It is easier to do one’s duty to others than to one’s self. If you do your duty to others, you are considered reliable. If you do your duty to yourself, you are considered selfish.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
Do the truth ye know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
The brave man wants no charms to encourage him to duty, and the good man scorns all warnings that would deter him from doing it.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not endured with patient resignation.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Duty. That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The consideration that human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected will always continue to prompt me to promote the former by inculcating the practice of the latter.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Can you have more than one major MISSION pervading your life? NO. That would be like coming to a fork in the road and trying to go both ways by straddling it.
—Charles A. Garfield (b.1944) American Psychologist
Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Rank imposes obligation.
—Anonymous
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
—Frank Herbert (1920–86) American Science Fiction Writer
The difference between goals and mission is reflected in the difference between I want to get married and I want to have a successful marriage.
—Unknown
New occasions teach new duties.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
We ought to use the best means we can to be well informed of our duty.
—Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902) American Politician, Lawyer
Duty is ours; results are God’s.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
The truth is, one’s vocation is never some far-off possibility.—It is always the simple round of duties which the passing hour brings.
—John Welsh Dulles (1823–87) American Presbyterian Minister
Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity.
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
All higher motives, ideals, conceptions, sentiments in a man are of no account if they do not come forward to strengthen him for the better discharge of the duties which devolve upon him in the ordinary affairs of life.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
It is worthy of special remark that when we are not too anxious about happiness and unhappiness, but devote ourselves to the strict and unsparing performance of duty, then happiness comes of itself.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
Do the duty that lies nearest to thee.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Never step over one duty to perform another.
—English Proverb
Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
But in his duty prompt at every call, he watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Duty performed gives clearness and firmness to faith, and faith thus strengthened through duty becomes the more assured and satisfying to the soul.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
The reward of one duty done is the power to fulfill another.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The path of duty lies in what is near, and men seek for it in what is remote.—The work of duty lies in what is easy, and men seek for it in what is difficult.
—Mencius (c.371–c.289 BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Can any man or woman choose duties? No more than they can choose their birthplace, or their father and mother.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
For many years I was a self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and did my duty faithfully, though I never received payment for it.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The surest method of arriving at a knowledge of God’s eternal purposes about us is to be found in the right use of the present moment. Each hour comes with some little fagot of God’s will fastened upon its back.
—Frederick William Faber (1814–63) British Hymn writer, Theologian
Duty largely consists of pretending that the trivial is critical.
—John Fowles (1926–2005) English Novelist
It is an achievement for a man to do his duty on earth irrespective of the consequences.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
The first duty of life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one as yet discovered.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Duty is not collective; it is personal
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Oh, duty is what one expects from others, it is not what one does oneself.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Is duty a mere sport, or an employ! Life an entrusted talent or a toy.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is it’s own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
We are apt to mistake our vocation in looking out of the way for occasions to exercise great and rare virtues, and stepping over the ordinary ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read we fancy we could be martyrs; when we come to act we find we cannot bear a provoking word.
—Hannah More
Nothing is more expensive than penuriousness, nothing more anxious than carelessness, and every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
There is not a moment without some duty.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
I declare my belief that it is not your duty to do anything that is not to your own interest. Whenever it is unquestionably your duty to do a thing, then it will benefit you to perform that duty.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Where duty is plain delay is both foolish and hazardous; where it is not, delay may be both wisdom and safety.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
The duty of man is plain and simple, and consists but of two points; his duty to God, which every man must feel; and his duty to his neighbor, to do as he would be done by.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
Perish discretion when it interferes with duty.
—Hannah More
The best security for people’s doing their duty is that they should not know anything else to do.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
It is surprising how practical duty enriches the fancy and the heart, and action clears and deepens the affections.
—James Martineau (1805–1900) English Philosopher, Religious Leader