Quotes about Responsibility
Why has he taken this job?... For the sake of the dogs? But the dogs are dead; and what do dogs know of honour and dishonour anyway? For himself then. For his idea of the world, a world in which men do not use shovels to beat corpses into a more convenient shape for processing.
— JM Coetzee
We are all sorry when we are discovered. Then we are very sorry.It's not the question if we're sorry. The question is did we draw a lesson? The question is: what are we going to do now, when we're sorry?
— JM Coetzee
The planting is reserved for those who come after us and have the foresight to bring seed. I only clear the ground for them. Clearing ground an piling stones is little enough, but it is better than sitting in idleness.
— JM Coetzee
Technically he is old enough to be her father; but then, technically one can be a father at twelve.
— JM Coetzee
Women's beauty doesn't belong to the women herself. She's the part of treasure, which she brings into the world. It's her duty to share it.
— JM Coetzee
The question is not, are we sorry? The question is, what lesson have we learned? The question is what are we going to do now that we are sorry?
— JM Coetzee
What if...what if that is the price one has to pay for staying on? Perhaps that is how they look at it: perhaps that is how I should look at it too. They see me as owing something. They see themselves as debt collectors, tax collectors. Why should I be allowed to live here without paying?
— JM Coetzee
This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.
— Jack Kerouac
It was men who stopped slavery. It was men who ran up the stairs in the Twin Towers to rescue people. It was men who gave up their seats on the lifeboats of the Titanic. Men are made to take risks and live passionately on behalf of others.
— John Eldredge
The first thing the secretary types is the boss.
— Donald Trump
A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
White people must speak out against black racism, no matter where it rears its ugly head.
— Jesse Lee Peterson