“Love can flourish only as long as it is free and spontaneous; it tends to be killed by the thought of duty. To say that it is your duty to love so-and-so is the surest way to cause you to hate him of her.”

“Know the qualities in each one's heart and then serve him. But first, try to know your own heart. Only then can you understand the hearts of others. If you have that understanding, then whatever words you speak and whatever duty you perform will be true duty, God's everlasting duty. If you are in that state, the love you give to each one will be God's complete love. In every situation, perform your duty with this understanding.”

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (1900–1986) Sri Lankan Sufi leader

“In any profession, the difference always makes the love you feel for a job. Loving your job… is the only way to do your duty well.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

“Love in its most genuine sense, can only flourish if it is FREE. We, as people, can only flourish if we are free.”

Steve Maraboli (1975)

“Without love for life, neither human obligations, nor their fulfillment would be possible. Only with love can duty be a free choice and an exciting decent pursuit.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

“McLeavy: My duty is clear.
Truscott: Only the authorities can decide when your duty is clear. Wild guesses by persons like yourself can only cause confusion.”

Joe Orton (1933–1967) English playwright and author

“A manly form at her side she saw,
And joy was duty and love was law.
Then she took up her burden of life again,
Saying only, "It might have been."”

John Greenleaf Whittier Maud Muller

“What is right or duty without power? To tell a man it is his duty to submit his judgment to the judgment of the church, is like telling a wife it is her duty to love her husband — a thing easy to say, but meaning simply nothing. Affection must be won, not commanded.”

James Anthony Froude book The Nemesis of Faith

“My father," said she, "is there any daughter that can love her father more than duty requires? In my opinion, whoever pretends to it, must disguise her real sentiments under the veil of flattery. I have always loved you as a father, nor do I yet depart from my purposed duty; and if you insist to have something more extorted from me, hear now the greatness of my affection, which I always bear you, and take this for a short answer to all your questions; look how much you have, so much is your value, and so much do I love you.”
"Est uspiam pater mi filia quae patrem suum plus quam patrem presumat diligere? Non reor equidem ullam esse quae hoc fateri audeat nisi iocosis veritatem celare nitatur. Nempe ego dilexi te semper ut patrem, et adhuc a proposito meo non divertor. Et si ex me magis extorquere insistis, audi cercudinem amoris quae adversum te habeo et interrogationibus tuis finem impone: et enim quantum habes tantum vales tantumque te diligo."

Geoffrey of Monmouth The History of the Kings of Britain

“Do not
forget duty. But choose love when you can.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist