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
Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
The path of duty lies in what is nearby, but men look for it in things far off.
—Chinese Proverb
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
New occasions teach new duties.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
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
The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, the last duty well done.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Duty performed is a moral tonic; if neglected, the tone and strength of both mind and heart are weakened, and the spiritual health undermined.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Never step over one duty to perform another.
—English Proverb
Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Writer, Journalist, Political Leader, Editor
What is possible is our highest duty.
—William E. McLaren (1831–1905) American Episcopal Bishop
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
Do the duty that lies nearest to thee.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Duties are ours, events are God’s. This removes an infinite burden from the shoulders of a miserable, tempted, dying creature. On this consideration only can he securely lay down his head and close his eyes.
—Richard Cecil
We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before he entered it.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Duty is ours; results are God’s.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
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, Inventor
Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity.
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
To what gulfs
A single deviation from the track
Of human duties leads even those who claim
The homage of mankind as their born due,
And find it, till they forfeit it themselves!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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
Perish discretion when it interferes with duty.
—Hannah More
When one has come to accept a certain course as duty he has a pleasant sense of relief and of lifted responsibility, even if the course involves pain and renunciation. It is like obedience to some external authority; any clear way, though it lead to death, is mentally preferable to the tangle of uncertainty.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
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
Know thyself and do thine own work, says Plato; and each includes the other and covers the whole duty of man.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.
—Kurt Cobain (1967–94) American Rock Musician
God always has an angel of help for those who are willing to do their duty.
—Theodore L. Cuyler (1822–1909) American Presbyterian Clergyman, Writer
Every duty which we omit, obscures some truth which we should have known.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
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