quotations about duty
Not once or twice in our fair island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory.
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
"Ode on the Death of Wellington"
Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action: natural bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to the President of Congress, Feb. 9, 1776
Duty largely consists of pretending that the trivial is critical.
JOHN FOWLES
The Magus
Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures.
GEORGE MACDONALD
The Wise Woman and Other Stories
A man who refuses a duty ... is not punished ... but forsaken. And he will never know love or honor or happiness again.
S. M. STIRLING
The Sunrise Lands
DUTY, n. That which sternly impels us in the direction of profit, along the line of desire.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
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
The superior man is the man who fulfils his duty.
EUGENE IONESCO
Rhinoceros
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
I do perceive here a divided duty.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Othello
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.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Beyond Good and Evil
Though Duty's face is stern, her path is best:
They sweetly sleep who die upon her breast.
HENRY ABBEY
"The Roman Sentinel"
When the destinies of the world are at stake, there comes a point at which private esteem and admiration must give way to the sense of public duty.
WILLIAM ARCHER
Shirking the Issue: A Letter to Dr. George Brandes
Besides the five senses, there is a sixth sense, of equal importance--the sense of duty.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Honor is no phantom. Duty doesn't melt away, no matter how much we might wish it to.
CLAUDIA J. EDWARDS
Taming the Forest King
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
That famous ring that pricked its owner when he forgot duty and followed desire--I wonder if it pricked very hard when he set out on the chase, or whether it pricked but lightly then, and only pierced to the quick when the chase had long been ended, and hope folding her wings, looked backward and became regret?
GEORGE ELIOT
Silas Marner
It is wrong to tantalize you so while you are braving all things in trying to fulfil duty. Duty is black and brown--home is bright and shining, and the spirit and the bride say come, and let him that wandereth come, for behold all things are ready.
EMILY DICKINSON
letter to William Austin Dickinson, October 1851
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