Quotations: Responsibility Is Key to Maturity

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Quotations Responsibility: Maturity


Quotations Responsibility promote mental health, healthy societies, and happy people through virtue and morality.


“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.” —Seneca


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Quotations Various Sources

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“A baby expects to be soothed, but a mature adult soothes themselves.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“A life of ease and avoidance of responsibility may often be temporarily satisfying—especially on periods of vacation from a more active kind of life—but it is rarely continually rewarding.” —Albert Ellis

“A man is always responsible, whether his act is intentional or inadvertent, whether he is awake or asleep.” —Bava Qamma 2:6

“A man of ability and the desire to accomplish something can do anything.” —Donald Kircher

“A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.” —Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” —Francis Bacon

“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” —Les Brown

“Accountability breeds response-ability.” —Stephen R. Covey

“Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part; Do thou but thine.” —John Milton, Paradise Lost

“Adults are experts at self-disturbance and inept at self-soothing.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“Always remember this Anna, there are no walls, no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind.” —Otto Frank

“An excuse is a lie guarded.” —Jonathan Swift

“Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?” —Anonymous

“Be your own light. Be your own refuge. Confide in nothing outside of yourself. Hold fast to truth that it may be your guide. Hold fast to truth that it may be your protector.” —Mahaparinibbana Sutta

“Believe nothing, no matter when you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason.” —Buddha

“But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” —Galatians 6:4

“Discipline is just choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” —Anonymous

“Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.” —Mark Twain

“Do we need more time? Or do we need to be more disciplined with the time we have?” —Kerry Johnson

“Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t sweat and struggle for.” —Marian Wright Edelman

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” —Mark Twain (1835–1910)

“Each man the architect of his own fate.” —Sallust

“Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it.” —Ovid

“Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.” —Seneca

“Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men.” —Seneca

“For who is he that shall hinder thee from being good and simple?” —Marcus Aurelius

“Frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.” —Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

“From cities stormed and battles won—What glory can accrue?—By this the hero best is known:—He can himself subdue—Wisest and greatest of his kind—Who can in reasons fetters bind—The madness of his angry mind.” —George Frideric Handel, Saul Oratorio, 1740

“Good morning is not a greeting, it’s a decision.” —Anonymous

“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” —Samuel Johnson

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” —Aristotle

“He who conquers himself is mighty.” —Buddhist saying

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.” —Henry Ward Beecher

“How does a person who cannot tame his desires differ from the most ignorant beast?” —Xenophon, Memorabilia

“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.” —Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“I am happy and content because I think I am.” —Alain-Rene Lesage

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” —William Ernest Henley, Invictus

“I believe we’re responsible for everything that happens to us.” —Yanni

“I have always regarded myself as the pillar of my life.” —Meryl Streep

“I realized that they had already taken everything from me except my mind and my heart. Those they could not take without my permission. I decided not to give them away. And neither should you.” —Nelson Mandela

“If pleasure first, then pain second.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“If we have not peace within ourselves, it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.” —Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?” —Rumi

“If you buy a ticket to hell, it isn’t fair to blame hell.” —Elon Musk

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” —Lao Tzu

“If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.” —Anthony J. D’Angelo

“If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” —Chief Tecumseh

“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” —Les Brown

“If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself.” —Benjamin Franklin

“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” —Vince Lombardi

“If you’re the problem it also means you’re the solution.” —Dave Ramsey

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961, US President

“Injuries done to us by others often cause us less pain than those that we do to ourselves.” —La Rochefoucauld

“It’s not what happens to you that matters. It’s how you respond to what happens that makes a difference.” —Zig Ziglar

“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” —Leon Brown

“It is better to conquer yourself than to conquer a thousand others. Victory over others is a hollow gain, while victory over oneself is something not even the gods can take or reverse.” —Dhammapada: The Thousands, verses 103–105

“It is much harder to live a life of freedom and self-rule than to be ruled by others.” —Mordechai Kaplan

“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” —Agnes Repplier

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” —William Shakespeare

“It is not men’s acts which disturb us, for those acts have their foundation in men’s ruling principles, but is our own opinions which disturb us.” —Marcus Aurelius

“It is only you who can master your self. But once this is done, it is a rare blessing.” —Dhammapada: Self, verse 160

“It is the part of an uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already complete.” —Epictetus, Enchiridion

“It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.” —Seneca

“Karma means action and action motivated by compassion is good. To complain that what happens to you is just the result of your karma is lazy. Instead, confidently recalling the advice that, ‘You are your own master,’ you can change what happens by taking action.” —Dalai Lama XIV

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” —Aristotle

“Life always gets harder towards the summit–the cold increases, responsibility increases.” —Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900)

“Life is the sum of all your choices.” —Albert Camus

“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” —Anonymous

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” —Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will–his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.” —Albert Schweitzer

“Minds are like parachutes–they only function when open.” —Thomas Dewar

“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” —Abraham Lincoln

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” —Sigmund Freud

“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.” —Seneca

“My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” —Oprah Winfrey

“No events are ever so unlucky that clever people cannot draw some advantage from them; nor are any so lucky that imprudent people cannot turn them to their own detriment.” —Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and prepared to assume responsibilities.” —William Boetcker

“No one has ever gotten to anyone.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“No one is free, who is not master of himself.” —Pythagoras

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” —Voltaire

“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Not flattered by praise, not hurt by blame.” —Buddhist saying

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere—on water and land.” ―Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It’s a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment.” —Eric Butterworth

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” —Michael Jordan

“One of the strongest characteristics of genius is the power of lighting its own fire.” —John Foster

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” —Carol Burnett

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” —Anonymous

“People and things do not upset us. Rather, we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us.” —Albert Ellis

“People are mainly victims of themselves because self-conditioning overrides all external conditioning no matter its amount, beginnings, degree, frequency, pressure, source, or systemic basis.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“People are mainly victims of their own self-talk because their self-talk is the main conditioner of their feelings, thoughts, and actions.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” —Henry Ford

“Self-command is the greatest command of all.” —Seneca

“Self-control is the chief element in self-respect and self-respect is the chief element in courage.” —Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

“Self-government is our right, a thing born in us at birth; a thing no more to be doled out to us or withheld from us by another person than the right to life itself.” —Roger Casement

“Self-sufficiency is both a good and an absolute good.” —Aristotle, Politics

“Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens, then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to yourself.” —Epictetus, Enchiridion

“Some days you have to create your own sunshine.” —Sam Sundquist

“Some people create their own storms, then get upset when it rains.” —Unknown

“Some pursue happiness, others create it.” —Anonymous

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” —Jim Rohn

“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” —Saint Augustine

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” —Jim Rohn

“Teaching the principle of emotional responsibility can be one of the hardest tasks in REBT as clients may have habitually blamed others for their problems and now the therapist is pointing to the true source of their emotional problems–themselves.” —Michael Neenan and Windy Dryden, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice, p. 43

“Tell me one thing about the past. I’ll prove it’s not what upset you. It’s how you philosophized about it that made you disturbed.” —Albert Ellis

“The ability to accept responsibility is the measure of the man.” —Roy Smith

“The answer lies within ourselves. If we can’t find peace and happiness there, it’s not going to come from the outside.” —Tenzin Palmo

“The best project that you will ever work on is you.” —Anonymous

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” —Albert Ellis

“The cause of all sins in every case lies in the person’s excessive love of self.” —Plato, Laws

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own.” —Epictetus

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” —Flora Whittemore

“The emotionally mature individual should completely accept the fact that we live in a world of probability and chance, where there are not, nor probably ever will be, any absolute certainties, and should realize that it is not at all horrible, indeed—such a probabilistic, uncertain world.” ―Albert Ellis

“The farther behind I leave the past, the closer I am to forging my own character.” —Isabelle Eberhardt

“The fault, Dear Brutus, is not in our stars; but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” —William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

“The first and the best victory is to conquer self.” —Plato

“The gods have released you from accountability for your parents, your siblings, your body, your possessions—for death and for life itself. They made you responsible only for what is in your power—the proper use of impressions. So why take on the burden of matters which you cannot answer for? You are only making unnecessary problems for yourself.” —Epictetus

“The higher the intelligence and the more sensitive the individual, the more that is feared.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“The measure of a man is what he does with power.” —Plato

“The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you gain the power to change anything in your life.” —Hal Elrod

“The more you are willing to accept responsibility for your actions, the more credibility you will have.” —Brian Koslow

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” —Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” —Alice Walker

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” —Scott Hamilton

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” —Albert Camus

“The price of responsibility is steep and quick, but the benefits are larger and longer.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.” —Don Shula

“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” —Benjamin Franklin

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.” —Joan Didion

“The women’s movement wants all the rights of adults but only the responsibilities of children; this makes the women’s movement not only childish but phony at its core.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“There is a milk fountain inside you. Don’t walk around with an empty bucket.” —Rumi

“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” —J.K. Rowling

“There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one’s self.” —John Gay

“There is no magic, no free lunch. Self-change, while almost always possible, requires persistent work and practice.” —Albert Ellis

“There is no man so low that the cure for his condition does not lie strictly within himself.” —Thomas L. Masson

“There is only one person who could ever make you happy, and that person is you.” —David D. Burns

“There’s a victory and defeat—the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats—which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.” —Plato, Protagoras

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” —Andy Warhol

“Things can never touch the soul, but stand inert outside it, so that disquiet can arise only from fancies within.” —Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, Book IV

“Thou are injuring thyself, my child.” —Marcus Aurelius

“Thou must blame nobody.” —Marcus Aurelius

“To see an obstacle as a challenge, to make the best of it anyway, that is also a choice—a choice that is up to us.” —Ryan Holiday

“To win over your bad self is the grandest and foremost of victories.” —Plato

“Too many people are unaware that it is not outer events or circumstances that will create happiness; rather, it is our perception of events and of ourselves that will create, or uncreate, positive emotions.” —Albert Ellis

“Victims have never been in short supply in the world, but the rush to identify oneself as a victim is rather a new feature of modern life.” —Joe Epstein

“Water is everywhere around you, but you see only barriers that keep you from water.” —Rumi

“We are more able than willing, often we imagine that things are impossible because we want to excuse ourselves in our own eyes.” —Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“We can complain of nothing but ourselves.” —Seneca

“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” —Carlos Castenada

“We should pledge ourselves to the proposition that the irresponsible life is not worth living.” —Thomas S. Szasz (1920–2012), Hungarian-born American psychiatrist

“We teach people that they upset themselves. We can’t change the past, so we change how people are thinking, feeling and behaving today.” —Albert Ellis

“What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do.” —Aristotle

“What poison is to food, self-pity is to life.” —Oliver C. Wilson

“Whatever may be, I am still largely the creator and ruler of my emotional destiny.” —Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper, A Guide to Rational Living, Third Edition, p. 252

“When people disturb themselves, they view ‘bad’ things as ‘awful’ or ‘terrible’ and think that they absolutely must not occur.” —Albert Ellis

“When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.” —Epictetus

“When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it. All else is madness.” —Eckhart Tolle

“While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.” —Helen Keller

“Who has a harder fight than he who is striving to overcome himself.” —Thomas à Kempis

“Who is a hero? He who conquers his will.” —Pirkei Avot, 4:1

“Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations.” —Ben Zoma, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1

“Who ranks as the highest? One who does not harm anything. One who never retaliates. One who is always at peace regardless of the other person’s disposition.” —Dhammapada: The Highest, verses 405–406

“Why is it that people are willing to take responsibility for their happiness or mild sadness but not their severe disturbance or great unhappiness?–why ego of course!” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“You are only as dependable as your word is reliable.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice 

“You are only as good as your word.” —Cecily Morgan

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” —Brian Tracy

“You cannot escape responsibility by avoiding it today.” —Abraham Lincoln

“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you find strength.” ―Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“You have to do the work, no one can do it for you.” —Dhammapada: The Right Way, verse 276

“You make the decisions to fulfill, to whatever extent, the potential life that exists within you.” —Hans Decoz

“You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control your attitude and how you deal with it.” —Unknown

“You shouldn’t live your life according to someone else’s expectations.” —Steven Aitchison

“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing things with logic. True power is restraint. If words control you that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.” —Unknown

“You’re only a victim to the degree of what your perception allows.” ―Shannon L. Alder

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” —Jim Rohn

“Your life does not get better by chance but by choice.” —Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

“Your life is a result of the choices you make. If you don’t like your life, it is time for you to start making better choices.” —Robert Mugabe

“Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission.” —Arnold Bennett


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