Quotes about Taking Responsibility

“It came to me that reform should begin at home, and since that day I have not had time to remake the world.”
Will Durant, via Sunbeams (Page 120)

Only if you want to move forward, that is…

A Short Story About A Mom Who Had Enough—A Lesson For “No-Longer-Dependents”

Except: A short story about a mom who had enough. She was tired, irritable, and sick. And her family kept using her as a crutch. Here’s what she did.

“Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.”
Thomas Merton, via Sunbeams (Page 115)

“Your character defects are not where you’re bad, but where you’re wounded. But no matter who or what caused the wound, it’s yours now and you’re responsible for it. The only person who can bring it up and release it is you. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where you got your character defects anyway. They’re yours now. You can’t live with a sign around your neck saying, ‘It’s not my fault. My parents were difficult.’ Your only way out of your conundrum is to take total responsibility for those defects.”
Marianne Williamson, The Shadow Effect (Page 171)

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

“On tough days we might say, ‘My work is overwhelming,’ or ‘My boss is really frustrating.’ If only we could understand that this is impossible. Someone can’t frustrate you, work can’t overwhelm you—these are external objects, and they have no access to your mind. Those emotions you feel, as real as they are, come from the inside, not the outside.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 88)

“A man who is willing to undertake the discipline and the difficulty of mending his own ways is worth more to the conservation movement than a hundred who are insisting merely that the government and industries mend their ways.”
Wendell Berry, via Sunbeams (Page 51)

Choose Your Hard

“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Unknown

Beyond the Quote (336/365)

We’re wired to follow the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t last. In fact, in almost every case, it only makes life harder later. It’s the principle of delayed gratification (more on this below).

So, while life can be easier from choosing the easier options, the truth is, it’s only a temporary easier. Experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And take heed, hard now and hard later are not created equal.

“Successful outcomes are never the result of a single choice. They are built up through good choices over time. A profitable business is never a choice, it is a series of choices. A fit body is never a choice, it is a series of choices. A strong relationship is never a choice, it is a series of choices.”
James Clear, Blog

“My ability to respond is limitless, but my ability to act is limited. I am one hundred percent responsible for everything I am and everything I am not, for my capacities and my incapacities, for my joys and my miseries. I am the one who determines the nature of my experience in this life and beyond. I am the maker of my life.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 66)

“The most horrific things in life can be a source of nourishment if you accept, ‘I am responsible for the way I am now.’ It is possible to transform the greatest adversity into a stepping-stone for personal growth. If you take one hundred percent responsibility for the way you are now, a brighter tomorrow is a possibility. But if you take no responsibility for the present—if you blame your parents, your friend, your husband, your girlfriend, your colleagues for the way you are—you have forsaken your future even before it comes.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 58)

“Only if you realize you are responsible do you have the freedom to create yourself the way you want to be, not as a reaction to the situations in which you exist. Reactivity is enslavement. Responsibility is freedom. When you are able to create yourself the way you want, you can create your life the way you want as well. Your outer life may not be a hundred percent in your control, but your inner life always will.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 53)

“Whenever we have had to do something about our lives, we have taken it into our hands. Whenever it comes to other people’s misfortunes, we have a word to explain it: destiny. And what a convenient word that is. Destiny has become a popular scapegoat, a way to deal with failure, a fatalistic ruse to reconcile ourselves to all kinds of uncomfortable situations. But turning inward is the first step from passivity to agency—from being a victim toward becoming a master of your own destiny.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 40)

Kerry Washington Quote on Heroes and How Hero Worship Should Come To An End

In response to the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “It feels like we’re losing so many of our heroes this year, you know, John Lewis and Chadwick Boseman, and it just is like how is this possible? And I really do think there’s something about the idea that we’re being invited to realize that our heroes are human, which means that we all have the capacity to be the heroes of our communities and our lives and our story. The time for hero worship is maybe coming to an end and it’s time for us to all stand up and serve. These singular people can’t shoulder all the weight.”
Kerry Washington, Ellen

Beyond the Quote (264/365)

Our heroes are human. They always have been. They have the same amount of time in their days as we do. They have the same basic needs for survival, too. And they certainly live lives filled with problems and challenges just like each of us. So, what’s the difference between the average human and our “heroes?” I like to think that the scale of their impact and influence is in proportion to how they choose to be selfish and in how they choose to be selfless.

Excerpt: Inspired by a quote from Naval Ravikant, this post is about taking responsibility for your own life and depending less on others to do the “saving” for you. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Teachers won’t make you smart. Mentors won’t make you rich. It’s all up to YOU. Save yourself.

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
John F. Kennedy

Beyond the Quote (242/365)

With election season coming up it’s going to be easier than usual to get sucked into dividing lines, finger pointing, and blame shaming. And while fighting to ensure people take proper responsibility for their actions is a worthy and righteous fight, it also shouldn’t blind you to your own fight.

“To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It’s astounding how powerful this ownership is.”
Kevin Kelly, Blog

Quote about Curating Every Aspect Of Your Life and Never Settling For Less Than Your Best

“Don’t settle for nice, for pleasant, for familiar. Keep looking until you find something that really moves you, that resonates with your core. And I mean this for people, for interests, for hobbies, for your possessions, clothes, music, books, art. Everything. Curate every aspect of your life, as much as you can. It’s in the things that deeply inspire us that we find ourselves. Surround yourself with truth, and you’ll have build yourself a heaven.”
Unknown

Beyond the Quote (201/365)

Curate every aspect of your life because if you don’t then there will be aspects of your life that aren’t curated. Sounds like a, “duh” kind of statement, I know, but, to curate suggests a very personal process that involves choosing what and who to allow, what and who to avoid, what and who to include, and what and who to block out.