Nelson Mandela Quotes

One of man's greatest failings is that he looks almost always for an excuse, in the misfortune that befalls him through his own fault, before looking for a remedy-which means he often finds the remedy too late.

Every man is the architect of his own life. He builds it just the way he wants it. However, after he has built what he wants, he sometimes decides that he doesn't like what he has built and looks for someone or something to blame instead of changing himself.

As long as you blame someone or something else - something outside you that's bigger than you are - as the source of your problems, the problems won't get solved.

Of course there is a lot of things you can work on and change and all that, but first I think you should look at yourself before you actually start trying to find excuse in the other people, whether it's going to be coach, physio, family, or whoever else is on your side.

Blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone in the world. When you find yourselves suffering, blame yourselves, and try to do better.

You have to take responsibility for how you act. You can't fix everyone.

We must exchange the philosophy of excuse - what I am is beyond my control for the philosophy of responsibility.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.

The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms.

People really haven't seen me in good shape. I understand that. I created that by myself. There is no one else to blame but me.

One thing I realized, I was making too many excuses and not taking responsibility for how I was playing.

I will chide no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults.

If you don't accept responsibility for your own actions then you are forever chained to a position of defense.

I behaved worse than anybody for 15 years, and you have to pay the price for that. I used to blame other people, then therapy made me realise I had to change.

I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing.

Psychologically, it's always more pleasurable to blame others for our problems than it is to acknowledge our own responsibility.

I look at modern life and I see people not taking responsibility for their lives. The temptation to blame, to find external causes to one's own issues is something that is particularly modern. I know that personally I find that sense of responsibility interesting.

I take responsibility for myself and what I do now.

The knowledge that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool.

One of the things you learn in rehab is that you're responsible for your own actions.

You know, I'd like to sit here and blame everybody else for my trouble. I just can't do that. I can't find it in myself to do it.

The only person who needs to know about failure is yourself.

You've got to take responsibility for your own actions. We all know people who reach rock bottom. However much that they're told that what they're doing is harming their own life or whatever, you cannot make someone do it unless that person reaches the point where they know that they have to deal with it themselves.

I live in a universe in which blame doesn't exist. I don't believe in being at fault; I believe in taking responsibility for your actions. If I do something wrong, I take responsibility for it.

And it's not a finger-pointing issue to me; I take as much responsibility as I can. It was more just me not really knowing what I wanted to do and how to get it done.