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Quotes about Accepting Responsibility

    “Misery has no outer cause; the cause is inner. You go on throwing the responsibility outside yourself, but that is just an excuse. Yes, misery is triggered from the outside, but the outside does not create it. When somebody insults you, the insult comes from the outside, but the anger is inside you. The anger is not caused by the insult, it is not the effect of the insult, If there were no anger energy in you, the insult would have remained impotent. It would have simply passed, and you would not have been disturbed by it.”

    Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 175)

      “The thing about money, sex, and success is that when you don’t have them, you can justify your misery—shit, if I had money, sex, and success, I’d feel great! However misguided that may be, it psychologically permeates as hope. But once you are rich, famous, successful—and you’re still insecure and unhappy—the terrifying thought begins to lurk: Maybe the problem is me.”

      Will Smith, Will (Page 151)

        “There is much in life we cannot control, with death as the ultimate example of this. We will experience illness and physical pain. We will go through separations with people. We will face failures from our own mistakes and the nasty malevolence of our fellow humans. And our task is to accept these moments and even embrace them, not for the pain but for the opportunities to learn and strengthen ourselves. In doing so, we affirm life itself, accepting all of its possibilities.”

        Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 449)

          “Either don’t blame anyone…or blame yourself. For whatever happens. For everything that happens. Those are the options.”

          Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog

            “You alone plan to commit a sin, you alone plan to do evil; and you alone can escape sin and purify your thoughts. Only your inner self can damn you, and only your inner self can save you.”

            Dhammapada, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 236)

              “Individual goodness and individual evil both have the power to spread goodness and evil throughout the world.”

              Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 167)

                “Remember that you are an actor in a play, playing a character according to the will of the playwright—if a short play, then it’s short; if long, long. If he wishes you to play the beggar, play even that role well, just as you would if it were a cripple, a honcho, or an everyday person. For this is your duty, to perform well the character assigned you. That selection belongs to another.”

                Epictetus, via The Daily Stoic (Page 333)