accountability quotes

I didn’t want to submit to the army and then, on the day of judgment, have God say to me, ‚Why did you do that?‘ This life is a trial, and you realize that what you do is going to be written down for Judgment Day.

Some people say that the climate crisis is something that we will have created, but that is not true, because if everyone is guilty then no one is to blame. And someone is to blame.

Being willing to donate the taxpayers‘ money is not the same as being willing to put your own money where your mouth is.

Some people will have to be afraid. Those who plunder the nation, deliver injustice, will have to feel scared of me. And I am not afraid of admitting this. Government cannot be so lenient that it forgives them.

Yes, sir, no, sir, clock in, clock out. Why were you late? Why are you not in today? That’s not how humans are supposed to live.

When people are lame, they love to blame.

I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.

I do take pride in saying that in spite of being in public life for so long, there is not a single case against me, not even for wrongly parking a scooter or driving on the wrong side.

To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.

You cannot be in a position of power and destroy the life of another person.

I repeat… that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.

Nobody is above the law. Imagine if there allegations against Modi and he is the Prime Minister. Should the case not be pursued just because he has become the PM. It should not be so that it should be stopped. I am not above the law.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping?

Responsibility, I believe, accrues through privilege.

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There’s always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

Politicians must set their aims for the high ground and according to our various leanings, Democratic, Republican, Independent, we will follow. Politicians must be told if they continue to sink into the mud of obscenity, they will proceed alone.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.

The real danger is not inaction. The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like action is happening when in fact nothing is being done.

The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that.

I always want to listen to people and receive good criticism, but I just don’t have to answer to them; I have to answer to God.

I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning.

We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence… on pain of liquidation.

To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust.

My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.

When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.

To restore the trust of the people, we must reform the way the government operates.

No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life.

A candidate is not going to suddenly change once they get into office. Just the opposite, in fact. Because the minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest light there is. And there is no way to hide who they really are.

Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.

You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you’re held responsible for everything, but you don’t always have control of everything, right?

I tend to feel if people say they’re going to do something, they will, if given the chance.

The government’s job is good governance for everybody. My government will make policies; if you fit into it, come on board, or stay where you are. My job is not to spoon-feed anyone.

If medical doctors can be sued for malpractice, shouldn’t financial professionals practice under the same safeguard?

I can see clearly now… that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate.

With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.

I strongly believe that for serious and violent criminals, we must absolutely hold them accountable for their crimes and send them to prison.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

As long as you blame someone or something else – something outside you that’s bigger than you are – as the source of your problems, the problems won’t get solved.

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

There’s a common perception among college administrators that they should conceal the high level of sexual assaults that take place on their campuses because it would bring discredit to the university, bring them a bad name if it was publicized.

Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end.

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.

If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

An individual step in character training is to put responsibility on the individual.

Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They’ve got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law.

Frankly, I think that the news industry is critically important because it points out things and surfaces truths that can often be uncomfortable. I think that that’s working, and the spotlight has been pointed on things that we have a responsibility to do better, and I accept that.

Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.

We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I’ll never avoid a controversial issue.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.

I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.

I let the American people down.

Trust, but verify.

I believe – we all pay taxes. I’m happy to pay it, but I hate to have it abused, money wasted, no accountability. That’s going to bother you.