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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!