Blame

Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise.

Quotes

• In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
  • Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes (2003), p. 90

• You made me cry,
  when you said goodbye
  Ain't that a shame
  My tears fell like rain
  Ain't that a shame
  You're the one to blame
  • Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, Ain't That a Shame (1955)

• The genuine scientist is not moved by praise or blame.
  • Albert Einstein, as quoted in Einstein and the Poet: In Search of the Cosmic Man (1983) by William Hermanns, p. 66. From a series of meetings Hermanns had with Einstein in 1930, 1943, 1948, and 1954, during which he took notes on what Einstein said (though it's unclear if he recorded the exact phrasing or filled in words from memory).

• ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται.
  ἐξ ἡμέων γάρ φασι κάκ' ἔμμεναι· οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ
  σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὑπὲρ μόρον ἄλγε' ἔχουσιν.
  • See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly.
  • Homer, Odyssey (c. 725 BC), I. 32–34 (tr. Samuel Butler).

• If we find fault with others
  We ourselves are also in the wrong.
  When other people are in the wrong, we should ignore it,
  For it is wrong for us to find fault.
  By getting rid of the habit of fault-finding
  We cut off a source of defilement.
  • Huineng, Platform Sutra

• Love responsibility. Say: "It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame.
  Love each man according to his contribution in the struggle. Do not seek friends; seek comrades-in-arms.
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, The Saviors of God (1923), First Step : The Ego. Written in 1923; Published in English as The Saviors of God : Spiritual Exercises (1960) as translated by Kimon Friar; Excerpts later published in The Rock Garden : A Novel (1963)

• Now there's no point in placing the blame
  And you should know I'd suffer the same
  • Madonna and Patrick Leonard, Frozen (February 23, 1998) from the album Ray of Light (March 3, 1998)

• If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.
  • Rainer Maria Rilke (Date of death)

• When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else.
  • Anne McCaffrey, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983)

• Blame is when the reasons behind conflict, the order of events, are not allowed to be addressed, where the understanding that could reveal how both parties contribute is blatantly denied. For me, it is not the understanding itself that is the blame; it’s what fills the void left by refusal to understand.
  • Sarah Schulman, Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair. Arsenal Pulp Press. 2016. ISBN 9781551526447. 

• I have seen enough to know that blame does not come in neatly packaged parcels.
  • Tambu in Nervous Conditions (1988) by Tsitsi Dangarembga, p. 12. Zimbabwe Publishing House. ISBN 978-0-949225-79-5. 

• There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ouselves we feel that no one else has the right to blame us.
  • Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter 8.

See also

• Consciousness
• Detachment
• Guilt
• Punishment
• Responsibility
• Wrong