Family Duty Quotes

My compass and guiding star:
MyDaddy, that's who you are.
Discipline I learned from you,
With patience in all I do.
Sang-froid you gifted to me,
Along with versatility.
You reveal the profound beauty
Found in Family Duty.
You've instilled me with toughness,
To overcome any roughness.
Thanks to you I conquer worlds;
I strive to be MyDaddy's girl. ~ Mariecor Ruediger

Marie, now Mme. Driscoll, turned to Berthe and smiled, as she used to when they were children. Once again, the smile said, Have I done the right thing? Is this what you wanted? Yes, yes, said Berthe silently, but she went on crying. ~ Mavis Gallant

Her visits to her former hometown were infrequent and often painful. Pilgrimages fueled by the tepid oxygen of family duty, unease, guilt. The more Esther loved her parents, the more helpless she felt, as they aged, to protect them from harm. A moral coward, she kept her distance. ~ Joyce Carol Oates

Family, Duty, Honor, ~ George R R Martin

When the family is destroyed, the ancient laws of family duty cease; when law ceases, lawlessness overwhelms the family; when lawlessness overwhelms the women of the family, they become corrupted; when women are corrupted, the intermixture of castes is the inevitable result. Intermixture of castes drags down to hell both those who destroy the family and the family itself; the spirits of the ancestors fall, deprived of their offerings of rice and water. Such are the evils caused by those who destroy the family: because of the intermixture of castes, caste duties are obliterated and the permanent duties of the family as well. ~ Anonymous Bhagavad Gita

The instinct to survive is human nature itself, and every aspect of our personalities derives from it. Anything that conflicts with the survival instinct acts sooner or later to eliminate the individual and thereby fails to show up in future generations ... A scientifically verifiable theory of morals must be rooted in the individual's instinct to survive
and nowhere else!
and must correctly describe the hierarchy of survival, note the motivations at each level, and resolve all conflicts.
We have such a theory now; we can solve any moral problem, on any level. Self-interest, love of family, duty to country, responsibility toward the human race ...
The basis of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

The change will do you good," she said simply, when he had finished; "and you must be sure to go and see Ellen," she added, looking him straight in the eyes with her cloudless smile, and speaking in the tone she might have employed in urging him not to neglect some irksome family duty.

It was the only word that passed between them on the subject; but in the code in which they had both been trained it meant: "Of course you understand that I know all that people have been saying about Ellen, and heartily sympathize with my family in their effort to get her to return to her husband. I also know that, for some reason you have not chosen to tell me, you have advised her against this course, which all the older men of the family, as well as our grandmother, agree in approving; and that it is owing to your encouragement that Ellen defies us all, and exposes herself to the kind of criticism of which Mr. Sillerton Jackson probably gave you this evening, the hint that has made you so irritable… Hints have indeed not been wanting; but since you appear unwilling to take them from others, I offer you this one myself, in the only form in which well-bred people of our kind can communicate unpleasant things to each other: by letting you understand that I know you mean to see Ellen when you are in Washington, and are perhaps going there expressly for that purpose; and that, since you are sure to see her, I wish you to do so with my full and explicit approval - and to take the oppor ~ Edith Wharton

Gregor's serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month - the apple remained imbedded in his flesh as a visible souvenir since no one dared to remove it - seemed to have reminded even his father that Gregor was a member of the family, in spite of his present pathetic and repulsive shape, who could not be treated as an enemy; that, on the contrary, it was the commandment of the family duty to swallow their disgust and endure him, endure him and nothing more. ~ Franz Kafka

My mother's studies stopped with the third year of primary school, my father with the first. They taught me a deep sense of duty. But nobody was involved in politics in my family. ~ Emma Bonino

I was born into a very important family in Japan. My grandfather was a descendant of the Emperor, and we were very wealthy. ~ Yoko Ono

and in that moment, Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later. For the first time he realized that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best as he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps, love, adopted a role called being a father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life. And now that boy, that good actor, had grown old and fragile and tired, wearier than ever at the thought of trying to hoist the Protector's armor back onto his shoulders again, now, so far down the line. ~ Tom Wolfe

I know not every family is the same. We all have different personalities and names. Different colors in a box of crayons. Different shades in a box of graphites. And maybe love looks different to different people, the same way beauty looks different.

But the kind of love I need isn't the kind I have. I guess I'm still trying to find a way to be okay with that. ~ Akemi Dawn Bowman

Despite the chaos, our family had a solid routine. Weekends were spent at the cabin where we enjoyed the quiet. A few times a week, Raven and Lark trained at Big Bob's. My kids and I cawed for mommy during games. Once a week, we dropped by Cooper's new house to add to his chaos.
At least twice a week, we lived at the bowling alley. All the kids loved the game and River was quite talented like his pop. Our youngest Nevaeh even enjoyed bowling before she was born. Every time we were at the alley, the baby would kick the hell out of Raven. My woman responded by eating nachos. While I never understood the plan behind dosing our unborn kid with cheese, who was I to question her tactics? ~ Bijou Hunter

My parents didn't really restrict my movement, so I got involved in the underground music scene and the activism scene; I was doing some volunteering in food relief. I spent a lot of time throughout the city in poor areas, even though my family lived in a wealthy area. ~ Jess Row

My father had a dairy farm. He employed three black families and one white family, and I used to play with black children. ~ Billy Graham

Family home evening is for everyone ... We need the strength that comes from family home evening. ~ James E. Faust

Maybe this isn't the right thing to say, but I want you to know: When you ran for the stage, I've never been so proud of you in all my life. You've always been beautiful; you've always been talented. And now I know that your moral compass is perfectly aligned, that you see clearly when things are wrong, and you do everything you can to stop it. As a father, I can't ask for more. I love you America. And I'm so so proud. ~ Kiera Cass

In the same essay, Said (who is reviewing Peter Stansky and William Abrams, co-authors obsessed with the Blair/Orwell distinction) congratulates them on their forceful use of tautology:

'Orwell belonged to the category of writers who write.' And could afford to write, they might have added. In contrast they speak of George Garrett, whom Orwell met in Liverpool, a gifted writer, seaman, dockworker, Communist militant, 'the plain facts of [whose] situation - on the dole, married and with kids, the family crowded into two rooms - made it impossible for him to attempt any extended piece of writing.' Orwell's writing life then was from the start an affirmation of unexamined bourgeois values.

This is rather extraordinary. Orwell did indeed meet Garrett in Liverpool in 1936, and was highly impressed to find that he knew him already through his pseudonymous writing - under the name Matt Lowe - for John Middleton Murry's Adelphi. As he told his diary:

I urged him to write his autobiography, but as usual, living in about two rooms on the dole with a wife (who I gather objects to his writing) and a number of kids, he finds it impossible to settle to any long work and can only do short stories. Apart from the enormous unemployment in Liverpool, it is almost impossible for him to get work because he is blacklisted everywhere as a Communist.

Thus the evidence that supposedly shames Orwell by contrast is in fact supplied by - none other than Orwe ~ Christopher Hitchens

I am not a woman who would be practical in your life, Sam. You need a home and family..."
"I'm a soldier, Azami. That's who I am. What I am. My woman will be my home----my family... ~ Christine Feehan

POPPY (standing up to Paul): We're different. You make appointments to see your family. You're careful with what you say and do around people. You care about the opinions of strangers.

None of that makes any fricking sense to me, but I respect your decisions to care about pointless crap. ~ Bijou Hunter

Peace and war begin at home. If we truly want peace in the world, let us begin by loving one another in our own families. If we want to spread joy, we need for every family to have joy. ~ Mother Teresa

Family farms and small businesses are the backbone of our communities. ~ Tom Allen

Your mate doesn't live by bread alone; he or she needs to be 'buttered up' from time to time. ~ Zig Ziglar

Though I am born into a film family, I hardly had much exposure to shooting during my growing
years. My first film actually taught me about the breakdown of shots in a film. My aim is to do three
memorable roles in the next five years; films I can be really proud of. And I want to work with the best. ~ Alia Bhatt

Your afraid the sly little things will steal your heart if the find out you have one
- Natalie Savage Carlson " The Family Under The Bridge ~ Natalie Savage Carlson

Responsible people work, earn, save, invest, make things better for self & family. Lefties call that "greed." ~ Philip Schuyler

Even then, our family was extraordinary, with ten kids. ~ Mink Stole

The first thing that struck me was how the single women of my acquaintance were exceptionally alert to the people around them, generous in their attention, ready to engage in conversation or share a joke. Having nobody to go home to at night had always seemed a sad and lonesome fate; now I saw that being forced to leave the house for human contact encourages a person to live more fully in the world. In the best instances, the result was an intricate lacework of friendships varying in intensity and closeness that could be, it seemed, just as sustaining as a nuclear family, and possibly more appealing. ~ Kate Bolick

If people believe that they are marrying out of love and free choice rather than out of duty, they are more likely to decide, if love should die, that the free choice to join together is no more significant than the free choice to part, and to look for love elsewhere; those married out of duty expect less love to begin with, and what duty has brought together, duty may keep together. ~ Stephen L. Carter

I think it's very important to have the stewardship of a company by a family member. ~ Marie-Chantal Claire

Genealogy of ideas. You don't get to pick your family, but you can pick your teachers and you can pick your friends and you can pick the music you listen to and you can pick the books you read and you can pick the movies you see. ~ Austin Kleon

Technology has deprived the family of almost all its functions. ~ Charles A. Reich

I have a family and two cats; I get up with my kids early in the morning. ~ Vanna White

We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built: honesty, charity, integrity and family. ~ Mitt Romney

In the theatre, as anyone knows who's even done amateur theatre all their lives, you immediately find a family there. Because you're under stress, you're trying to create something, you're putting on a show, you find brothers and sisters right away. ~ Saul Rubinek

Marriage was a goal. A family, for me as a young girl, was my image of what I hoped for. It was part of the big picture. ~ Demi Moore

What of the hundreds of faceless men on the streets looking for work, trying to pick up the threads of family life, hoping that the dying had made a better Britain, and finding they were lost in it. Faceless men ... People stepped around them now, ignored the brave boy who'd marched away to glory and now begged on the street because a one-armed man couldn't work. He thought sometimes, in the dark corners of his mind, that the dead were the lucky ones. They hadn't been disillusioned. ~ Charles Todd

Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth. This cannot be done by mere acts of duty. It can be done only when spontaneous affections arise in the heart. ~ John Piper

They're trying to kill me before I'm dead. I come to Quebec to spend some time with my family and they say I'm dead. ~ Pat Burns

One of the many unintended consequences of the Anthropocene has been the pruning of our own family tree. Having cut down our sister species - the Neanderthals and the Denisovans - many generations ago, we're now working on our first and second cousins. By the time we're done, it's quite possible that there will be among the great apes not a single representative left, except, that is, for us. ~ Elizabeth Kolbert

Each time we go through a major life change (getting married or divorced, moving, having a family, switching careers, starting a new business, going back to school), we experience a breakdown of our organizational systems. It's inevitable-we are dealing with a new set of realities-and it takes time to process the information and to actually see what there is to organize. ~ Julie Morgenstern

The world's a small place and people are watching; and, you know, somebody disappears, the family knows and their colleagues know, and so eventually, these things do get out. ~ Jane Mayer

There is no such thing as love for the whole family. ~ Jerry Seinfeld

The first world we find ourselves in is a family that is not of our choosing. ~ Harriet Lerner

I think about how I'm spending my money, and I like to spend on my family. ~ Hilary Swank

I was hoping they would put up flyers like they do for lost cats." He said. "Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'hotstuff'."
"You did not just say that."
"You don't like 'hotstuff'? You think 'sweet cheeks' might be better? "Love crumpet'? Really? That last one's stretching it a bit. Though, technically my family is British- ~ Cassandra Clare

Pressed into service means pressed out of shape. ~ Robert Frost

He keeps getting older while I'm not paying attention. ~ Maggie Stiefvater

You don't wanna be around your family constantly. ~ John Oates

Those who seek education in the paths of duty are always deceived by the illusion that power in the hands of friends is an advantage to them. ~ Henry Adams

Besides this it is necessary that man, before starting his journey, realizes that he has fulfilled his duties, his duty to those around him and his duty to God. But one who considers his duty to those around him sacredly does his duty to God. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

It is necessary to be strong, in order to become great: that is our duty. Life is a struggle, which we cannot avoid. We must triumph! ~ Pio Of Pietrelcina

In the sixties, the Commune emerged as a riposte to the nuclear family. This was an autonomic re-creation of not only preindustrial, but pre-agrarian life; it was the Return to Nature, but the Commune, like the colleges from which the idea reemerged, only functioned if Daddy was paying the bills, for the rejection of property can work only in subvention or in slavery. It is only in a summer camp (College or the hippie commune) that the enlightened live on the American Plan - room and board included prepaid - and one is free to frolic all day in the unspoiled woods. ~ David Mamet

My mind is traumatized. My body is weak. Understanding isn't an option anymore. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Eat, sleep, work, make friends, start a family, raise kids, get old and fear death. You just have to do that until you die. ~ Kazue Kato

Dammit Sir, it's your duty to get married. You can't always be living for pleasure! ~ Oscar Wilde