It's Not My Fault Quotes

“The big lesson here is this: deal with life as it is. Do not get stuck in protesting reality for what it “ought to be.” If you give up the demand that life and the people in it be something other than what they are, you will find creative solutions to every difficult situation. And you will be a more loving person.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Blame is a sort of comfort food for the soul. It diverts us from the effort of owning responsibility.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“slip into patterns of behaving and reacting that remain fixed until we observe them and change them. We put ourselves on autopilot. We abandon conscious control and just repeat the same things over and over again.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“You are not responsible for the bad things that happen to you, but you are responsible for the patterns you create in response to them. Find a pattern and you find an opportunity for growth, change, and power. If every time I drive by the Golden Arches I turn in and eat five cheeseburgers, I may do well to see a pattern and not drive that route. Understand your patterns and own them. When you do that, you will begin to see alternative choices. If every time you find yourself in situation A you do B and get negative results, you may do well to recognize that this is not just something that is happening to you. You may have some responsibility in it. And the good news is this: wherever you have responsibility, you have the opportunity for change, choice, power, and a new outcome. If—and that is a big if—you take responsibility for that pattern.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“you can’t really have self-control until you give up other-control.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“You can be free from whatever situation surrounds you to the degree that you are willing to take responsibility and ownership for it, even if it’s not your fault.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Research indicates that negative thinkers will key in on three basic areas of life: themselves, the world, and the future. They see themselves as unlucky, even as losers who never get a break. They look at the world as unfriendly to them, oppressing their chances, and giving others more opportunity. They don’t see their future as positive and hopeful. It seems bleak and dark, with no hope to brighten it up.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“It is not an act of faith to fail to take responsibility for our lives and then think that God is somehow responsible for the outcome.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Notice something. God did not say, “What are you talking about? I have not been mean to you! I have given you everything you needed to be successful with your talent!” Nor did he say, “Gosh, you are right. It is tough to only have one talent. Here, I will do your work for you.” Neither what God had given this man nor what he had not given him was the issue. The issue was just one thing: what had he done with what was given him? How had he used it? How had he responded to the options that were available to him? Had he tried his best and failed, he would not have been graded on the failure. He was graded simply on whether or not he had acted responsibly with what had been dealt to him.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help. He is the one who planned this long ago” (Isaiah 22:11 NLT).”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Ultimately, no person, or no circumstance has control of you—that control belongs to you and you only. So grasp God’s hand and return to the freedom that he died to give you.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“God will provide a way of escape.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Often people do not see options available to them other than the patterns they have always lived out.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Adaptability is one of the strengths that vaults a person into adulthood.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“The very way people think can render them powerless and helpless, and lead them to blame others.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“There’s one thing that people do not realize about excuses. They are usually true. But my response to that is, So what? Yes, your excuse is real. Now, given that, what are you going to do about it?”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“So change your focus. Instead of focusing on what is causing your misery, try something new: focus on your misery. Focus on the result of what you are doing. Focus on what your pattern and your blame are costing you.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. (Genesis 2:19 NIV)”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“You can always create, seek, and find a range of options to determine how you will respond to what happens, and how you will play the cards in your hand.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“The animals have desire, or appetite. But only humans have the ability not merely to desire things, but also the creative will to take responsibility for that desire and bring about the achievement of it. That creative ability resides in the nature of God, and he has passed it on to us.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles

“When we succeed in blaming someone for our problems, we still are no closer to a solution for them.”
― Henry Cloud, It's Not My Fault: The No-Excuse Plan for Overcoming Life's Obstacles