It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.

Ustinov’s aphorism draws a sharp line between ego and duty. To “take ourselves seriously” suggests self-importance, vanity, or an anxious preoccupation with personal status; to “take responsibilities seriously” redirects attention to obligations that affect others—work, promises, care, and civic or moral duties. The quote implies that maturity consists less in cultivating a grand self-image than in meeting the practical and ethical demands placed on us. It also carries a comic, Ustinov-like deflation of pretension: the self is not the proper object of solemnity, but the consequences of our actions are. In that sense, it advocates humility paired with conscientiousness.