Duty

Duty

Duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; Old French: deu, did, past participle of devoir; Latin: debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment or obligation to someone or something. The moral commitment should result in action; it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person theoretically commits themself to its fulfillment without considering their own self-interest. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty entirely precludes a life of leisure; however, its fulfilment generally involves some sacrifice of immediate self-interest. Typically, "the demands of justice, honor, and reputation are deeply bound up" with duty.

Read more about Duty.

Famous quotes containing the word duty:

    Where there are no rights, there are no duties. To tell the truth is thus a duty; but it is a duty only in respect to one who has a right to the truth.
    —Henri Benjamin Constant De Rebecque (1767–1830)

    The abominable doctrine taught in the pulpit, the press, in books and elsewhere, is that the whole duty of women is self- abasement and self-sacrifice. I do not believe subjection is woman’s duty any more than it is the duty of a man to be under subjection to another man or many men. Women have the right of independence, of conscience, of will and of responsibility.
    Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)

    The way to transmute your iron duty into gold in everyone’s eyes is this: always deliver more than you promise.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)