Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Obligation

If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.
Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer

Too great a hurry to discharge an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer

In some there is a kind of graceless modesty that makes a man ashamed of requiting an obligation, because it is a confession that he has received one.
Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian

Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician

Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) Romanian-born American Writer, Professor, Political Activist

A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.
John Tillotson

A coldly rationalist individualist can deny that he has any obligation to make sacrifices for the future.
Garrett Hardin (1915–2003) American Ecologist, Bioethicist

As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved – it’s the citizen who changes things.
Jose Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese Novelist

If you are living out of a sense of obligation you are slave.
Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.
Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist

Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian

To owe an obligation to a worthy friend, is a happiness, and can be no disparagement.
Pierre Charron (1541–1603) French Preacher, Philosopher

It is safer to affront some people than to oblige them; for the better a man deserves, the worse they will speak of him; as if the professing of open hatred to their benefactors were an argument that they lie under no obligation to him.
Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian

Relationships based on obligation lack dignity.
Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author

A “should” is a “have to” with no teeth; it is dead energy.
Ruth Ross

What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends?—Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.
Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet

Man always travels along precipices. His truest obligation is to keep his balance.
Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher

Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful; the proud are made sour by the remembrance and the vain silent.
William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Historian, Novelist, Editor

When some men discharge an obligation, you can hear the report for miles around.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character-not wealth or power or position-is of supreme worth. I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson

Friendship is not always the sequel of obligation
Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist

I believe that a worthwhile life is defined by a kind of spiritual journey and a sense of obligation.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (b.1947) American Head of State, Politician

He has the obligation to society that any human being has. I don’t think a satirist has any greater obligation to society than a bricklayer or anybody else.
Shel Silverstein (1932–99) American Cartoonist, Author

To feel oppressed by obligation is only to prove that we are incapable of a proper sentiment of gratitude.—To receive favors from the unworthy is to admit that our selfishness is superior to our pride.
William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Historian, Novelist, Editor

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
Humphry Davy (1778–1829) British Chemist, Science Propagandist

We are always much better pleased to see those whom we have obliged, than those who have obliged us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer

Obligation is thraldom, and thraldom is hateful.
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English Political Philosopher

It is well known to all great men, that by conferring an obligation they do not always procure a friend, but are certain of creating many enemies.
Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist

Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.
Margaret Mitchell (1900–49) American Novelist, Journalist

I was given talent, and if you are given it, it is your obligation to use it.
Dennis Potter (1935–94) English Television Playwright

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