Ann Patchett Quotes

We are responsible for actions performed in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible.

The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless.

Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe in that. You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.

I am inclined to believe that a man may be free to do anything he pleases if only he will accept responsibility for whatever he does.

Since we own our bodies, we also inevitably own the effects of our actions, be they good or bad. If we own the effects of our actions, then clearly we own that which we produce, whether what we produce is a bow, or a book - or a murder.

Sometimes, when I hear people without experience of addiction blame addicts for their behaviour, I feel like saying to them: 'You simply don't understand - how can a child be held responsible for doing such a dreadful thing to himself?' But then again, at other times I have to acknowledge: it was done wilfully.

One person's embarrassment is another person's accountability.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.

Everybody's got to do what they've got to do.

It is up to us to make the right choice and the right decisions.

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.

If a movie is received badly, and I'm in only one scene of it, I still feel responsible. I feel like it was my fault at all times. If people were like, 'This movie sucks!' I'd be like, 'Well, that's because I'm terrible.'

I will begin with this confession: whatever I have done in the course of my life, whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I am a free agent.

Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices.

Six men can carry you or 12 men can judge you. You decide!

When people stop believing they are free agents, they stop seeing themselves as blameworthy for their actions.

That, Madam, is my misfortune, not my fault.

Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.

If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all.

When one has genuinely chosen a course for oneself it cannot be possible to hold another responsible for it.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.

It's a choice, Annabel. And if you make the wrong one, you have only yourself to blame when there are consequences.

There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner.

When we say that leadership is a choice, it basically means you can choose the level of initiative you want to exercise in response to the question, ‘What is the best I can do under the given circumstances?’

You have agency, and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices.