“The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else.”

Source: The Age of Innocence (1920), Ch. 34

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else." by Edith Wharton?
Edith Wharton photo
Edith Wharton 103
American novelist, short story writer, designer 1862–1937

Related quotes

Samuel Butler photo

“Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Criticism
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books
Context: Critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else. Books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes, and counsel should be heard on both sides.

Henry Miller photo

“I soon learned that one must give up everything and not do anything else but write, that one must write write write.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Henry Miller on Writing (1964)

Terry Pratchett photo

“Do for yourself, for no one else will.”

Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer

Source: A Heart So Wild

John C. Wright photo

“It is amazing how well the worst ones think of themselves, and how little the best ones do.”

John C. Wright (1961) American novelist and technical writer

Source: Titans of Chaos (2007), Chapter 22, “The Bubble Bath” (p. 300)

Frank Zappa photo

“There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we'd all love one another.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Zen Masters : The Wisdom of Frank Zappa (2003)

Charles Baudelaire photo

“To do one's duty every day and trust in God for tomorrow.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Faire son devoir tous les jours et se fier à Dieu, pour le lendemain.
Journaux intimes (1864–1867; published 1887), Mon cœur mis à nu (1864)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“Anything that is moral for a group to do is moral for one person to do.”

There must be a flaw in that, since I’ve always been taught that it is wrong to take the law in your own hands. But I can’t find the flaw and it sounds axiomatic, self-evident. Switch it around. If something is wrong for one person to do, can it possibly be made right by having a lot of people (a government) agree to do it together? Even unanimously?
If anything is wrong, it is wrong—and vox populi can’t change it.
Source: Podkayne of Mars (1963), Chapter 13 (p. 169)

Gay Talese photo
Christopher Morley photo

Related topics