Quotes About Obligation

Responsibility's like a string we can only see the middle of. Both ends are out of sight.

Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty.

performers had to be transparent. Diva behavior was rendered difficult or impractical—the physical situation would have made it look silly. The performers were obliged to interact and mingle with their audience.

Freedom without responsibility? What freedom is that? None at all.

Marriage is like a formality for me.

remember, when you write things down, you commit to doing them. If you simply tell me what you want to do, there is really no commitment to getting it done.

Most people seem to believe that not only is it permissible to turn the train down the spur, it is actually required—morally obligatory.

What is a debt, anyway? A debt is just the perversion of a promise. It is a promise corrupted by both math and violence.

The problem is, the moment one starts framing things in terms of debt, people will inevitably start asking who really owes what to whom.

when dealing with the Absolute, there can be no such thing as debt.

human existence is itself a form of debt.

As it turns out, we don't "all" have to pay our debts. Only some of us do. Nothing would be more important than to wipe the slate clean for everyone, mark a break with our accustomed morality, and start again.

Always owe somebody something, then he will be forever praying God to grant you a good, long and blessed life. Fearing to lose what you owe him, he will always be saying good things about you in every sort of company; he will be constantly acquiring new lenders for you, so that you can borrow to pay him back, filling his ditch with other men's spoil.

It's not that we owe "society." If there is any notion of "society" here—and it's not clear that there is—society is our debts.

To this day, this loan has never been paid back. It cannot be. If it ever were, the entire monetary system of Great Britain would cease to exist.

We owe everything we are to others. This is simply true. The language we speak and even think in , our habits and opinions , the kind of food we like to eat, the knowledge that makes our lights switch on and toilets flush, even the style in which we carry out our gestures of defiance and rebellion against social conventions. All of this we learned from other people , most of them long dead. Does it make sense to think of all this as debt we we to others ?

If money is a just a yardstick, what then does it measure? The answer was simple: debt.

one man's right is simply another's obligation.

As it turns out, we don't "all" have to pay our debts. Only some of us do.

It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.

making sense of everything is not an obligation or even a possibility. So much of what goes on in the world, so much of what goes on even inside ourselves, is beyond our grasp. Acceptance of mystery is an act not of resignation but humility.

The more you know, the more you owe.

If you do not give the tenth part to God, he will take the nine parts.

Can you worship a God who isn't obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?