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120 Accountability Quotes For The Most Responsible Ones

120 Accountability Quotes For The Most Responsible Ones

Ever met a leader without the power of accountability? Me neither.

Every and each one of the great leaders knows the true power of this trait. Many people find it difficult to reach the stage of maturity in which they are able to express accountability.

However, this is one of the hardest traits to acquire. Because, we can all agree upon the fact that it is not really enjoyable to say in front of the whole team that this or that was your fault.

But you know what? Saying that you are accountable for your actions makes other people respect you. Because those who can say that they did something wrong (or right), are the same ones that have the most courage. 

Without further ado, let’s go through the best accountability quotes that I could gather from various sources online!

The Best Accountability Quotes That Are To The Point

1. “The right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

The right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same

2. “Never compromise your values.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

3. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” ― Les Brown

4. “As for the journey of life; at some point you will realize that YOU are the driver and you will drive!” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

5. “It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one's acts.

6. “If you think someone or something other than yourself is responsible for your happiness or success, I’d guess you’re not that happy or successful.” ― Rob Liano

7. “[Government] regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa.” ― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

8. “Bravery is the choice to show up and listen to another person, be it a loved one or perceived foe, even when it is uncomfortable, painful, or the last thing you want to do.” ― Alaric Hutchinson

9. “The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It’s as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

10. “Accountability means to say what you do, do what you say.” ― Pearl Zhu, Digital Agility: The Rocky Road from Doing Agile to Being Agile

Accountability means to say what you do, do what you say

Accountability Quotes For The Best Leaders

1. “Each day you are leading by example. Whether you realize it or not or whether it’s positive or negative, you are influencing those around you.” ― Rob Liano

Each day you are leading by example

2. “you don’t have to worry about burning bridges, if you’re building your own” ― Kerry E. Wagner

3. “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” ― Thomas Paine

4. “A president cannot defend a nation if he is not held accountable to its laws.” ― DaShanne Stokes

5. “Birth-certificate doesn’t certify birth, accountability does.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

Birth-certificate doesn't certify birth, accountability does

6. “He had learned that close-held secrets could often be cracked by going all the way to the top and there making himself unbearably unpleasant. He knew that such twisting of the tiger’s tail was dangerous, for he understood the psychopathology of great power.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

7. “Ignorance is a progressive thinker’s enemy; acceptance, awareness, accountability and action are the tools of the informed; of people who want change and do all they can to achieve it.” ― Carlos Wallace, The Other 99 T.Y.M.E.S: Train Your Mind to Enjoy Serenity

8. “Peace comes from within.  Do not seek it without.” ― Siddhārtha Gautama

9. “Try holding yourself accountable to yourself. If you had to give yourself a daily, weekly, or monthly report, would you be proud to talk about what you had done, or would you need to be prettying up things, bullshitting, or lying to keep your job?” ― Loren Weisman, The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business: The “Who, What, When, Where, Why & How” of the Steps that Musicians & Bands Have to Take to Succeed in Music

10. “Holding yourself accountable empowers you. It reminds you that you have agency and choice over the decisions you make.” ― Ash Alves

Holding yourself accountable empowers you

11. “A dream you dream together is not always a reality,

but it is definitely the first necessary step towards making it one.” ― Shellen Lubin

12. “In business, there is no avoiding being accountable to other people. You can choose who you want to be most accountable to, but you cannot avoid or minimize accountability. Your income will certainly and eternally be linked to other people’s satisfaction with your value creation.” ― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

13. “Revolution starts with inconvenient accountability.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

14. “Risk Management lets you appreciate the risk while you let someone else shoulder all the worry.” ― Anthony T. Hincks

15. “Right conscience must always be your best friend of influence: tied closer than even the yes-men who can send ruin.” ― Criss Jami

Right conscience must always be your best friend of influence

16. “Refusal to examine past sins has broken the American present. We are told to move on, but there is no moving on without accountability, and there is no accountability without the truth.” ― Sarah Kendzior, They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent

17. “Public ownership does not mean there is no ownership; we have to be accountable to small and great, seen and unseen, now and thereafter.” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

18. “Wanna build a just society! Don’t take anything for granted, don’t take anything as gospel.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

19. “Inert objects look good on the mantelpiece. That’s about all. They have no other role under the sun. Don’t be a showpiece on the mantelpiece my friend – be a mental piece, and blow your top every time you witness an injustice taking place, and do whatever is necessary to restrain the wrong.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

20. “Chronic excusers never take responsibility for their actions or accountability for the consequences either. They are under cover narcissists.” ― Janna Cachola

Chronic excusers never take responsibility for their actions or accountability for the consequences either

21. “It’s not my fault. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. If we keep telling ourselves that, then who should all the victims of the world go to for their apology?” ― Kim Hye-Jin, Concerning My Daughter

22. “It is only in the acknowledgement of what doesn’t work that we can create sufficient space to craft something that does. And arrogance is certain to become mired in defeat because it refuses to accept the former so that it might achieve the latter.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

23. “You are not good for your own sake. That probably isn’t even possible. You are good as a courtesy to everyone around you. Keeping a promise or breaking it, telling the truth or lying, matters to those around you. So there is good you can do and always do again. You do not have to believe you are good in order to act well in any specific case. You never lose that option.” ― Marilynne Robinson, Jack

24. “Under the name of guilds, friendships, brotherhoods, universities, etc., associations multiplied: for mutual defence, to avenge affronts suffered by some member of the association and to express solidarity, to replace ‘eye for an eye’ vengeance by compensation, followed by acceptance of the aggressor into the brotherhood” ― Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism, Anarchist Communism, and The State: Three Essays

25. “Work like a professional. Don’t sweat. Don’t complain.” ― Utibe Samuel Mbom, The Event Usher’s Handbook

Work like a professional

26. “Whether it’s from within or from an outside entity viewing you objectively, it takes some real honest awareness to grow. If you don’t realize that growth needs to occur, then there is a good chance you won’t do the work necessary to do it. Accept that there is deficiency within you and decide to show up the next day to work on it. It may take an effort that is uncomfortable, but there is growth and power this way.” ― Wallace Miles, UNDERR8TED: The Route That Caught an NFL Dream

27. “Leadership cannot be entrusted to those who fear accountability. It requires a lot of responsibility.” ― Gift Gugu Mona, The Effective Leadership Prototype for a Modern Day Leader

28. “It is the man or woman of wisdom who will recognize that to embrace the consequences of our choices, and to own the outcome of our behaviors is the single path to freedom, and that any other path will always, always, lead to enslavement.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

29.“Accountability is not just about being or feeling sorry— it is about a set of actions that demonstrate remorse in practice. And it is not the feeling of remorse that delivers us from our shame— it is the practice of accountability in action. It is doing sorry.” ― Danielle Sered, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair

30. “Great leaders do not fear accountability because it is part of their responsibility.” ― Gift Gugu Mona, The Effective Leadership Prototype for a Modern Day Leader

Great leaders do not fear accountability because it is part of their responsibility

Accountability Quotes For The Workspace

1. “When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.” ― David Brin

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else

2. “Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you’re grown up. Growing up means being patient, holding your temper, cutting out the self-pity, and quitting with the righteous indignation.’ 

‘Why do so many people seem to love righteous indignation?’

‘Because if you can prove you’re a victim, all rules are off. You can lash out at people. You don’t have to be accountable for anything.” ― Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

3. “To blame me in the past is a very future me thing to do. But what am I supposed to do, blame someone else for my mistakes? Somebody needs to be held accountable, and it certainly won’t be the version of me in that moment.” ― Jarod Kintz, There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can’t

4. “A human being is held accountable according to the amount of freedom he has.” ― Wendell Steavenson

5. “To attempt to separate power from accountability is to understand neither and be hurt by both.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

To attempt to separate power from accountability is to understand neither and be hurt by both

6. “True forgiveness of others involves not holding the sin against the person. However, it does not include not holding the person accountable for their actions.” ― Anthony J. Does, Blurry Daydream: When Faith Feels Like Make Believe

7. “In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person–Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates–ask them five questions: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.” ― Tony Benn

8. “Money doesn’t fix the world, responsibility does. Responsibility puts a roof over the homeless, responsibility puts food in empty stomachs, responsibility elevates the fallen and forgotten parts of the world.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

9. “Businesses are at all times and in different ways accountable to employees, suppliers, customers and community.” ― Hendrith Smith

10. “Everything happens for a reason! Mostly often because of the activities that precede it.” ― Peter Francis, Ph.D.

Everything happens for a reason! Mostly often because of the activities that precede it

See also: 80 Trust The Process Quotes To Feed Your Mind With Wisdom

Accountability Quotes For Love And Relationships

1. “The only people that can ruin a relationship or make that relationship work are the two people in it.” ― Rob Liano

The only people that can ruin a relationship or make that relationship work are the two people in it

2. “Everybody may not be guilty but everybody is responsible. We together are collectively accountable for the issues that threaten to ensare us all.” ― Daniel Taotua

3. “Personal spiritual development generates the anointing, integrity contains it while accountability sustains it.” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

4. “If you claim something to be what it is not because you dislike what it is, you have forever forfeited what it could have been in a trade-off for what it will never be.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

5. “To deliver humanity from inhumanity is the duty of every human.” ― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There’s No Social Work, Only Family Work

To deliver humanity from inhumanity is the duty of every human.

6. “There is a tricky balance inside a culture, a community, a family— inside each one of us with our relationship with ourselves—a tricky balance between holding forgiveness and holding accountability.” ― Shellen Lubin

7. “Collective wellbeing always involves some personal inconvenience, but if you ignore the wellbeing of the collective because it is inconvenient to you as an individual, then I’m afraid such mentality will only dump you and the collective back in the stoneage.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Bulldozer on Duty

8. “Choose yourself by yourself, be the chosen by choice.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Bulldozer on Duty

9. “Life finds a way when love finds a way, and love finds a way when the human makes a way.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

10. “Doing what is right may be painful to us,” she said, “but doing what is painful to others is rarely right.” ― Claudia Gray, The Murder of Mr. Wickham

Doing what is right may be painful to us

11. “Holding each other accountable comes from a place of love. Judgement comes from a place of fear, disdain, or even hate. So be careful about dressing your judgments up as accountability to make your conscience feel better.” ― Rachel Hollis, Girl Wash your Face

12. “There is no humanitarian crisis, there is just everyday, ordinary human indifference.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

13. “Today’s seed is tomorrow’s shade, but you must sow it first and nourish it with an uncorrupted accountability.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

14. “I have learned in the number of times that I have found myself with reckless men that when you meet a man who will harm you emotionally, he will have a story of a woman who left him high and dry. A man who tells you how hurt he was in the past warns you of his intentions.” ― Elelwani Anita Ravhuhali, From Seeking To Radiating Love: Evolution is unavoidable in the process of overpowering doubt

15. “Love is the only answer, there is no question, but it is a lover’s duty to stand up to oppression.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

Love is the only answer, there is no question, but it is a lover's duty to stand up to oppression

16. “Many men seem to enjoy telling stories of crazy women, often exempting themselves from any accountability over their contribution” ― Elelwani Anita Ravhuhali, From Seeking To Radiating Love: Evolution is unavoidable in the process of overpowering doubt

17. “Why is it, when the person *telling* the story about how angry or hurt you got, or why you stopped speaking to or doing business with them, or severed the relationship; that person always conveniently omits what THEY did, to contribute to the situation? If you don’t hesitate to bring the drama, you should be big enough to take credit for your supporting role.” ― Liz Faublas

18. “People can change, can rise up out of their ignorance, but only if they so choose.” ― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

19. “Forgiveness is telling ourselves that the ‘wrong’ that we did will not impede the ‘right’ that we can do.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

20. “I am my actions. I’m accountable.” ― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

I am my actions. I’m accountable

Accountability Quotes For Those Who Lack It

1. “We have to endure the discordance between imagination and fact. It is better to say, “I am suffering,” than to say, “This landscape is ugly.” ― Simone Weil

We have to endure the discordance between imagination and fact

2. “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.” ― Bill Bullard

3. “When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice.” ― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

4. “If you have not confronted true horrors, understood evil, suffered hopelessness and despair, found faith, and made yourself completely accountable for your own choices, actions and outcomes, then I can guarantee that any acceptance you pretend to have will be as brittle and temporary as a snowball in the middle of summer.” ― Graeme Rodaughan, The Crane War

5. “There is no almighty concerned of human welfare. Which is more reason for us to take care of each other.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

There is no almighty concerned of human welfare

6. “Until our world decides that every human matters, that everyone has a right to food and safety and freedom and healthcare and equality, it is the obligation of those privileged to have food and safety and freedom and healthcare and equality to fight tirelessly for those who do not.” ― L.R. Knost

7. “If people in the position of power are not made to be accountable, then, ungodliness, injustice and oppression will continue to be the order of the day in the society.” ― Sunday Adelaja, The Mountain of Ignorance

8. “You will not experience dramatic change in your struggle as long as you use accountability to describe your sins instead of declaring your need for help in the midst of temptation.” ― Heath Lambert, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace

9. “if you look in the mirror and see someone who is obviously overweight, that means you’re fuc*ing fat” ― David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

10. “A person who lacks accountability will still deny the karma they’re receiving, even when everything around them is burning to the ground.” ― Robin S. Baker

A person who lacks accountability will still deny the karma they're receiving, even when everything around them is burning to the ground

See also: 100 Eye-Opening Fake People Quotes To Avoid The Phonies

Self Accountability Quotes

1. “If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

If you hang out with chickens, you're going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you're going to fly

2. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” ― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

3. “There are a lot of black-hearted, mean-spirited bastards in the world. It’s important that we hold them to acount. But always remember that you might be the most black-hearted and mean-spirited in the lot, so hold yourself the most accountable of all.” ― Darren Shan, Zom-B Underground

4. “Rationally speaking, blaming one’s behavior on alcohol or drugs is like blaming the ladder by which you descended into a pit, or the staircase that took you down to a cellar, for what you found there.” ― Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

5. “When I’m at the bottom looking up, the main question may not be ‘how do I get out of this hole?’ In reality, the main question might be ‘how do I get rid of the shovel that I used to dig it?” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

When I’m at the bottom looking up, the main question may not be ‘how do I get out of this hole

6. “To survive is to face the truth that man made this extinction.

Survival and grief are too often felt together.

How do we live in a world without the millions who died in the pandemic?

How do we live in the same world with those responsible for the loss of so many of us?” ― Belle Townsend, Push and Pull

7. “Big revolution changes party, small everyday revolution changes paradigm.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

8. “The human body may have five senses, but the human being has only one – accountability.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Find A Cause Outside Yourself: Sermon of Sustainability

9. “Accountability can be hard to create on your own. And sometimes people get hung up on the idea of even asking for accountability. There’s an idea that if you have to ask for support, you must not want or deserve to accomplish that goal. However, accountability is essential and is a sign of your commitment, not of weakness.” ― Darcy Luoma, Thoughtfully Fit: Your Training Plan for Life and Business Success

10. “If you cannot live out the words that you are speaking, you cannot afford to speak.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

If you cannot live out the words that you are speaking, you cannot afford to speak

11. “Accountability is accepting the fact that the soup’s too salty, that there’s only one saltshaker in the kitchen, and that I’m the only one holding it. And an inability to accept any one of these three realities means that I prefer to spend my life blaming others for recipes gone bad because of the way that I handled the ingredients.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

12. “Coaches provide structure, support, and accountability that help clients focus on what they control. Identifying the places where they can make significant changes, instead of focusing on the frustrations beyond their control, enables them to achieve their goals faster.” ― Darcy Luoma, Thoughtfully Fit: Your Training Plan for Life and Business Success

13. “If I wish to write anything across the pages of your life that I do not wish to ascribe my name to, I probably need to ask what kind of stuff I’ve been writing across the pages of my own life.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

14. “No more excuses. No more self-sabotage. No more self-pity. No more comparing yourself to others. Time to step up. Take action right now and start living your life with purpose.⁠” ― Anthon St. Maarten

15. “The most problematic mistakes are the ones that we refuse to admit.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

The most problematic mistakes are the ones that we refuse to admit

16. “One of the clearest paths to building strong and healthy relationships is practicing mutual compassionate accountability.” ― Gina Senarighi, Love More, Fight Less: Communication Skills Every Couple Needs: A Relationship Workbook for Couples

17. “That I commit to a life of opening and learning, that I commit to learning at a speed that is vigilant and awake, that I commit to knowing where my empathies lean and why they lean there, that I become increasingly familiar with the why of what raises my voice, that I become increasingly familiar with the why of what lulls me to silence, that I be haunted by the ghosts of who my silences have harmed, that I acknowledge that haunting is love, that I trust love lives in whatever points at the dark, that I acknowledge that shame would likely be my laziest gesture, that I stop denying I am a whole person, and my wholeness is often unlovable, and my wholeness is often lovable, that I own the possibility that there isn’t a thing one could say about the person I am that I could wholeheartedly deny; All of it-yes, all of the ugly – yes, all of the beauty-, yes, I have failed and will continue to fail, I have loved and will continue to love, I am committed to leaning and opening, I want people around me who are committed to learning and opening, people who are failing and loving, people who are stalking their own vigilance, the speed of their own compassion saying, ‘FASTER FASTER FASTER.” ― Andrea Gibson, Take Me With You

18. “In one case, you’re hoping someone else will do the right thing. In the other case, you’re directing your own life, even if someone else does something stupid. Guess which path is going to be more successful.” ― Dennis Prager, No Safe Spaces

19. “Accountability should be void of color, religion, position, or socio-economic restrictions. If you are wrong, you are wrong.” ― Carlos Wallace

20.  “Accountability is the only real beginning to change.” ― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

Accountability is the only real beginning to change

See also: 100 Quotes On Life Struggles To Help You Fight Better

Accountability Quotes For You To Think About

1. “When people say “If I only knew then what I know now” makes me wonder why they aren’t using that wisdom now.” ― Rob Liano

When people say If I only knew then what I know now makes me wonder why they aren't using that wisdom now

2. “Not in order to justify, but simply in order to explain my lack of consistency, I say: Look at my present life and then at my former life, and you will see that I do attempt to carry them out. It is true that I have not fulfilled one thousandth part of them [Christian precepts], and I am ashamed of this, but I have failed to fulfill them not because I did not wish to, but because I was unable to. Teach me how to escape from the net of temptations that surrounds me, help me and I will fulfill them; even without help I wish and hope to fulfill them. Attack me, I do this myself, but attack me rather than the path I follow and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side! If it is not the right way, then show me another way; but if I stagger and lose the way, you must help me, you must keep me on the true path, just as I am ready to support you. Do not mislead me, do not be glad that I have got lost, do not shout out joyfully: “Look at him! He said he was going home, but there he is crawling into a bog!” No, do not gloat, but give me your help and support.”― Leo Tolstoy

3. “If every time we choose a turd, society, at a great expense, simply allows us to redeem it for a pepperoni, then not only will we never learn to make smart choices, we will also surrender the freedom to choose, because a choice without consequences is no choice at all.” ― Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

4. “Do they desire to join me in thanksgiving when they hear how, by your gift, I have come close to you, and do they pray for me when they hear how I am held back by my own weight? …A brotherly mind will love in me what you teach to be lovable, and will regret in me what you teach to be regrettable. This is a mark of a Christian brother’s mind, not an outsider’s–not that of ‘the sons of aliens whose mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity’ (Ps. 143:7 f.). A brotherly person rejoices on my account when he approves me, but when he disapproves, he is loving me. To such people I will reveal myself. They will take heart from my good traits, and sigh with sadness at my bad ones. My good points are instilled by you and are your gifts. My bad points are my faults and your judgements on them. Let them take heart from the one and regret the other. Let both praise and tears ascend in your sight from brotherly hearts, your censers. …But you Lord…Make perfect my imperfections” ― St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

5. “Corporations are like protean bacteria; you hit them with accountability and they mutate and change their names.” ― Doug Anderson

Corporations are like protean bacteria; you hit them with accountability and they mutate and change their names

6. “The evil of technology was not technology itself, Lindbergh came to see after the war, not in airplanes or the myriad contrivances of modern technical igenuity, but in the extent to which they can distance us from our better moral nature, or sense of personal accountability.” ― David McCullough, Brave Companions: Portraits in History

7. “all believers should “submit to each other out of reverence for Christ.” In many ways, wives should submit to their husbands in the same way any believer should submit to other believers, specifically by living according to the lifestyle the apostle Paul lays out earlier in the chapter. This mutual submission is an accountability to be held to God’s standards, an accountability in which both husband and wife are called to participate.” ― Janet Boynes

8. “Thus Peace Begins (The Sonnet)

Peace begins with society,

Society begins with individuality.

Individuality begins with liberty,

Liberty begins with accountability.

Accountability comes from unity,

Unity comes through community.

Community comes through diversity,

Diversity comes through inclusivity.

Inclusivity comes through nonrigidity,

Nonrigidity comes through curiosity.

Curiosity comes through expansivity,

Expansivity comes through evolvability.

Evolvability comes through taming animality.

Animality is tamed when we prioritize humanity.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

9. “Be nice,’ we’re often told,

        particularly we women–

        along with other populations under-appreciated

        and over-oppressed…

        Until recently, that has mostly been said to those without power…

        Because those in power didn’t have to be nice,

        were never expected to be nice.

        Recently it’s being said more often to those with great power,

        and there is value in that.”― Shellen Lubin

10. “We are not only accountable to God but to the people that we serve and also to our own selves.” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

We are not only accountable to God but to the people that we serve and also to our own selves

11. “Unless you muster the mettle to go against the most menacing monstrosity in your society all on your own, this world of ours will never foster a sentience without all the sickening psychosis of sectarianism, selfishness and superstition.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

12. “By the time I graduated, I knew that the confidence I’d managed to develop didn’t come from a perfect family or God-given talent. It came from personal accountability, which brought me self-respect, and self-respect will always light a way forward” ― David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

13. “If it is publicly owned then it calls for accountability; but if it is given then it is sacred and calls for moderation and consideration” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

14. “Sometimes moving forward requires looking backward. Institutions also need to hold themselves accountable and increase their awareness of how government agencies, systems, and leaders have enacted harm toward marginalized populations in the near and distant past.” ― Rohit Bhargava, Beyond Diversity

15. “If you think nobody is watching, remember, you are; one day you shall be a witness against yourself.” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

If you think nobody is watching, remember, you are; one day you shall be a witness against yourself

16. “I am here to build an army of self-sacrificing humanitarians across space and time, to march unafraid in the course of equality, inclusion and ascension, fortified with accountability, reason and acceptance. So my question to you is – are you that army? If you are, then chisel this in your brain with the indelible ink of determination – your gospel is goodness, your religion is service, your church is society.” ― Abhijit Naskar, When Veins Ignite: Either Integration or Degradation

17. “Colour blindness is often used to silence people of colour attempting to articulate the racism we face. When people of colour point this out, they’re accused of being racist against white people, and the accountability avoidance continues. Colour blindness does not accept the legitimacy of structural racism or a history of white racial dominance.”― Reni Eddo-Lodge

18. “Night fell. Yet, despite the day’s grueling efforts to rummage for food and secure safe habitation, the forest and its inhabitants drifted off to sleep in perfect unison. And I thought that none of them jostled for the position of another, or sought some better position for themselves out of avarice or greed or some baser agenda. Rather, each played its role admirably and found that in doing so all of those roles meshed in a now stilled unity. And staring at the stars with the crickets gently lulling a satisfied world to sleep, I wondered why we can’t be more like the woods.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

19. “There are certain rules of logic that science has to adhere to, and there are good reasons for that; faith by contrast ignores all of that outright, preferring to believe whatever makes one happy. I want people to understand that accuracy and accountability actually matter, not just in academics but also as a point of integrity and honor and as a general rule in life.” ― Aron Ra, Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

20. “Accountability is where the cowardice of my teetering self-image is wrangled into submission by the force of my ethics.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Accountability is where the cowardice of my teetering self-image is wrangled into submission by the force of my ethics

Final Word

Many of these accountability quotes might be a pill that is hard to swallow. But there will be a time when it will be necessary to be accountable for your own actions. 

Accountability earns you respect from your colleagues, your family members and your friends. The world needs more people that take responsibility for their actions, and I believe that you are one of those people who are responsible enough to do exactly so.

Keep on being just the way you are, and always seek improvement, even if you are the most accountable person there is. Why? Because – there is always some space to grow. 

I hope that you have found some accountability quotes that you can connect with!

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120 Accountability Quotes For The Most Responsible Ones