Wendell Berry Quotes

The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.

Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.

We were elected to lead and sometimes we just have to do the right thing.

Must we always do our duty? If so, how are we always to know what is our duty?

A man ought to do what he thinks is right

Life is moral responsibility.

Duty does not consist in suffering everything, but in suffering everything for duty. Sometimes, indeed, it is our duty not to suffer.

Neither pleasure nor pain should enter as motives when one must do what must be done.

Stern daughter of the voice of God! O Duty! if that name thou love Who art a light to guide, a rod To check the erring and reprove.

If a man cannot tell what he wants to do, then he must find out what he ought to do. If desire has become complicated, then hold fast to duty.

Do your duty, and don't swerve from it. Do that which your conscience tells you to be right, and leave the consequences to God.

Yes, it is difficult for man to cross beyond the idea of duty.

[Women's] duty is nothing else than the fulfilment [sic] of the whole moral law, the attainment of every human virtue.

Do what you should, not what you may.

We have a responsibility toward the other life-forms of our planet whose continued existence is threatened by the thoughtless behavior of our own human species. . . . Environmental responsibility – for if there is no God, then, obviously, it is up to us to put things right.

There is no such thing as duty. If you know that a thing is right, you want to do it. If you don't want to do it - it isn't right. If it's right and you don't want to do it - you don't know what right is and you're not a man.

The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations, and towards humanity as a whole.

There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right.

To an honest man, it is an honor to have remembered his duty.

The future of our fragile, beautiful planet home is in our hands. As God's family, we are stewards of God's creation. We can be wantonly irresponsible, or we can be caring and compassionate. God says, "I have set before you life and death... Choose life."

If the past is not to bind us, where can duty lie? We should have no law but the inclination of the moment.

It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.

Reason shows us our duty; he who can make us love our duty is more powerful than reason itself.

I urge you by all this is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that you pray but also that you act!