---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am responsible for everything... except…"
description: "\"I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.\" — Jean-Paul Sartre"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png"
---

#  I am responsible for everything... except my very…

![“I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.” quote by Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png)

> “I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.”

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

One bears responsibility for all but cannot be held accountable for the very act of being responsible.

**In simple terms:** We are responsible for everything except the fact of responsibility itself.

Key Takeaway

Accept responsibility while recognizing its limits.

Themes

existentialism freedom responsibility

Mood

reflective philosophical

Type

quote insight

When to use this quote

- personal relationships
- ethical decisions
- career choices
- creative work

Key Concepts

bad faith self‑deception authenticity

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you act responsibly without feeling trapped?
- What does it mean to own your freedom?

A Different Perspective

Responsibility can be overwhelming and paralyzing.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Responsibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/)

## Related quotes

> [With Benghazi, I don't see anyone saying, 'Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jocko-willink/with-benghazi-i-don-t-see-anyone-saying-hey-look-i-am-overall/)

[Jocko Willink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jocko-willink/)

> [I don't have a 'side'—I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-greenwald/i-don-t-have-a-side-i-m-responsible-for-what-i-say-and-nothing-else/)

[Glenn Greenwald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-greenwald/)

> [I think that today, more so than ever, corporate responsibility is the best strategic as well as financial path that most businesses can follow.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-hollender/i-think-that-today-more-so-than-ever-corporate-responsibility-is-the/)

[Jeffrey Hollender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-hollender/)

> [Let us be good stewards of the Earth we inherited. All of us have to share the Earth's fragile ecosystems and precious resources, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/let-us-be-good-stewards-of-the-earth-we-inherited-all-of-us-have-to/)

[Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/)

> [“Success will locate and visit you even if you are static wherever you are... But remember you are responsible for constructing the roads... Go,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/success-will-locate-and-visit-you-even-if-you-are-static-wherever-you/)

[Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/)

> [“People who are achievers were once dreamers; but not all dreamers eventually become achievers. Before a person gets to become who he/she was meant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/people-who-are-achievers-were-once-dreamers-but-not-all-dreamers/)

[Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/)

> [The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-man-who-refuses-to-judge-who-neither-agrees-nor-disagrees-who/)

[Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/)

> [No One Else Is Responsible For You. You Are In Full Control Of Your Life So Long As You Claim It And Own It...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pacifiersucker/no-one-else-is-responsible-for-you-you-are-in-full-control-of-your/)

Pacifiersucker

> [Nature consists of facts and of regularities, and is in itself neither moral nor immoral. It is we who impose our standards upon nature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nature-consists-of-facts-and-of-regularities-and-is-in-itself-neither/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Responsible Development shares many practices with XP but the roots are different. Responsible Development's values are honesty, transparency, accountability and responsibility. These lead me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kent-beck/responsible-development-shares-many-practices-with-xp-but-the-roots/)

[Kent Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kent-beck/)

> [As A Responsible Person, We Should Never Permit Ourselves To Do Anything That We Are Not Willing To See Our Children Do.. Remember, You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pacifiersucker/as-a-responsible-person-we-should-never-permit-ourselves-to-do/)

Pacifiersucker

> [Responsible persons are mature people who have taken charge of themselves and their conduct, who own their actions and own up to them--who answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bennett/responsible-persons-are-mature-people-who-have-taken-charge-of/)

[William Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bennett/)

> [If you cease to be responsible for yourself your fate will also change hands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tasneem-hameed/if-you-cease-to-be-responsible-for-yourself-your-fate-will-also/)

[Tasneem Hameed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tasneem-hameed/)

> [“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you...it means that you do not treat your body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/responsibility-to-yourself-means-refusing-to-let-others-do-your/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [We can only be responsible for what we ourselves do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-peterfreund/we-can-only-be-responsible-for-what-we-ourselves-do/)

[Diana Peterfreund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-peterfreund/)

## More by Jean-Paul Sartre

> [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/all-these-creatures-spend-their-time-explaining-realizing-happily/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“she has suddenly emptied herself of me, and all other consciousness in the world has also emptied itself of me. It seems funny. Yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/she-has-suddenly-emptied-herself-of-me-and-all-other-consciousness-in/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [ \[Stéphane Mallarmé\] theory of the hermetic is a mistake, but he can be only difficult to read when he has difficult things to say. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/st-phane-mallarm-theory-of-the-hermetic-is-a-mistake-but-he-can-be/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [I can always choose, but I ought to know that if I do not choose, I am still choosing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-can-always-choose-but-i-ought-to-know-that-if-i-do-not-choose-i-am/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/when-the-rich-wage-war-it-s-the-poor-who-die/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“She smiled. First I lost the memory of her eyes, then the memory of her long body. I kept her smile as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/she-smiled-first-i-lost-the-memory-of-her-eyes-then-the-memory-of-her/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [Life is a useless passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/life-is-a-useless-passion/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [The more one is absorbed in fighting evil, the less one is tempted to place the good in question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/the-more-one-is-absorbed-in-fighting-evil-the-less-one-is-tempted-to/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [This is what I thought: for the most banal even to become an adventure, you must (and this is enough) begin to recount it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/this-is-what-i-thought-for-the-most-banal-even-to-become-an-adventure/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“I am free: there is absolutely no more reason for living, all the ones I have tried have given way and I can’t imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-am-free-there-is-absolutely-no-more-reason-for-living-all-the-ones/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“If I am not mistaken, if all the signs which have been amassed are precursors of a new overthrow in my life, well then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/if-i-am-not-mistaken-if-all-the-signs-which-have-been-amassed-are/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [“I want to leave, go to some place where I will be really in my own niche, where I will fit in. . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-want-to-leave-go-to-some-place-where-i-will-be-really-in-my-own/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [...Uncalled-for aggression arouses the hatred of the civilian population...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/uncalled-for-aggression-arouses-the-hatred-of-the-civilian-population/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

> [The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/the-best-work-is-not-what-is-most-difficult-for-you-it-is-what-you-do/)

[Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

[Explore all 728 Jean-Paul Sartre quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/)

## More Responsibility quotes

> [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/)

[Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/)

> [I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-can-t-believe-that-i-m-sitting-in-meetings-with-steven-spielberg/)

[Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/)

> [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/)

Kenan Malik

> [Our young Marines of today are courageous, willing to make sacrifices, and are marvelous team players. I am confident our Corps, and indeed our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-t-conway/our-young-marines-of-today-are-courageous-willing-to-make-sacrifices/)

James T. Conway

> [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/)

[Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/)

> [I am a fighter and I am in that fight and I have to make sure that I share the responsibility with my players…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-ten-hag/i-am-a-fighter-and-i-am-in-that-fight-and-i-have-to-make-sure-that-i/)

[Erik ten Hag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-ten-hag/)

> [I think it's unhelpful to suggest that the task of evangelism is essentially the responsibility of ministers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/i-think-it-s-unhelpful-to-suggest-that-the-task-of-evangelism-is/)

[Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/)

> [During the last 17 years... I have been working at the restoration of a once exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/during-the-last-17-years-i-have-been-working-at-the-restoration-of-a/)

[Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/)

> [I'm a strange mixture of my mother's curiosity; my father, who grew up the son of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/i-m-a-strange-mixture-of-my-mother-s-curiosity-my-father-who-grew-up/)

[Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/)

> [I take the responsibility of playing another ethnicity very, very seriously, and I promise myself and those people that I will represent them with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cliff-curtis/i-take-the-responsibility-of-playing-another-ethnicity-very-very/)

[Cliff Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cliff-curtis/)

> [I think accepting an instruction is part of a player's responsibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-allardyce/i-think-accepting-an-instruction-is-part-of-a-player-s-responsibility/)

[Sam Allardyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-allardyce/)

> [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/)

[Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/)

> [Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-rudd/politics-is-about-power-it-is-about-the-power-of-the-state-it-is/)

[Kevin Rudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-rudd/)

> [In a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility, and obliged to defend and justify itself within the framework of the general good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/in-a-democratic-nation-power-must-be-linked-with-responsibility-and/)

[Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/)

> [“The reason you have committees is that you have divided responsibilities,” Jobs said. “We don’t. At Apple you can figure out exactly who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-lashinsky/the-reason-you-have-committees-is-that-you-have-divided/)

[Adam Lashinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-lashinsky/)

[Browse all 11,295 Responsibility quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/responsibility/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Jean-Paul Sartre"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-my-very-responsibility/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Responsibility"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-my-very-responsibility/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/jean-paul-sartre-220_responsibility_i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-m_2187702.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I am responsible for everything... except my very responsibility.” — Jean-Paul Sartre",
                "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": "Jean-Paul Sartre",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I am responsible for everything... except...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-my-very-responsibility/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/i-am-responsible-for-everything-except-my-very-responsibility/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
