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.
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Famous quotes containing the word duty:
“The whole duty of man consists in being reasonable and just.... I am reasonable because I know the difference between understanding and not understanding and I am just because I have no opinion about things I I don’t understand.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Felix Randal the farrier, O he is dead then? My duty all is ended,
Who have watched his mould of man, big-boned and hardy-handsome,
Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it and some
Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended?”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)