"Let a man begin in earnest with, "I ought," and he will end, by Gods grace, if he persevere, with, "I will." Let him force himself to abound in all small offices of kindliness, attention, affectionateness, and all these for Gods sake. By and by he will feel them become the habit of his soul."
A duty is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, especially in an honor culture. Many duties are created by law, sometimes including a codified punishment or liability for non-performance. Performing one's duty may require some sacrifice of self-interest.
"When faith and hope fail, as they do sometimes, we must trust charity, which is love in action. We must speculate no more on our duty, but simply do it. When we have done it, however blindly, perhaps Heaven will show us the reason why."
"Consider the way “moral man” … is veiled behind moral formulas and concepts of decency — the way our actions are benevolently concealed by the concepts of duty, virtue, sense of community, honorableness, self-denial. … I am not suggesting that all this is meant to mask human malice and villainy, the wild animal in us; my idea is, on the contrary, that it is precisely as tame animals that we are a shameful sight and in need of the moral disguise."
"The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than for their own. Of course the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the larger interests of humanity."
"The consciousness of duty performed gives us music at midnight."
"Thet tells the story! Thets wut we shall git By tryin squirtguns on the burnin Pit; For the day never comes when itll du To kick on dooty like a worn-out shoe."
"And rank for her meant duty, various, Yet equal in its worth, done worthily. Command was service; humblest service done By willing and discerning souls was glory."