John C. Maxwell Quotes

Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations.

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.

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.

People from the most horrendous of childhoods can have good lives, but it comes down to a very seemingly simple word. 'Choice.'

Life is what you make of it. You can make it easy on yourself or you can make it hard.

It is almost impossible for anyone, even the most ineffective among us, to continue to choose misery after becoming aware that it is a choice.

Stop blaming the world—look inside!

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for... reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration.

I can control what I can control. I just focus on me, and that's it.

How can we resent the life we've created for ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit, but us? Who can change it, any time we wish, but us?

You can't grow and learn if your focus is on finding someone else to blame instead of looking at your own shortcomings.

Be your own worst critic. When things go wrong it's tempting to shift the blame. Don't. Accept responsibility. People will appreciate it, and you will find out what you're capable of.

If you're blaming something or someone else for the way you are, then that person, those people, those circumstances or those energies, are going to have to change in order for you to get better; that's most likely never going to happen. It's also a way to manipulate other people.

Your failures won't hurt you until you start blaming them on others.

Happy people build their inner world; unhappy people blame their outer world.

At some point you have to stop acting as though life is happening to you and acknowledge the ways you are happening to it. Once you take responsibility for your side of the street, you grant yourself the power to improve every aspect of your life by simply acting and behaving differently.

The moment that you place blame somewhere, you undermine your resolve to change anything.

The most important words that have helped me in life, when things have gone right or when things have gone wrong are 'accept responsibility.'

One of the ways that people avoid taking responsibility for their role in their own pain is what I call the BPs - blame and projection.

I stand by every decision I've made throughout my career and my life, good or bad, up or down.

Sometimes you have to stop to think, regroup and regather yourself and realize how lucky you are to still be living and to still be breathing and still be able to even have a chance.

It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.

Personal responsibility is not only recognizing the errors of our ways. Personal responsibility lies in our willingness and ability to correct those errors individually and collectively.

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

What we actually learn, from any given set of circumstances, determines whether we become increasingly powerless or more powerful.