President of India and the 8th President of India

In His speech to the nation on the day prior to the Republic Day (in 1989), p. 181-82
Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001

Iain Banks photo
Buckminster Fuller photo
Hugo Chávez photo
Warren Farrell photo

“Both parents’ rights must exist primarily to assist the parents in fulfilling their responsibilities. Primarily does not mean exclusively.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 126.

Ben Carson photo

“Responsible human beings must be concerned about our surroundings and what we will pass on to future generations. However, to use climate change as an excuse not to develop our God-given resources makes little sense.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

"CARSON: Expanding our energy resources serves peace" http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/25/carson-energys-role-in-the-path-to-peace/, The Washington Times (March 25, 2014)

Konstantin Chernenko photo
Ulysses S. Grant photo
George W. Bush photo

“For too long our culture has said, "If it feels good, do it." Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: "Let's roll". In the sacrifice of soldiers, the fierce brotherhood of firefighters, and the bravery and generosity of ordinary citizens, we have glimpsed what a new culture of responsibility could look like. We want to be a nation that serves goals larger than self. We've been offered a unique opportunity, and we must not let this moment pass.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Invoking the words of Todd Beamer (passenger on ill-fated Flight 93 on September 11, 2001) to suggest Americans are becoming more altruistic and willing to sacrifice. State of the Union Address (January 29, 2002)
2000s, 2002, State of the Union address (January 2002)

Tom Robbins photo
Elon Musk photo
Melanie Phillips photo
Francis Escudero photo
Rajiv Gandhi photo

“A responsive administration is tested most at the point of interface between the administration and the people.”

Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) sixth Prime Minister of India

in February 1988, p. 28
Quote, Memorable Quotes from Rajiv Gandhi and on Rajiv Gandhi

Orson Scott Card photo
Martin Niemöller photo
Ataol Behramoğlu photo

“The poet should be responsible to the poem.”

Ataol Behramoğlu (1942) Turkish writer

The Poet's Poetic Responsibility (2012)

Penn Jillette photo
Stephen Baxter photo
Pietro Badoglio photo
Philip K. Dick photo
Michael Polanyi photo
Peter F. Drucker photo

“Keep the boss aware. Bosses, after all, are held responsible by their own bosses for the performance of their subordinates. They must be able to say: "I know what Anne [or John] is trying to do."”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1990s and later, Managing for the Future: The 1990's and Beyond (1992), p. 139

John Zerzan photo
Thaddeus Stevens photo

“I never thought of it that way, but it does relieve God Almighty of a heavy responsibility.”

Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868) American politician

When someone pointed out to him that like Stevens himself, Andrew Johnson was a self-made man, in Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens

Joanna Macy photo
John Ralston Saul photo
Camille Paglia photo

“Everyone of my generation who preached free love is responsible for AIDS.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992), Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders : Academe in the Hour of the Wolf, p. 216

Russell L. Ackoff photo
Honoré Daumier photo

“My dear Genron, I am forced to write to you because I can not go to see you because I am detained at Ste. Pelagie by a slight indisposition.... I eagerly await your response. Reply me right away about Cabat or Huet; my respects to your family..
Farewell, the Gouape, H.-D.
she is always in all her Charms (the Republic) - do not talk to me about politics because the letters are opened.”

Honoré Daumier (1808–1879) French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor

Quote in Daumier's letter, from prison Ste. Pelagie Prison, Paris, 9 October, 1832; as quoted on website Daumier http://www.daumier.org/14.0.html#c760
His political print 'Gargantua' https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Honor%C3%A9_Daumier_-_Gargantua.jpg, published in 'La Caricature', 1832, cost Daumier six months in prison, because of insulting king Louis Philippe
1830's

Chris Hedges photo
Bill Clinton photo
Jules Feiffer photo

“It is not size or age or childishness that separates children from adults. It is "responsibility."”

Jules Feiffer (1929) American cartoonist, screenwriter and playwright

The Great Comic Book Heroes http://books.google.com/books?id=zxbuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22It+is+not+size+or+age+or+childishness+that+separates+children+from+adults+It+is+responsibility%22&pg=PA75#v=onepage (1965)

Will Eisner photo
Gulzarilal Nanda photo
Margaret Mead photo

“[Among the Arapeh… both father and mother are held responsible for child care by the entire community…] If one comments upon a middle-aged man as good-looking, the people answer: 'Good-looking? Ye-e-e-s? But you should have seen him before he bore all those children.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Source: 1930s, Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935), p. 55; cited inWomen, History, and Theory : The Essays of Joan Kelly (1986), by Joan Kelly, p. 137

Ayn Rand photo

“Pathetic Ron Paulian Jew-Hating Post of the Day… So who’s responsible for letting this Ron Paulian post insane antisemitic garbage like this… UPDATE… This freak actually has a page at the official Barack Obama campaign web site…”

Charles Foster Johnson (1953) American musician

May 18, 2008 http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/29992_Pathetic_Ron_Paulian_Jew-Hating_Post_of_the_Day_-_Update-_It_Has_a_My_Obama_Page&only

Lawrence Wright photo

“In response to nearly a thousand queries, the Scientology delegation handed over forty-eight binders of supporting material, stretching nearly seven linear feet.”

Lawrence Wright (1947) American writer

[Wright, Lawrence, February 14, 2011, The Apostate, Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology, The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all]

Alan Grayson photo
Robert Sheckley photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Leopoldo Galtieri photo
John Roberts photo
Tim O'Brien photo

“No matter what our humanitarian response is to this crisis, it will never be enough. It cannot end the conflict.”

Jo Cox (1974–2016) UK politician

Don’t leave Syria to become a graveyard — this generation’s responsibility to the world (13 October 2015)

Mary Abigail Dodge photo

“Every person is responsible for only the good within his abilities, and for no more, and no one can tell whose sphere is the largest.”

Mary Abigail Dodge (1833–1896) American writer

Country Living and Country Thinking, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Warren Farrell photo
Jayalalithaa photo
Tony Blair photo

“It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in Europe to ridicule American argument or parody their political leadership.”

Tony Blair (1953) former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet http://web.archive.org/20041128025440/www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page6583.asp, 15 November 2004.
Urging Europe to stop ridiculing American President George W. Bush.
2000s

Alexandra Kollontai photo
Masiela Lusha photo

“I feel it is our inherent duty as a humane society, above any intangible responsibility, to invest in our world's children’s potential, passion and confidence.”

Masiela Lusha (1985) Albanian actress, writer, author

Quoted in the Tolucan Times http://tolucantimes.info/section/inside-this-issue/young-author-makes-her-mark-in-the-world-of-children’s-literature/

Koenraad Elst photo

“One Western author who has become very popular among India’s history-writers is the American scholar Prof. Richard M. Eaton…. A selective reading of his work, focusing on his explanations but keeping most of his facts out of view, is made to serve the negationist position regarding temple destruction in the name of Islam. Yet, the numerically most important body of data presented by him concurs neatly with the classic (now dubbed “Hindutva”) account. In his oft-quoted paper “Temple desecration and Indo-Muslim states”, he gives a list of “eighty” cases of Islamic temple destruction. "Only eighty", is how the secularist history-rewriters render it, but Eaton makes no claim that his list is exhaustive. Moreover, eighty isn't always eighty. Thus, in his list, we find mentioned as one instance: "1994: Benares, Ghurid army. Did the Ghurid army work one instance of temple destruction? Eaton provides his source, and there we read that in Benares, the Ghurid royal army "destroyed nearly one thousand temples, and raised mosques on their foundations. (Note that unlike Sita Ram Goel, Richard Eaton is not chided by the likes of Sanjay Subramaniam for using Elliott and Dowson's "colonialist translation.") This way, practically every one of the instances cited by Eaton must be read as actually ten, or a hundred, or as in this case even a thousand temples destroyed. Even Eaton's non-exhaustive list, presented as part of "the kind of responsible and constructive discussion that this controversial topic so badly needs", yields the same thousands of temple destructions ascribed to the Islamic rulers in most relevant pre-1989 histories of Islam and in pro-Hindu publications…. If the “eighty” (meaning thousands of) cases of Islamic iconoclasm are only a trifle, the “abounding” instances of Hindu iconoclasm, “thoroughly integrated” in Hindu political culture, can reasonably be expected to number tens of thousands. Yet, Eaton’s list, given without reference to primary sources, contains, even in a maximalist reading (i. e., counting “two” when one king takes away two idols from one enemy’s royal temple), only 18 individual cases…. In this list, cases of actual destruction amount to exactly two…”

Koenraad Elst (1959) orientalist, writer

2000s, Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple (2002)

Mohammad Khatami photo

“In response on the motives of suicide bombers, he said that, Those who put others through hell will never go to heaven.”

Mohammad Khatami (1943) Iranian prominent reformist politician, scholar and shiite faqih.

In response on the motives of suicide bombers in a speech at Harvard University http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091100315.html 11 September 2006)
Attributed

Michael Moorcock photo
Jopie Huisman photo

“I feel responsible, because so many people are leaning against me. Of course I can not take that pole away from them, they will fall over. I can see that those people need it! An ongoing struggle, an ordeal - because, if I say something I have to make it happen. In this way, painting is a religious matter. My paintings create a consciousness that offers comfort... It must appear in the light. Somebody of eighty years old who never ever would think about visiting a museum. Recognition!”

Jopie Huisman (1922–2000) Dutch painter

translation, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018
version in original Dutch / citaat van Jopie Huisman, in het Nederlands: Ik voel me verantwoordelijk, omdat er zoveel mensen tegen me aan leunen. Ik kan die paal natuurlijk niet voor ze wegzagen, dan vallen ze om. Ik zie toch dat die mensen er behoefte aan hebben! Een voortdurend gevecht, een beproeving, want als ik iets zeg moet ik het waarmaken. Schilderen is op deze manier een religieuze aangelegenheid. Door mijn werken ontstaat een bewustzijn, dat troost biedt.. .Het moet voor 't licht komen. Zo'n mens van tachtig dat er nog nooit ook maar één seconde aan heeft gedacht een museum binnen te wandelen. Herkenning.
Mens & Gevoelens: Jopie Huisman', 1993

Ralph Bakshi photo

“Did I have a responsibility to discuss issues? Absolutely. Bobby Dylan was discussing issues – Disney wasn’t.”

Ralph Bakshi (1938) Animator, filmmaker

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/interview-ralph-bakshi-on-the-animation-industry-then-now-99015.html

Kate Bush photo

“I think musicians have a responsibility to try and do something that is good. It's so hard. It's very difficult to pull something out of the hat creatively. Although I say it’s their responsibility, it's really just people trying to do the best that they can.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

As quoted in "Kate Bush Speaks" by Owen Myers in Fader (23 November 2016) https://www.thefader.com/2016/11/23/kate-bush-interview-before-the-dawn

Hillary Clinton photo

“Women have always been the primary victims of war. Women lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat. Women often have to flee from the only homes they have ever known. Women are often the refugees from conflict and sometimes, more frequently in today’s warfare, victims. Women are often left with the responsibility, alone, of raising the children.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Conference on domestic violence https://web.archive.org/web/20010726225357/http://clinton3.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/generalspeeches/1998/19981117.html in San Salvador, El Salvador (17 November 1998).
White House years (1993–2000)

Leopoldo Galtieri photo

“The blood that is spilling is not my responsibility. It is the responsibility of Mrs. 'No.”

Leopoldo Galtieri (1926–2003) Argentine military dictator

"Quotation of the day" http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/23/nyregion/quotation-of-the-day-157473.html, The New York Times (May 23, 1982)

“The … moral responsibility … of every leader is staggering—an opportunity to be of service to (literally) civilization. Or not.”

Tom Peters (1942) American writer on business management practices

May 2, 2016
Tom Peters Daily, Weekly Quote

Al Sharpton photo

“They tried to say that being gay is a sin, and I said that adultery is a sin. Adultery is responsible for breaking up more marriages, but do we put that in the Constitution? It’s absurd.”

Al Sharpton (1954) American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host

Remarks announcing the National Action Network anti-homophobia campaign, quoted in Jamal Watson (3 August 2005) "Sharpton Pledges Fight Against Homophobia Among Blacks" New York Sun.

Jiddu Krishnamurti photo
Leonard Peikoff photo
Susan Cain photo

“Our culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity's greatest achievements.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

"Introverts run the world -- quietly," CNN.com, March 18, 2012.

Lama Ole Nydahl photo
Joseph E. Stiglitz photo

“My teachers helped guide and motivate me; but the responsibility of learning was left with me.”

Joseph E. Stiglitz (1943) American economist and professor, born 1943.

Autobiographical Essay (2001)

Yehudi Menuhin photo

“What guides us is children's response, their joy in learning to dance, to sing, to live together. It should be a guide to the whole world.”

Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) American violinist and conductor

Source: Tessa Souter Anything I Can Do... You Can Do Better: How to unlock your creative dreams and change your life http://books.google.co.in/books?id=GJzWPzwI79kC&pg=PA156, Random House, 31 July 2011, p. 156

Bell Hooks photo

“While I expected serious, rigorous evaluation of my work, I was totally unprepared for the hostility and contempt shown me by women whom I did not and do not see as enemies. Despite their responses I share with them an ongoing commitment to feminist struggle. To me this does not mean that we must approach feminism from the same perspective. It does mean we have a basis for communication, that our political commitments should lead us to talk and struggle together. Unfortunately it is often easier to ignore, dismiss, reject, and even hurt one another rather than engage in constructive confrontation. Were it not for the overwhelmingly positive responses to the book from black women who felt it compelled them to either re-think or think for the first time about the impact of sexism on our lives and the importance of feminist movement, I might have become terribly disheartened and disillusioned. Thanks to them and many other women and men this book was not written in isolation. … Such encouragement renews my commitment to feminist politics and strengthens my conviction that the value of feminist writing must be determined not only by the way a work is received among feminist activists but by the extent to which it draws women and men who are outside feminist struggle inside.”

Acknowledgments https://books.google.com/books?id=ClWvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT8.
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)

Werner Erhard photo
Louis Brandeis photo
Andrew Johnson photo
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson photo
W.E.B. Du Bois photo

“Liberty trains for liberty. Responsibility is the first step in responsibility.”

John Brown: A Biography (1909): "The Legacy of John Brown"

Irving Kirsch photo
Susan Cooper photo
Charles Stross photo

“Well, moving swiftly sideways into cognitive neuroscience…In the past twenty years we’ve made huge strides, using imaging tools, direct brain interfaces, and software simulations. We’ve pretty much disproved the existence of free will, at least as philosophers thought they understood it. A lot of our decision-making mechanics are subconscious; we only become aware of our choices once we’ve begun to act on them. And a whole lot of other things that were once thought to correlate with free will turn out also to be mechanical. If we use transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt the right temporoparietal junction, we can suppress subjects’ ability to make moral judgements; we can induce mystical religious experiences: We can suppress voluntary movements, and the patients will report that they didn’t move because they didn’t want to move. The TMPJ finding is deeply significant in the philosophy of law, by the way: It strongly supports the theory that we are not actually free moral agents who make decisions—such as whether or not to break the law—of our own free will.
“In a nutshell, then, what I’m getting at is that the project of law, ever since the Code of Hammurabi—the entire idea that we can maintain social order by obtaining voluntary adherence to a code of permissible behaviour, under threat of retribution—is fundamentally misguided.” His eyes are alight; you can see him in the Cartesian lecture-theatre of your mind, pacing door-to-door as he addresses his audience. “If people don’t have free will or criminal intent in any meaningful sense, then how can they be held responsible for their actions? And if the requirements of managing a complex society mean the number of laws have exploded until nobody can keep track of them without an expert system, how can people be expected to comply with them?”

Source: Rule 34 (2011), Chapter 26, “Liz: It’s Complicated” (pp. 286-287)

Alex Salmond photo
Dmitry Medvedev photo
Colin Wilson photo
Josh Homme photo
John F. Kennedy photo

“In response to Adarsh Housing Society incident - "There were flats reserved for the scheduled [lower] castes which we applied for and were allotted one of them. We paid the cost of the flat in full. But now it seems we have been cheated. They are neither giving [us] the flat nor any sign of returning our money."”

Uttam Khobragade (1951) bureaucrat

India’s Devyani Khobragade advocated for women’s rights, accused in nanny scandal http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indias-devyani-khobragade-advocated-for-womens-rights-but-underpaid-her-nanny/2013/12/20/13e23688-69a2-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html, The Washington Post, 20 December 2013

Kent Hovind photo
Mark Burns (televangelist) photo

“As a young man starting my church in Greenville, South Carolina, I overstated several details of my biography because I was worried I wouldn't be taken seriously as a new pastor. This was wrong, I wasn't truthful then and I have to take full responsibility for my actions”

Mark Burns (televangelist) (1979) Christian pastor and founder of the NOW Television Network

Statement released in response to allegations that he had falsified his professional accomplishments http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/03/politics/mark-burns-donald-trump-interview/index.html

Herbert Hoover photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Steven Erikson photo