Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Every individual bears responsibility for all people and actions in the world.
In plain terms
We are all accountable for everyone else.
What can you take from it?
Accept responsibility for your impact on others.

Where it applies

  • ethical decision making
  • community leadership
  • social activism

Putting it to work

  • reflect on actions
  • help others
  • advocate for justice

Questions to consider

  • How does your behavior affect others?
  • What responsibility do you accept today?

Another view

It can be overwhelming to feel responsible for everything.

More from Simone De Beauvoir

  1. Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.

    Permalink to quote #66
  2. Society cares about the individual only in so far as he is profitable. The young know this. Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish…

    Permalink to quote #65
  3. What should a society be, so that in his last years a man might still be a man? The answer is simple: he would always have to have been treated as a man. By th…

    Permalink to quote #64

Related quotes

  1. To do what ought to be done but what would not have been done unless I did it, I thought to be my duty.

    Robert MorrisonRobert Morrison quote #1
  2. 'Los que dejan al rey errar a sabiendas, merecen pena como traidores.'

    Alfonso X of CastileAlfonso X of Castile quote #6
  3. In some causes silence is dangerous; so if any know of conspiracies against their country or king, or any that might greatly prejudice their neighbor, they oug…

    AmbroseAmbrose quote #6