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Quotes

“A man is worthy of praise or blame solely on account of those actions which lie within his power to do or not to do.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense. An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.

Ayn Rand · The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z, 1986 · Primary source

“God helps them that help themselves.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · My Day, 1935-1962 · Primary source

“The sad news is, nobody owes you a career. Your career is literally your business.”

Andrew S. Grove · Only the Paranoid Survive, 1996 · Primary source

“If you’d have a servant that you like, serve yourself.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“We cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. Toward this end, each of us must work toward his own highest development, accepting at the same time his share of responsibility in the general life of humanity—our particular duty being to help those to whom we feel we can be most useful.”

Marie Curie · Madame Curie: A Biography, 1938 · Secondary source

“Above all, he liked it that everything was one’s own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. And luck in all its moods had to be loved and not feared.”

Ian Fleming · Casino Royale, 1953 · Primary source

“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Self-Reliance, 1841 · Primary source

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Friendship, 1841 · Primary source

“I heartily accept the motto,—‘That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.”

Henry David Thoreau · Resistance to Civil Government, 1849 · Primary source

“The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1961 · Primary source

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

“I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · No reliable source

Works

Henry David Thoreau · 1849
Resistance to Civil Government

An argument for individual conscience over unjust state authority, examining taxation, slavery, war, resistance, and the moral limits of government.

Read summary·Explore 7 quotes
Theodore Roosevelt · 1910
Citizenship in a Republic

An address on citizenship in democratic societies, examining civic duty, individual responsibility, public service, equality, liberty and political conduct.

Read summary·Explore 1 quotes
Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1844
New England Reformers

An examination of New England reform movements, considering their ambitions, limitations, social experiments, and Emerson’s emphasis on individual moral development.

Read summary·Explore 2 quotes

Tags

Personal responsibility 4