--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To leave positions of great…" description: "\"To leave positions of great responsibility and authority is to die a little, but the time comes when that must be faced.\" — Dean Acheson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg" --- # To leave positions of great responsibility and authority… ![“To leave positions of great responsibility and authority is to die a little, but the time comes when that must be faced.” quote by Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg) > “To leave positions of great responsibility and authority is to die a little, but the time comes when that must be faced.” [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Leaving high office feels like a loss, yet duty demands it. **In simple terms:** Duty outweighs personal loss. Key Takeaway Accept responsibility despite personal cost. Themes service duty loss Mood solemn reflective Type advice historical When to use this quote - political career - retirement - career transition Key Concepts leadership public service Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance personal loss with public duty? - What prepares you for stepping down? A Different Perspective Reluctance can hinder necessary change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Authority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authority/) [Great responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-responsibility/) [Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Watch the growth of middle level management. Don't automatically fill vacant jobs. Leave some positions unfilled for 6-8 months to see what happens. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-rumsfeld/watch-the-growth-of-middle-level-management-don-t-automatically-fill/) [Donald Rumsfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-rumsfeld/) > [To be free of all authority, of your own and that of another, is to die to everything of yesterday, so that your mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-free-of-all-authority-of-your-own-and-that-of-another-is-to-die/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You're all the world to me. Whenever i can't see you... I die a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmina-khadra/you-re-all-the-world-to-me-whenever-i-can-t-see-you-i-die-a-little/) [Yasmina Khadra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmina-khadra/) > [Every time you win, you're reborn; when you lose, you die a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-allen-sr/every-time-you-win-you-re-reborn-when-you-lose-you-die-a-little/) [George Allen, Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-allen-sr/) > [To be forgotten, is to die a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aung-san-suu-kyi/to-be-forgotten-is-to-die-a-little/) [Aung San Suu Kyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aung-san-suu-kyi/) > [I die a little inside every time I see an old person alone at a restaurant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-die-a-little-inside-every-time-i-see-an-old-person-alone-at-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every time you call me a friend I die a little more inside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/every-time-you-call-me-a-friend-i-die-a-little-more-inside/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And everytime you die, a little piece of me dies with you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-allison-moulton/and-everytime-you-die-a-little-piece-of-me-dies-with-you/) [Courtney Allison Moulton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-allison-moulton/) > [A man kills the thing he loves, and he must die a little himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/a-man-kills-the-thing-he-loves-and-he-must-die-a-little-himself/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [The French say that to part is to die a little. To be forgotten too is to die a little. It is to lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aung-san-suu-kyi/the-french-say-that-to-part-is-to-die-a-little-to-be-forgotten-too-is/) [Aung San Suu Kyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aung-san-suu-kyi/) > [When you call me a friend I die a little more, when I see you with her I die a little more, when I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madison-ashcraft/when-you-call-me-a-friend-i-die-a-little-more-when-i-see-you-with-her/) Madison Ashcraft > [With everything that happens to you, with everyone you meet who is important to you, you either die a little or are born.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumer-godden/with-everything-that-happens-to-you-with-everyone-you-meet-who-is/) [Rumer Godden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumer-godden/) > [“I think now, looking back, that we all die, little by little, as each of those we love departs before us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-ruckley/i-think-now-looking-back-that-we-all-die-little-by-little-as-each-of/) [Brian Ruckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-ruckley/) > [Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/every-time-a-friend-succeeds-i-die-a-little/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Can't you at least die with a little dignity?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-seinfeld/can-t-you-at-least-die-with-a-little-dignity/) [Jerry Seinfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-seinfeld/) ## More by Dean Acheson > [How could the USA champion individual freedom in the world generally while denying it to an important minority in its own country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/how-could-the-usa-champion-individual-freedom-in-the-world-generally/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) > [The test for aid to poor nations is therefore whether it makes them capable of being productive. If it fails to do so, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/the-test-for-aid-to-poor-nations-is-therefore-whether-it-makes-them/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) > [Between 9 and 10 AM the American radio is concerned almost exclusively with love. It seems a little like ending breakfast with a stiff bourbon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/between-9-and-10-am-the-american-radio-is-concerned-almost/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) > [It is worse than immoral, it's a mistake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/it-is-worse-than-immoral-it-s-a-mistake/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) > [Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/great-britain-has-lost-an-empire-and-has-not-yet-found-a-role/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) > [The Iraqi is really not whacky toady, perhaps, even tacky. 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It would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/like-apples-in-a-barrel-infected-by-one-rotten-one-the-corruption-of/) [Dean Acheson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) [Explore all 46 Dean Acheson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/) ## More Authority quotes > [I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-believe-in-competitions-between-artists-this-is-insane-who/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [Islam never differentiates between men and women as regards political rights and puts them on an equal footing. 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This delay was due to a desire on the part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/the-execution-was-set-for-the-29th-of-march-at-nine-in-the-morning/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [I started with the belief that every person who came to the laboratory was free to accept or to reject the dictates of authority.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-milgram/i-started-with-the-belief-that-every-person-who-came-to-the/) [Stanley Milgram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-milgram/) > [The rationale which accompanies that imposition of male authority euphemistically referred to as 'the battle of the sexes' bears a certain resemblance to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-millett/the-rationale-which-accompanies-that-imposition-of-male-authority/) [Kate Millett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-millett/) > [“We are at the mercy of whoever wields authority over the things we either desire or detest. 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Hamas has a vision and a program, and this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ismail-haniyeh/the-victory-of-hamas-is-not-only-based-on-the-corruption-of-the/) [Ismail Haniyeh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ismail-haniyeh/) [Browse all 4,003 Authority quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authority/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To leave positions of great responsibility and authority is to die a little, but the time comes when that must be faced.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dean Acheson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibility-and-authority-is-to-die-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Authority" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibility-and-authority-is-to-die-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/401/dean-acheson-14457_authority_to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibili_144474.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To leave positions of great responsibility and authority is to die a little, but the time comes when that…” — Dean Acheson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dean Acheson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-acheson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To leave positions of great responsibility...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibility-and-authority-is-to-die-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-acheson/to-leave-positions-of-great-responsibility-and-authority-is-to-die-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```