Bob Greene Quotes

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply. It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.

Years ago I learned to be totally responsible for Dionne Warwick. I will not wait for opportunities. I will create them.

We must create our own world.

You must create your own world. I am responsible for my world.

We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We're told every day, You can't change the world. But the world is changing every day. Only question is who's doing it? You or somebody else?

Do not wait for me to do something for your rights. It's your world and you can change it.

There's not a party, a congressman, a senator, etc. elected that will fix your life. YOU have to fix YOUR life.

Don't worry. Don't apologize. Don't cower behind the defeated security of there is no 'room for someone like me'. There isn't room for any one of us. It's up to you to make a place for yourself in the world. So get to work.

A person cannot coast along in old destructive habits year after year and accept whatever comes along. A person must stand up on her own two legs and walk. Get off the bus and go get on another. Climb out of the ditch and cross the road. Find the road that s where you want to go. ... The only sermon that counts is the one that is formed by our actions. She would quit drinking and thereby show Kyle life is what you make it. A person can grab hold of her life and change things for the better. This happens all the time. We are not chips of wood drifting down the stream of time. We have oars.

Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t expect Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.

Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves.

A lot of my work concerns a crisis of agency - what can we do?

If someone else isn't making it happen for you, make it happen yourself.

A strenuous effort must be made to train young people to think for themselves and take independent charge of their lives.

I'm not blaming my mom for my life because I am responsible for me, and nobody can change me or ruin me easier than I can.

I pattern my actions and life after what I want. No two people are alike. You might admire attributes in others, but use these only as a guide in improving yourself in your own unique way. I don't go for carbon copies. Individualism is sacred!

As a species, we tend to be doers, forever shaping and reshaping the world to better suit our purposes.

I am the boss of me. You can't change anyone else. Women think they can. But you know what? You can't.

There's something magical about putting yourself into life. You've got to stand up and take responsibility for your own life and you cannot abandon that.

It was a question of helping a man prepare in the way that suits him best. The theory is if you give a man responsibility for his own actions, then it is up to him to accept that responsibility.

I really believe in the power of the individual to make change, and our family is a real collection of individuals.