“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
"A Conversation Between I. Compton-Burnett and M. Jourdain", in R. Lehmann et al. (eds.) Orion (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1945) vol. 1, p. 2.
Narrator, p. 78
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Prey (2001)
“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
"A Conversation Between I. Compton-Burnett and M. Jourdain", in R. Lehmann et al. (eds.) Orion (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1945) vol. 1, p. 2.
“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.”
Teacher in America (1945)
“It is our duty to help those who need help; but it cannot be our duty to make others happy,”
Vol. 2, Ch. 24 "Oracular Philosophy and the Revolt against Reason"
The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945)
Context: ... the attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell. It leads to intolerance. It leads to religious wars, and to the saving of souls through the inquisition. And it is, I believe, based on a complete misunderstanding of our moral duties. It is our duty to help those who need help; but it cannot be our duty to make others happy, since this does not depend on us, and since it would only too often mean intruding on the privacy of those towards whom we have such amiable intentions.
“It is the fundamental duty of the citizen to resist and to restrain the violence of the state.”
Noam Chomsky, in John Duffett International War Crimes Tribunal: Against the Crime of Silence: Proceedings. Simon and Schuster, 1970. p. xxiv; Republished at Foreword http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1971----.htm in chomsky.info, accessed May 23, 2014.
Quotes 1960s-1980s, 1970s
Context: It is the fundamental duty of the citizen to resist and to restrain the violence of the state. Those who choose to disregard this responsibility can justly be accused of complicity in war crimes, which is itself designated as ‘a crime under international law’ in the principles of the Charter of Nuremberg.
Interview with Newcastle's Metro Radio (2 June 1975), quoted in The Times (3 June 1975), p. 4
Post-Prime Ministerial
1910s, Address to the Knights of Columbus (1915)
Context: Now there must be some application of this spirit in times of peace or we cannot suddenly develop it in time of war. The strike situation in the United States at this time is a scandal to the country as a whole and discreditable alike to employer and employee. Any employer who fails to recognize that human rights come first and that the friendly relationship between himself and those working for him should be one of partnership and comradeship in mutual help no less than self-help is recreant to his duty as an American citizen, and it is to his interest, having in view the enormous destruction of life in [[w:World War I|the present war], to conserve, and to train to higher efficiency, alike for his benefit and for its, the labor supply. In return any employee who acts along the lines publicly advocated by the men who profess to speak for the I. W. W. is not merely an open enemy of business, but of this entire country and is out of place in our government.
“The duty to disclose knowledge of crime rests upon all citizens.”
Stein v. New York, 346 U.S. 156, 184 (1953)
Judicial opinions
1950s, First Inaugural Address (1953)
“To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.”
As quoted in " Attack on women at a bar in India raises fears of 'Hindu Taliban' http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/29/world/fg-india-brawl29, Los Angeles Times (29 January 2009)