“To live without duties is obscene.”
Aristocracy
1880s, Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883)
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Ralph Waldo Emerson727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes
“Duty cannot exist without faith.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Bk. II, Ch. 1.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847)
Dan Quayle (1947) American politician, lawyer
Press conference (15 September 1988), paraphrased in Esquire (August 1992), The New Yorker (10 October 1988), p. 102
Eugène Edine Pottier (1816–1887) French politician
L'État comprime et la loi triche
L'impôt saigne le malheureux
Nul devoir ne s'impose au riche
Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux
C'est assez, languir en tutelle
L'égalité veut d'autres lois
Pas de droits sans devoirs dit-elle
Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits
The Internationale (1864)
Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
“To live in prison is to live without mirrors. To live
without mirrors is to live without the self.”
Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer
Selected Poems 1976-1986 (1987), Marrying the Hangman
Context: To live in prison is to live without mirrors. To live
without mirrors is to live without the self. She is
living selflessly, she finds a hole in the stone wall and
on the other side of the wall, a voice. The voice
comes through darkness and has no face. This voice
becomes her mirror.
“Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
Remarks at the National Conference of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (30 March 1981)) (source: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/33081b.htm) <br class="br">1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Remarks by President Obama and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma in Joint Press Conference at Aung San Suu Kyi Residence in Rangoon, Burma on November 14, 2014 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/14/remarks-president-obama-and-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-joint-press-confe <br class="br">Context: Our struggle for democracy has been carried out with a strong grasp on the principle of nonviolence. And also, we believe in the rule of law. So if you ask how do we propose to resolve all of these problems of violence between communities, between different ethnic groups, we've got to start with rule of law. People have to feel secure before they can start talking to one another. We cannot achieve harmony without security. People who feel threatened are not going to sit down and sort out their problems. So I would like to recommend, as the chair of the Rule of Law and Tranquility Committee -- don't forget that tranquility is also included -- that the government should look to rule of law. It is the duty of the government to make all our people feel secure, and it is the duty of our people to learn to live in harmony with one another.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–1891) English statesman and poet
Part i, canto ii.
Lucile (1860)