responsibility evasion Quotes

The most politically painless way to hand out goodies, without taking responsibility for their costs, is to pass a law saying that somebody else must provide those goodies at their expense, while the politicians take credit for generosity and compassion.

You say in life, mistakes are many. How come you never admit to any?

Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.

They've finally comes up with the perfect office computer. If it makes a mistake, it blames another computer.

It is less important to find solutions than scapegoats.

The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything.

They've hung everything on me except the Chicago fire.

A cardinal rule of bureaucracy is that it is better to extend an error than to admit a mistake.

I didn't not perform.

We relinquished our freedom that day, and we were more than happy to see it go. From that moment on we lived in true freedom, the freedom to point to someone else and say “They told me to do it! It’s their fault, not mine.” The freedom, God help us, to say “I was only following orders.”-World War Z

This is a do-it-yourself test for paranoia: you know you've got it when you can't think of anything that's your fault.

The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.

You lose yourself in the to-do list and never tackle those big things you promised you would when the campaign came to an end.

He who is punished is never he who performed the deed. He is always the scapegoat.

We find or invent the cleverest means of attributing our sins to anything or anyone outside of ourselves.

I learned early and at that kitchen table that there are ways of avoiding, without guilt, the commitments of love.