Duty

"Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty."

"We live in a nightmare of falsehoods, and there are few who are sufficiently awake and aware to see things as they are. Our first duty is to clear away illusions and recover a sense of reality."

"DUTY, n. That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire."

"Duty often had undesirable consequences, but if it did not it would be self-indulgence and hedonism."

"When I'm not thank'd at all, I'm thank'd enough: I've done my duty, and I've done no more."

"Bravery cannot be taught, but duty can."

"If inequalities stare us in the face the essential equality too is not to be missed. Every man has an equal right to the necessaries of life even as birds and beasts have. And since every right carries with it a corresponding duty and the corresponding remedy for resisting any attack upon it, it is merely a matter of finding out the corresponding duties and remedies to vindicate the elementary fundamental equality."

"Duty is weightier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather."

"Jesus ... combines all duties (1) in one universal rule (which includes within itself both the inner and the outer moral relations of men), namely: Perform your duty for no motive other than unconditioned esteem for duty itself, i.e., love God (the Legislator of all duties) above all else; and (2) in a particular rule, that, namely, which concerns man’s external relation to other men as universal duty: Love every one as yourself, i.e., further his welfare from good-will that is immediate and not derived from motives of self-advantage. These commands are not mere laws of virtue but precepts of holiness which we ought to pursue, and the very pursuit of them is called virtue."

"Duty! Thou sublime and mighty name that dost embrace nothing charming or insinuating, but requirest submission, and yet seekest not to move the will by threatening aught that would arouse natural aversion or terror, but merely holdest forth a law which of itself finds entrance into the mind, and yet gains reluctant reverence (though not always obedience), a law before which all inclinations are dumb, even though they secretly counter-work it; what origin is there worthy of thee, and where is to be found the root of thy noble descent which proudly rejects all kindred with the inclinations; a root to be derived from which is the indispensable condition of the only worth which men can give themselves?"

""Duty, Honor, Country" — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn."

"How can I do my duty if I do not know where it lies?"

"Left that command Sole daughter of his voice."

"England expects every Man will do his Duty."

"What destroys a man more quickly than to work, think, and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure — as a mere automaton of “duty.”"

"“What is the task of all higher education?” To turn men into machines. “What are the means?” Man must learn to be bored. “How is that accomplished?” “By means of the concept of duty.”"

"Consider the way “moral man” … is veiled behind moral formulas and concepts of decency — the way our actions are benevolently concealed by the concepts of duty, virtue, sense of community, honorableness, self-denial. … I am not suggesting that all this is meant to mask human malice and villainy, the wild animal in us; my idea is, on the contrary, that it is precisely as tame animals that we are a shameful sight and in need of the moral disguise."

"It is difficult to preach, this morality of mediocrity! It may never admit what it is and what it wants! It must speak about restraint and worth and duty and love of one’s neighbor."

""What moves the Greek warrior to deeds of heroism," Kitto comments, "is not a sense of duty as we understand it... duty towards others: it is rather duty towards himself. He strives after that which we translate 'virtue' but is in Greek areté, 'excellence' — we shall have much to say about areté. It runs through Greek life." There, Phædrus thinks, is a definition of Quality that had existed a thousand years before the dialecticians ever thought to put it to word-traps. Anyone who cannot understand this meaning without logical definiens and definendum and differentia is either lying or so out of touch with the common lot of humanity as to be unworthy of receiving any reply whatsoever."

"L'État comprime et la loi triche L'impôt saigne le malheureux Nul devoir ne s'impose au riche Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux C'est assez, languir en tutelle L'égalité veut d'autres lois Pas de droits sans devoirs dit-elle Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits"

"The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the larger interests of humanity."

"I do perceive here a divided duty."

"I thought the remnant of mine age Should have been cherish'd by her child-like duty."

"Duty was simply not enough. There had to be more than that!"

"A woman for duty, A boy for pleasure, But a melon for ecstasy."

"Evangelical Christianity conspires with technical and economic rationalism. In the end, they both require a commitment to "duty" that masks unspeakable violence and injustice."

"The primal duties shine aloft, like stars: The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless Are scattered at the feet of Man, like flowers."

"In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty."

"He who is false to present duty breaks a thread in the loom, and will find the flaw when he may have forgotten its cause."

"To do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me."

"Maintain your post: That's all the fame you need; For 'tis impossible you should proceed."

"Not aw'd to duty by superior sway."

"And rank for her meant duty, various, Yet equal in its worth, done worthily. Command was service; humblest service done By willing and discerning souls was glory."

"The reward of one duty is the power to fulfil another."

"So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man. When Duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can."

"In common things the law of sacrifice takes the form of positive duty."

"Was aber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages."

"Hath the spirit of all beauty Kissed you in the path of duty?"

"Then on! then on! where duty leads, My course be onward still."

"I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty:— Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?"

"Take up the White Man's burden."

"Thet tells the story! Thet's wut we shall git By tryin' squirtguns on the burnin' Pit; For the day never comes when it'll du To kick on dooty like a worn-out shoe."

"Straight is the line of duty; Curved is the line of beauty; Follow the straight line, thou shalt see The curved line ever follow thee."

"Every mission constitutes a pledge of duty. Every man is bound to consecrate his every faculty to its fulfilment. He will derive his rule of action from the profound conviction of that duty."

"The things which must be, must be for the best, God helps us do our duty and not shrink, And trust His mercy humbly for the rest."

"Knowledge is the hill which few may wish to climb; Duty is the path that all may tread."

"Thy sum of duty let two words contain, (O may they graven in thy heart remain!) Be humble and be just."

"And I read the moral—A brave endeavour To do thy duty, whate'er its worth, Is better than life with love forever, And love is the sweetest thing on earth."

"Alas! when duty grows thy law, enjoyment fades away."

"By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion. The State is competent to assign duties and draw the line between good and evil only in its immediate sphere. Beyond the limits of things necessary for its well-being, it can only give indirect help to fight the battle of life by promoting the influences which prevail against temptation, — religion, education, and the distribution of wealth."