Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. – Henry Ward Beecher

He who excuses himself accuses himself. РGabriel Meurier, Tr̩sor des sentences

To offer the complexities of life as an excuse for not addressing oneself to the simpler, more manageable (trivial) aspects of daily existence is a perversity often indulged in by artists, husbands, intellectuals — and critics of the Womens Movement. – Barbara Grizzuti Harrison