Accountability Quotes

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Are you accountable? Do you want to be? Here are the best accountability quotes to show you how to be accountable in your life.

Being accountable means holding yourself, your team, or any group to a higher standard and acting accordingly. Accountability is a unique blend of responsibility, integrity, trust, and quality in our actions and activities.

So whether you want to be more accountable or expect accountability of others, these accountability quotes are the place to start.

Top 10 Accountability Quotes

Accountability breeds response-ability.  

Stephen Covey

Accountability means to say what you do, do what you say.

Pearl Zhu
Jeffrey Benjamin quote "Accountability is the measure of a leaders height"Pin
“Accountability is the measure of a leaders height.” – Jeffrey Benjamin

Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions.

John Di Lemme

Dignity is the reward of holding oneself accountable to conscience.

Wes Fesler

Take accountability… Blame is the water in which many dreams and relationships drown.

Steve Maraboli

Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability.

Wes Fessler
Steve Maraboli quote "Wisdom stems from personal accountability"Pin
“Wisdom stems from personal accountability.” – Steve Maraboli

On one side of accountability is courage, on the other is freedom.

Jean Hamilton-Ford

I believe that accountability is the basis of all meaningful human achievement.

Sam Silverstein

Quotes about Accountability

Accountability is about more than just accepting responsibility. It also implies there is a level of assurance and oversight, and a level of satisfaction in our actions.

Being accountable starts with individuals but applies to entire teams and groups equally as everyone involved takes ownership of their actions and the consequences of their actions.

Although responsibility varies with job titles and roles, accountability applies to everyone in an organization equally and can’t be delegated.

Never promise more than you can perform.

Publilius Syrus

We are all responsible and accountable for what we do or say even if those behaviors occur in stressful times.

Byron Pulsifer

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.

David Brin
Bob Proctor quote "Accountability is the measure of a leaders height"Pin
“Accountability is the measure of a leaders height.” – Bob Proctor

Where there is no accountability, there will also be no responsibility.

Sunday Adelaja

Open collaboration encourages greater accountability, which in turn fosters trust.

Ron Garan

When accountability is present, people keep their eyes on a very clear prize. They know what they are working toward and how they are going to get there.

Henry J. Evans

Be brave and take accountability for your thoughts and beliefs.

Jennifer Hyman

Talent is part of the equation, but when you combine talent with accountability and authenticity, it is tough to beat.

David Ross

The notion of accountability has emerged as a human tool to motivate people – do what you’re supposed to do or you’ll be held to account.

Art Horn

Blame is the coward’s solution to his fear of accountability.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Accountability crumbles silos, boosts teamwork and collaboration, strengthens camaraderie, creativity, resiliency, agility, trust, and communication.

Mike Evans

Neither age nor experience matters when it comes to being personally accountable for any and all outcome s- no excuses whatsoever – be they positive or negative, nor shifting blame to other people or to external factors.

Kory Livingstone
Park Won-soon quote "Transparency increases credibility and accountability"Pin
“Transparency increases credibility and accountability.” – Park Won-soon

Accountability is the line of control between human and animal behavior.

Abhijit Naskar

There is no accountability today… no willingness to focus on big ideas.

Michael Bloomberg

There is a fine line between overbearing accountability and an allowance for mistakes.

Miles Anthony Smith

Building a culture in which people take accountability to deliver on its promises is hard work and can be difficult to accomplish. Only when every person is held accountable to themselves, their peers, and their shared possibility can the impossible become possible.

Ginger Graham

Accountability is the only real beginning to change.

Daniel Abbott

Men are more accountable for their motives than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is in the affections.

Archibald Alexander

Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions.

John Di Lemme

Understanding the true meaning of accountability makes us strong and enables us to learn.

Sameh Elsayed

Transparency and accountability must be restored in politics.

Park Won-soon

Having authority implies accountability. If you reject the blame for failures under your watch, people reject your leadership.

Rick Warren
""Without accountability there’s no civilization"Pin
“”Without accountability there’s no civilization.” – Abhijit Naskar

No individual can achieve worthy goals without accepting accountability for his or her own actions.

Dan Miller

Trust, honesty, humility, transparency and accountability are the building blocks of a positive reputation.

Mike Paul

Accountability Quotes for Work

My experience is that accountability is an extremely powerful tool to align an organization toward its objectives.

Susan Gomez

Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility before they place blame.

Courtney Lynch

If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes.

Henry Cloud

Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have.

Pat Summitt

The only way we succeed as a group is not simply following directions, but in keeping each other accountable for our actions.

A.J. Darkholme

Make yourself accountable and your employees will hold themselves to a high standard.

David J. Greer

Creating a culture of integrity and accountability not only improves effectiveness, it also generates a respectful, enjoyable and life-giving setting in which to work.

Tom Hanson

Accountability is a key concept in moving an organization forward, especially in a challenging business climate.

Cindy Tucker

Individuals and teams have a sense of ownership, and are focused, disciplined and collaborative, while holding each other accountable for outcomes.

Di Worrall
"Consumer accountability drives quality and efficiency"Pin
“Consumer accountability drives quality and efficiency.” – Pete Hoekstra

To function effectively, a business requires leaders who are accountable for driving success.

Barry Linetsky

With a company full of accountable people, extraordinary things, even the entirely unexpected, tend to happen.

Roger Connors

I believe in decentralized management that includes a lot of delegation, empowerment, and accountability.

Anthony Scaramucci

Blaming, whining, deflecting accountability, risk aversion, and resistance to change are but a handful of symptoms of the adversity-beaten individual and organization.

Paul G. Stoltz

The benefit of truly accountable leaders is that they are able to create effective structures where their staff know what is expected of them, and can improve the business for customers.

Jane Storm

The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity and accountability.

Simon Mainwaring

Break the riddle of accountability, the thinking goes, and you will have solved one of the thorniest issues in modern business.

Mihnea Moldoveanu

Simple organizational structure and clear accountability are necessary conditions for the exercise of effective leadership.

John Adair

Open collaboration encourages greater accountability, which in turn fosters trust.

Ron Garan

Accountability Sayings

Anyone can possess, anyone can profess, but it is an altogether different thing to confess.

Shannon L. Alder

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.

Lou Holtz

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

Tom Price

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

Louis Nizer

Intentions do not insulate us from the consequences of our actions.

Jon D. Harrison

A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last.

Joseph Fort Newton
Dillon Burroughs quote "Accountability only works if you want it to"Pin
“Accountability only works if you want it to.” – Dillon Burroughs

Ownership: A commitment of the head, heart, and hands to fix the problem and never again affix the blame.

John G. Miller

The time has come to carry accountability forward, to take it offline and into the real world. To share our lives with just a few people we really, truly, honestly trust.

Craig Gross

Don’t get up from the feast of life without paying for your share of it.

W. R. Inge

Life is not accountable to us. We are accountable to life.

Denis Waitley

Being accountable is a huge part of living up to our potential. Check out some more Life Quotes and Sayings to see more great quotes about living accountably.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for injury.

John Stuart Mill

Today’s seed is tomorrow’s shade, but you must sow it first and nourish it with an uncorrupted accountability.

Abhijit Naskar

Take accountability before an excuse snatches you.

Tyconis D. Allison Ty

An accountable mind has learned to be agile, wise, courageous, resilient, and high-mature.

Pearl Zhu

Personal Accountability

It may sound like accountability is a limitation that constrains us, but it actually makes us better. When we have to own our work and the results of our efforts, we’re more likely to take pride in doing well.

Anyone can own a success or a win, but personal accountability also means owning our mistakes and failures in order to improve next time.

At the end of the day we are accountable to ourselves – our success is a result of what we do.

Catherine Pulsifer

The reason people blame things on the previous generation is that there’s only one other choice.

Doug Larson

Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.

George Washington Carver

Some want, to be exempt. They do not want to excel, they do not want to exert. They want to be considered excellent, for desiring to be held exempt, from all accountability.

Justin K. McFarlane Beau

The first step to creating a wealthy life is starting from wherever you are today. That self-honesty takes the highest level of personal accountability.

Loral Langemeier

Forgiving yourself, not guilt, increases personal accountability.

David D. Burns

There’s not a chance we’ll reach our full potential until we stop blaming each other and start practicing personal accountability.

John Miller
Manuel Corazzari quote "Without accountability there will be no growth"Pin
“Without accountability there will be no growth.” – Manuel Corazzari

Accountability and self-responsibility are critical to our success in personal, professional and public life. However, we often look for those character traits in others, rather than inculcating them in ourselves.

Vishwas Chavan

In reality, we all have our lives, and the accountability for the achievement of our dreams and goals falls strictly on our own shoulders.

Thomas Matt

I learned in an extremely hard way that the accountability falls with me.

Stephen Baldwin

You will not experience dramatic change in your struggle as long as you use accountability to describe your sins instead of declaring your need for help in the midst of temptation.

Heath Lambert

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about habit development is that you need accountability to stick to a major goal. It’s not enough to make a personal commitment.

S. J. Scott

Accountability is where the cowardice of my teetering self-image is wrangled into submission by the force of my ethics.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Accountability is a statement of personal promise, both to yourself and to the people around you, to deliver specific defined results.

Brian Dive,
The Accountable Leader

I think sometimes making yourself vulnerable before you are ready is exactly what can hold you accountable.

Brittany Burgunder

If you made the choice to get in there and fight, you have to accept accountability for whatever happens.

Roy Nelson

A friend can inspire enthusiasm as well as accountability, and that serves to challenge you.

Deanna Cosso

True love does not only encompass the things that make you feel good, it also holds you to a standard of accountability.

Monica Johnson

Take accountability… Blame is the water in which many dreams and relationships drown.

Steve Maraboli

Accountability, is the state or condition of being accountable or responsible. That is right. We are responsible for what goes on in our heads.

John Faulkner

We are all accountable for our actions; their affect and influence on our lives and the lives of others.

Sameh Elsayed

Being Accountable

You steadily grow into becoming your best as you choose to be accountable and accept responsibility for improvement.

Steve Shallenberger
Good men prefer to be accountable"Pin
“Good men prefer to be accountable.” – Michael Edwardes

Be accountable for doing the right things. This means ethical execution of the activities that will actually support the goals you have chosen for yourself.

Sam Silverstein

The benefits and possibilities that are created by being personally accountable are countless.

Jay Fiset

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.

Moliere

For most people, blaming others is a subconscious mechanism for avoiding accountability. In reality, the only thing in your way is YOU.

Steve Maraboli

To be accountable means that we are willing to be responsible to another person for our behavior and it implies a level of submission to another’s opinions and viewpoints.

Wayde Goodall

You are accountable for your actions, your decisions, your life; no one else is, but you.

Catherine Pulsifer

If we want unity, we must all be unifiers. If we want accountability, each of us must be accountable for all we do.

Christine Gregoire

It’s just that we’re all accountable for our own happiness. And being happy does matter. It’s up to each of us to find out what shape or form that takes.

Peter Jennings

No one is perfect, and we all understand that, but when we decide to make that lifelong commitment, we need to weigh the cost and know God is holding us accountable for the commitments we make.

Dr. Kenton D. Wiley

To be accountable or to be a victim is one of those elemental decisions that everyone needs to make. Simply, the former leads you to a happier and more rewarding life.

Rob Pitfield

To be accountable means that we are willing to be responsible to another person for our behavior and it implies a level of submission to another’s opinions and viewpoints.

Wayde Goodall

The word accounting comes from the word accountability. If you are going to be rich, you need to be accountable for your money.

Robert Kiyosaki

Being accountable is somewhat ingrained into the life of a first responder.

Asa Don Brown

Goodness makes you accountable, accountability strengthens your goodness.

Abhijit Naskar

Holding Others Accountable

When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice.

Brené Brown

The most important thing is there is a foundation and an accountability to a system.

Erik Spoelstra
"We either believe in accountability or we don't"Pin
“We either believe in accountability or we don’t.” – Dana Loesch

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

Thomas Paine

On good teams coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable.

Joe Dumars

The notion of accountability has emerged as a human tool to motivate people – do what you’re supposed to do or you’ll be held to account.

Art Horn

Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy.

Anita Brookner

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

Benjamin Franklin

The greatest gift we can give our children is teaching them accountability.

Ron Baratono

Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to no one can change the goal without accountability.

John C. Maxwell

Candor and accountability in a democracy is very important. Hypocrisy has no place.

Alan Dershowitz

If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes.

Henry Cloud

Perhaps nothing in our society is more needed for those in positions of authority than accountability.

Larry Burkett

When people feel accountable and included, it is more fun.

Alan Mulally

We hope these accountability quotes help you value being accountable and leave you better able to recognize other accountable people.

Great teams and organizations are great because accountability is present and creates a stronger culture where everyone is held to a higher standard. But this starts with ourselves. Investopedia adds to the definition of accountability that it “implies a willingness to be judged on performance.”

Only when we are willing to be judged on our performance in order to improve it are we able to hold others to the same standard. We’d love to hear your thoughts on accountability in the comments below!

Quincy Seale

Quincy is KIM's editor, and has collected and shared inspiring quotes and stories since 2005. Quincy holds an MBA from the University of Dundee and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and lives in San Antonio with his wife Natalie, son Alex, and his dog Oban.