Excuses

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.  I don't believe in circumstances.  The people who get on in this world are the people who  get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." - George Bernard Shaw

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you, never excuse yourself" - Henry Ward Beecher.

"Excuses are the tools of the incompetent, and those who specialize in them seldom get far."

"For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life."

Oaths

It seems as though our society has lost the ability to keep our word.  Someone committing to do something is almost never a guarantee that they will do that thing. In 1 Nephi 4:37, we find a different story.  Nephi, after killing Laban and deceiving his servant Zoram, convinces Zoram that he should flee into the wilderness with them.  They were afraid that if they left Zoram in Jerusalem, he would tell everyone where they had gone.  But, "When Zoram had mad an oath unto us, our fears did cease concerning him." 

Some of the best oath keepers in the Book of Mormon are the Lamanites.  Not even the good Lamanites.  In Alma 44:8, the Lamanite armies have attacked the Nephites and are being destroyed.  Moroni offers the Lamanite leader Zerahemnah a choice - Surrender your weapons of war and swear to never fight against the Nephites again, and we will let you walk away.  But Zerahemnah replies by saying "We will not suffer to take an oath unto you, which we know we shall break."  So the fighting continued and the Lamanites were destroyed.  It is amazing to see that Moroni believed that Zerahemnah would keep the oath.  He would have let the Lamanites walk away if they promised to not fight again.  Not only that, but Zerahemnah was unwilling to make the oath, simply because he knew he would break it.  

Perhaps we need to be more consistent in following through with the things we say we will do.