Stephen Kinzer Quotes

There's no question that I've done wrong. I take full responsibility for having done wrong. I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law.

It is a little theory of mine that has much exercised my mind lately, that most of the problems of this silly and delightful world derive from our apologising for those things which we ought not to apologise for, and failing to apologise for those things for which apology is necessary.

Guilt is glorious when it's well earned.

Guilt is the price we pay willingly for doing what we are going to do anyway.

I have impeached myself by resigning.

I was probably a terrible husband, but I pride myself on being a good dad.

Sadly, we do a much better job of making people feel guilty than we do of delivering them from the guilt we create. We need to confess this and change our ways.

I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions.

I've got a life, you know, take me in the totality of my actions and I'll tell you, I will stand with my record.

My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted.

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

Few men would dare to read their own autobiography if all their deeds were recorded in it; few can look back upon their entire career without a blush.

It's bad when you fail morally. It's worse when you don't repent.

I've done enough wrong on my own, I don't want to get blamed for something I didn't do.

One must always be aware, to notice even though the cost of noticing is to become responsible.

I must give an account for what I've done.

I have always been willing to take the blame for the things I have done.

I know I am not only the bad conscience of the Nazis. I am also the bad conscience of the Jews. Because what I have taken up as my duty was everybody's duty.

I'm not sure about public apologies on behalf of other people as far as the motivation for them.

I'm constantly having to check my conscience about what I'm writing and the responsibility of what I'm saying.

It is insufficient to say that my experience as a bully haunts me. Rather, my experience as a bully has been fundamental to the creation of my conscience, because it is what prevents me from making the basic human claim that I am a good person.

I think guilt can be good to a small degree, keep you on the right path.

In retrospect, I had a lot of shortcomings and didn't take care of the things that needed to be taken care of, and that's all my fault.

When one confesses to an act, one ceases to be an actor in it and becomes its witness, becomes a man that observes and narrates it and no longer the man that performed it.

Don’t nurture a sense of guilt; rather, nurture a sense of responsibility married with a sense of humility.