Accountability is not a one-time, sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing. Inspirational accountability quotes will challenge the way you think, change the way you live and transform your whole life.
If you’re searching for greatest quotes on character and cheeky quotes that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of quotes on curiosity, quotes on envy, and famous humility quotes.
Most Famous Accountability Quotes
Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have. – Pat Summitt
Eventually we all have to accept full and total responsibility for our actions, everything we have done, and have not done. – Hubert Selby Jr.
Wisdom stems from personal accountability. We all make mistakes; own them… learn from them. Don’t throw away the lesson by blaming others. – Steve Maraboli
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. – Lao Tzu
You are accountable for your actions, your decisions, your life; no one else is, but you. – Catherine Pulsifer
At the end of the day we are accountable to ourselves – our success is a result of what we do. – Catherine Pulsifer
When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines the kind of men we are. – Ceasar Chavez
A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last. – Joseph Fort Newton
Accountability breeds response-ability. – Stephen R. Covey
In reality, we all have our lives, and the accountability for the achievement of our dreams and goals falls strictly on our own shoulders. – Thomas Matt
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. – Mahatma Gandhi
Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility before they place blame. – Courtney Lynch
To move the world, we must first move ourselves. – Socrates
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
I believe that accountability is the basis of all meaningful human achievement. – Sam Silverstein
My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you I the best place for the next moment. – Oprah Winfrey
In life we can have results or reasons. If you are not getting the results you want, your reasons are the lies that you keep telling yourself. – Harald Anderson
When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else. – David Brin
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. – Epictetus
Creating a culture of integrity and accountability not only improves effectiveness, it also generates a respectful, enjoyable and life-giving setting in which to work. – Tom Hanson
Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions. – John Di Lemme
We have a problem when the same people who make the law get to decide whether or not they themselves have broken the law. – Michel Templet
Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability. – Wes Fessler
We are all responsible and accountable for what we do or say even if those behaviors occur in stressful times. – Byron Pulsifer
Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. – Les Brown
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
To let oneself be bound by a duty from the moment you see it approaching, is a part of integrity that alone justifies responsibility. – Dag Hammarskjold
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. – Moliere
Your life is what your thoughts make it. – Marcus Aurelius
My experience is that accountability is an extremely powerful tool to align an organization toward its objectives. – Susan Gomez
Accountability is a statement of personal promise, both to yourself and to the people around you, to deliver specific defined results. – Brian Dive
Be accountable for doing the right things. This means ethical execution of the activities that will actually support the goals you have chosen for yourself. – Sam Silverstein
There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. – Denis Waitley
When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself. – Louis Nizer
A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for injury. – John Stuart Mill
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody. – Thomas Paine
Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility. – Sigmund Freud
You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself. – Leonardo da Vinci
If I could give one tip for people – it’s not an exercise or nutrition regimen. It’s to walk your talk and believe in yourself, because at the end of the day, the dumbbell and diet don’t get you in shape. It’s your accountability to your word. – Brett Hoebel
Motivational Accountability Quotes
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. – Benjamin Franklin
…if a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything. – Claude Mckay
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. – Stanislaw Lec
Responsibility brings accountability. – Ken Robins
The benefits and possibilities that are created by being personally accountable are countless. – Jay Fiset
I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion. – Mia Hamm
It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served. – Napolean Hill
The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that’s the day you start to the top. – O. J. Simpson
Accountability is a key concept in moving an organization forward, especially in a challenging business climate. – Cindy Tucker
Accountability is the measure of a leaders height. – Jeffrey Benjamin
The reason people blame things on the previous generation is that there’s only one other choice. – Doug Larson
Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands. – Clint Eastwood
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. – Plato
I believe in the soul. Furthermore, I believe, it is prompt accountability for one’s choices, a willing acceptance of responsibility for one’s thoughts, behavior, and actions that makes it powerful. – Alice Walker
Take accountability… Blame is the water in which many dreams and relationships drown. – Steve Maraboli
What you do, tells me everything about you. – Jerry Fernandez
A wrong decision can make me very miserable. But I have trust in God. If you have this trust you don’t have to worry, as you don’t have sole responsibility. – Alfred Thompson
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. – William Shakespeare
Individuals and teams have a sense of ownership, and are focused, disciplined and collaborative, while holding each other accountable for outcomes. – Di Worrall
We preach accountability. A player has to understand what he’s doing and why. And we have to be responsible for improving them. – Jeff Banister
God judges men according to the use they make of the light which He gives them. – Joseph Smith
God gave burdens, also shoulders. – Yiddish Proverb
The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit of doing them. – Benjamin Jowett
If you let other people do it for you, they will do it to you. – Robert Anthony
If you can’t stand the heat, you’d better get out of the kitchen. – Harry S. Truman
An honest man is not accountable for the vice and folly of his trade, and therefore ought not to refuse the exercise of it. – Michel de Montaigne
People are more inclined to pass the buck than they are to take responsibility. The fact is, though, passing the buck doesn’t build your character or give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. – Marshall Goldsmith
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The pride of man hopes but to blame God for the evils of the world, and to praise himself for the good. – Criss Jami
Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses. – George Washington Carver
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off. – General Colin Powell
Each player must accept the cards life deals him: but once they are in hand, he alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. – Voltaire
It is in your best interest to recognize that there is a difference between being responsible and taking responsibility. You Have the Freedom and Power to Choose. – Christopher Avery
The worst thing that can happen to you as a young person, is to refuse to grow up. You refuse to grow up when you believe that someone else must take responsibility for your life and life circumstances. – Saidi Mdala,
A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer. – Dean Acheson
It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them. – Alfred Adler
Never promise more than you can perform. – Publilius Syrus
You are the reason of your own good-luck and bad-luck; success and failure; happiness and pain. Your choices are responsible for your present. Don’t blame someone else for your sufferings or failures. – Sanjeev Himachali
Every person’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of that person. – Samuel Butler
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities. – Sir Josiah Stamp
The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it. – Lou Holtz
Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account. – Benjamin Franklin
Duties are not performed for duty’s sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty – the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself. – Mark Twain
Mankind must put an end to war, before war puts an end to mankind. – John F. Kennedy
Life is not accountable to us. We are accountable to life. – Denis Waitley
If a picture speaks a thousand words, your actions forever record what you believe in. – Jerry Fernandez
If we want unity, we must all be unifiers. If we want accountability, each of us must be accountable for all we do. – Christine Gregoire
When accountability is present, people keep their eyes on a very clear prize. They know what they are working toward and how they are going to get there. – Henry J. Evans
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. – Thessalonians
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Hebrews
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. – Edmund Burke
Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility . . . . In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility. – Michael Korda
Understanding the true meaning of accountability makes us strong and enables us to learn – Sameh Elsayed
Deep Accountability Quotes
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Thomas Jefferson
The price of greatness is responsibility. – Winston Churchill
On good teams coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable. – Joe Dumars
You can make any promises as long as you are not going to be there to fulfill them. – Pawan Mishra
The first step to creating a wealthy life is starting from wherever you are today. That self-honesty takes the highest level of personal accountability. – Loral Langemeier
Our tradition calls for a commitment to accountability. This is not an assumption – this is a promise that I will be there for you; and I can count on you being there for me. – Bob Ladouceur
Leaders must develop a lower threshold for alibis and become better communicators and enforcers of what they want done. Holding people accountable to high standards and results is nothing to apologize for. Failing to stretch them to their potential is. – Dave Anderson
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
Accountability is the glue that bonds commitment to results. – Will Craig
Restoring responsibility and accountability is essential to the economic and fiscal health of our nation. – Carl Levin
If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes. – Henry Cloud
As for the journey of life; at some point you will realize that you are the driver and you will drive! – Steve Maraboli
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s just that we’re all accountable for our own happiness. And being happy does matter. It’s up to each of us to find out what shape or form that takes. – Peter Jennings
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be. – William James
Where there is no accountability, there will also be no responsibility. – Sunday Adelaja
Some want, to be exempt. They do not want to excel, they do not want to exert. They want to be considered excellent, for desiring to be held exempt, from all accountability. – Justin K. McFarlane Beau
Anyone can possess, anyone can profess, but it is an altogether different thing to confess. – Shannon L. Alder
Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together. – Napoleon Hill
Intentions do not insulate us from the consequences of our actions. – Jon D Harrison
Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability. – Wes Fessler
The only way we succeed as a group is not simply following directions, but in keeping each other accountable for our actions. – A.J. Darkholme
Accountability and self-responsibility are critical to our success in personal, professional and public life. However, we often look for those character traits in others, rather than inculcating them in ourselves. – Vishwas Chavan
It is what it is, but it will become what you make it. – Abraham Lincoln
Talent is part of the equation, but when you combine talent with accountability and authenticity, it is tough to beat. – David Ross
To function effectively, a business requires leaders who are accountable for driving success. – Barry Linetsky
No one is perfect, and we all understand that, but when we decide to make that lifelong commitment, we need to weigh the cost and know God is holding us accountable for the commitments we make. – Dr. Kenton D. Wiley
To be accountable or to be a victim is one of those elemental decisions that everyone needs to make. Simply, the former leads you to a happier and more rewarding life. – Rob Pitfield
The notion of accountability has emerged as a human tool to motivate people – do what you’re supposed to do or you’ll be held to account. – Art Horn
To take responsibility for yourself as a leader and person; you need to learn to unlearn bad habits, and learn from your mistakes. – Andrea Reibmayr
Where there is no accountability, there will also be no responsibility. – Sunday Adelaja
You steadily grow into becoming your best as you choose to be accountable and accept responsibility for improvement. – Steve Shallenberger
Make yourself accountable and your employees will hold themselves to a high standard. – David J. Greer
Open collaboration encourages greater accountability, which in turn fosters trust. – Ron Garan
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul. – William Ernest Henley
Accountability means to say what you do, do what you say. – Pearl Zhu
For most people, blaming others is a subconscious mechanism for avoiding accountability. In reality, the only thing in your way is YOU. – Steve Maraboli
On one side of accountability is courage, on the other is freedom. – Jean Hamilton-Fford
To be accountable means that we are willing to be responsible to another person for our behavior and it implies a level of submission to another’s opinions and viewpoints. – Wayde Goodall
When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself. – Louis Nizer
With a company full of accountable people, extraordinary things, even the entirely unexpected, tend to happen. – Roger Connors
Blame is the coward’s solution to his fear of accountability. – Craig D. Lounsbrough
Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not something to be waited for, but rather something to be achieved. – William Jennings Bryan
The time has come to carry accountability forward, to take it offline and into the real world. To share our lives with just a few people we really, truly, honestly trust. – Craig Gross
Accountability is – first and foremost – about being reliable. To get a good picture of your personal accountability, you may want to periodically ask yourself, Can people count on me to do what I say I’ll do, as I said I would do it? – Henry J. Evans
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford
Accountability crumbles silos, boosts teamwork and collaboration, strengthens camaraderie, creativity, resiliency, agility, trust, and communication. – Mike Evans
Ownership: ‘A commitment of the head, heart, and hands to fix the problem and never again affix the blame. – John G. Miller
Building a culture in which people take accountability to deliver on its promises is hard work and can be difficult to accomplish. Only when every person is held accountable to themselves, their peers, and their shared possibility can the impossible become possible. – Ginger Graham
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. – Khalil Gibran
Blaming, whining, deflecting accountability, risk aversion, and resistance to change are but a handful of symptoms of the adversity-beaten individual and organization. – Paul G. Stoltz
To achieve life mastery and be worthy of a life well lived, we must take action, ownership, and responsibility for our choices. Our date with destiny is not about reaching a final destination. It is about how fully we live the journey. – Will Craig
Don’t get up from the feast of life without paying for your share of it. – W. R. Inge
Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be. – Eleanor Roosevelt
The benefit of truly accountable leaders is that they are able to create effective structures where their staff know what is expected of them, and can improve the business for customers. – Jane Storm
Neither age nor experience matters when it comes to being personally accountable for any and all outcomes- no excuses whatsoever- be they positive or negative, nor shifting blame to other people or to external factors. – Kory Livingstone
Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances…to choose one’s own way. – Victor Frankl
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about habit development is that you need accountability to stick to a major goal. It’s not enough to make a personal commitment. – S. J. Scott
Truly accountable leadership is the only way to build an organization that can not only survive in our increasingly complicated world but also grow and thrive. – Vince Molinaro
As you think, so shall you become. – Bruce Lee
Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him. – Aldous Huxley
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. – Maria Robinson
The corporation is the creature of the state. It should always be held accountable to some sovereign, and this accountability shoul be real and not a sham. – Theodore Roosevelt
What we are missing, utterly and completely, in this government is accountability. – Paul Hawken
