For a happy and fulfilling life, it is crucial that you take complete responsibility for yourself and the choices that you make in your life.
When you don’t take complete responsibility for your life, you’re more likely to keep blaming others, complaining about everything and not actually doing anything on your own to change things around you.
The reason you should take full responsibility for your life
You have no control over anyone except yourself.
How will blaming somebody else or complaining about how things aren’t going your way benefit you?
Blaming others or making excuses is not going to solve your problems or allow you to grow as a person. Because by doing that you are expecting others to change or behave in a certain way.
These are futile expectations.
However, when you do take complete responsibility for your life, you learn to deal with your life in a better way and you don’t feel overwhelmed by the negative experiences. You don’t waste your time in complaining about why everything is so unfair and why you are not able to achieve your goals.
Instead, you become aware of the opportunities around you and you strive to change things for the better by actually taking necessary action. You realize that you have the power to steer your life in the right direction.
What taking responsibility for your life is not
Taking full responsibility for your life doesn’t mean that you engage in self blame. In fact, it’s the other way round. You become more self compassionate by letting go of all types of blame – be it self blame or blaming the external. Instead you shift your energy toward finding solutions instead of focusing too long on the problems.
Similarly, you accept your faults (without blame) and learn from them and hence achieve personal growth.
Everyone has flaws/imperfections and everyone makes mistakes. But the path to personal growth is to accept your mistakes. Through acceptance comes learning and from learning comes growth.
Where do I begin?
Yes, it’s natural to engage in blame (don’t beat yourself over it), but as long as you stay aware of this behavior, you can limit it and shift your energy to things that matter.
So the answer to taking responsibility is to – ‘Stay Aware‘. Stay aware of your thoughts, self talk and habits and you will slowly overcome your negative behaviors.
Remember this mantra – ‘when you blame others, you give your power away and when you take responsibility, you take back your power – to make things happen.‘
50 Quotes on taking responsibility
The following is a list of handpicked quotes that will motivate you to take more responsibility for your life and move forward on the path to happiness and growth.
The quotes have been split into the following categories:
- Quotes on the power of taking responsibility
- Quotes on freedom and taking responsibility
- Quotes that you are solely responsible for your life
Quotes on the power of taking responsibility
1. It is only when you take responsibility for your life that you discover how powerful you truly are.
– Allanah Hunt
2. When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.
– Dalai Lama
3. The moment you take responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you can change anything in your life.
– Hal Elrod
4. The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things.
– Stephen Covey
5. Take responsibility — it’s where your powers live.
– Will Craig
6. The secret ingredients to true happiness? Decisive optimism and personal responsibility.
– Amy Leigh Mercree
7. Making someone responsible for your misery also makes them responsible for your happiness. Why give that power to anyone but yourself?
– Scott Stabile
8. 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
9. Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame. Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you.
– Ralph Marston
10. Stop pointing fingers and placing blame on others. Your life can only change to the degree that you accept responsibility for it.
– Steve Maraboli
11. When you choose freedom, you also choose responsibility.
– Richie Norton
12. Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.
– Les Brown
13. By taking responsibility for yourself, you can stop relying on others to take responsibility for you.
– Vironika Tugaleva
14. You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstance, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.
– Jim Rohn
15. The victim mindset dilutes the human potential. By not accepting personal responsibility for our circumstances, we greatly reduce our power to change them.
– Steve Maraboli
16. There are two primary choices in life: To accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
–
17. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
18. Until you accept responsibility for your life, someone else runs your life.
– Orrin Woodward
19. Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life – is the source from which self-respect springs.
– Joan Didio
20. The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.
– Vera Nazarian
21. The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.
– Stanley Milgram
22. Responsibility is a grace you give yourself, not an obligation.
– Dan Millman
23. When we have begun to take charge of our lives, to own ourselves, there is no longer any need to ask permission of someone.
– George O’Neil
24. Taking responsibility for oneself is by definition an act of kindness.
– Sharon Salzberg
25. Accepting personal responsibility for your life frees you from outside influences – increases your self-esteem – boosts confidence in your ability to make decisions – and ultimately leads to achieving success in life.
– Roy T. Bennett
26. Taking personal accountability is a beautiful thing because it gives us complete control of our destinies.
– Heather Schuck
27. Personal responsibility leads to national transformation.
– Sunday Adelaja
28. The greatest people are ‘great’ because they’re willing to admit their greatest faults.
– Craig D. Lounsbrough
29. Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
30. A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make.
– Denis Waitley
31. When you start to accept responsibility for the results you get in life, you also take back the power to change your future outcome.
– Kevin Ngo
Quotes on freedom and taking responsibility
32. Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.
– Sigmund Freud
33. Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
– George Bernard Shaw
34. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.
– Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life
35. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one’s self.
– Max Stirner
36. The price of greatness is responsibility.
– Winston Churchill
Quotes that you are solely responsible for your life
37. If you want to change something about yourself, you need to be willing to take full responsibility for yourself. If you are going to hide behind stories and excuses, it won’t work!
– Akiroq Brost
38. Take responsibility for your own greatness, no one can take that courage walk for you.
– January Donovan
39. The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
– Anne Frank
40. If you own this story you get to write the ending.
– Brené Brown
41. Take responsibility for your own happiness. Do not expect people or things to bring you happiness, or you could be disappointed.
– Rodolfo Costa
42. Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
– Adrienne Rich
43. You are never responsible for the actions of others; you are only responsible for you.
– Miguel Ruiz
44. You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.
– Oprah Winfrey
45. There’s not a chance we’ll reach our full potential until we stop blaming each other and start practicing personal accountability.
– John G. Miller
46. Stop blaming other people for your own behavior! Own the truth. If you don’t like it, then invest the time and energy to change it.
– Akiroq Brost
47. Blame is the coward’s solution to his fear of accountability.
– Craig D. Lounsbrough
48. The power behind taking responsibility for your actions lies in putting an end to negative thought patterns. You no longer dwell on what went wrong or focus on whom you are going to blame. You don’t waste time building roadblocks to your success. Instead, you are set free and can now focus on succeeding.
– Lorii Myers
49. Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.
50. Responsibility is the thing people dread the most of all. Yet it is the one thing in the world that develops us, gives us manhood or womanhood fiber.
– Dr. Frank Crane
By taking responsibility for your life, you allow yourself to unleash your full potential and remove any hindrance in the way of your journey to success.
Also Read: 101 Quotes On The Power Of Being Yourself.
