quotations about duty
DUTY, n. That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
The daily life is so wearisome; yet duty lies that way.
C. W. LEADBEATER
The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals
Obedience and resignation are our personal offerings upon the altar of duty.
HOSEA BALLOU
Edge-Tools of Speech
Though Duty's face is stern, her path is best:
They sweetly sleep who die upon her breast.
HENRY ABBEY
"The Roman Sentinel"
Duty is the grandest of ideas, because it implies the idea of God, of the soul, of liberty, of responsibility, of immortality.
HENRI-DOMINIQUE LACORDAIRE
attributed, A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World
A man who does his duty because it is the custom, like the man who abstains because of other men's opinions and practices, simply reflects what exists around him--it is not his own duteous act or virtue; it lies on the surface, it has not penetrated his soul.
JAMES PLATT
Platt's Essays
Duty largely consists of pretending that the trivial is critical.
JOHN FOWLES
The Magus
The superior man is the man who fulfils his duty.
EUGENE IONESCO
Rhinoceros
What chastity is to woman, duty is to man, the willingly assumed burden of their kind.
JANICE MANNING & MARSHALL MASTERS
The Kolbrin Bible
When I'm not thank'd at all, I'm thank'd enough:
I've done my duty, and I've done no more.
HENRY FIELDING
Tom Thumb the Great
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
ELLEN STURGIS HOOPER
Life a Duty
Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.
DOUG LARSON
attributed, Great Funny Quotes
Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures.
GEORGE MACDONALD
The Wise Woman and Other Stories
The want of reward is no warrant for us to dispense with our duty.
SAMUEL RICHARDSON
Clarissa
Besides the five senses, there is a sixth sense, of equal importance--the sense of duty.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
I do perceive here a divided duty.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Othello
Two sides of lonely,
One is heart,
One is duty.
THE LONE BELLOW
"Two Sides of Lonely"
The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.
GEORGES BERNANOS
Last Essays
Duty is obligation, the bastard child of loyalty and the will to serve; when you think about it, just another roundabout way of saying love. No wonder it causes so much pointless damage.
K. J. PARKER
Evil for Evil
The journey of life is plain and straight enough if people were trained to make principle their watchword and duty their rule.
JAMES PLATT
Platt's Essays