Do

“ "The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done. ”

“ “What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,” returned my companion, bitterly. “The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done. ”

“ What will people think?—What will happen in the future?—and so on, and so forth.’
‘And what about the vital considerations?’
‘What do you call vital?’ I asked in my turn. ”

“ To cast from us every matter which we perceive we may ever repent of doing, taking care of this moral precept, "To do to every one of your fellow creatures no more than you would choose to be done to." ”

“ I am only trying to discover what you make yourself do. And do you, as a matter of fact, really dispute the main conclusions to which we have come, or rather, if you will accept my phrase, the main 'postulates of the will' which we have elicited? ”

“ Let us spring forth when the word is given to perform any and every duty we are called upon to perform. Let us present a firm and unbroken phalanx of strength against evil of every description, and be united in frowning it down. ”

“ ‘Take the opposite course to that prescribed by custom,’ he wrote, ‘and you will almost always do right.’ We may doubt whether this blind approach is sound. ”

“ I concede to you conscientious motives in what you do. You are sustained by those around you, men of intellect, men of character. I respect them while I differ from them. I appeal, however, to a higher law, and that, I think, sustains me. ”

“ If we would have our resolutions take effect, we must take heed unto our ways, set a watch before the door of our lips, and examine the motions that arise in our heart, whence they come, and whither they go; whether it be pride or passion, or any corrupt humour, that prompteth us to any design, and whether God will be pleased with it? ”

“ What we ought not, we do;
And lean upon the thought
That chance will bring us through:
But our own acts, for good or ill, are mightier powers. ”

“ And when thine eyes be closed, thine hearing a-gone, thy speech withdrawn and may not speak, then shalt thou see what thy master the World will do for thee. Seek thy coffers he will, and every corner by the way of likelihood where any goods is in. ”

“ Taking it for granted, as any sensible man in the circumstances would, that something should be done, he puts the question, “What shall I do?” A right question, addressed to the proper person, himself. ”

“ Your wills have the command of your lives. We may certainly conclude that you are unwilling to turn, when you do not turn. And, why will you not? Can you give any reason for it that is worthy to be called a reason? ”

“ We can reason, discourse, study, contrive, choose, and refuse with discretion; begin a work, and cease again at pleasure. We can reflect on what we have done, and either rejoice and delight in it, or be ashamed and grieved for it. ”

“ One little chore to do, one little commission to fulfill, one message to carry, would spoil heaven itself. ”

“ Someone once said, "If you must do a thing, do it with all your heart. To do it half-heartedly is to rob it of all its charm." Let this be your motto in regard to the courtesy extended strangers who seek your aid. ”

“ “It all depends with how much judgment and knowledge the thing’s done.” ”

“ The first proposition was that to have moral worth an action must be done from duty.] ”

“ Thy purpose firm, is equal to the deed:
Who does the best his circumstance allows,
Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more. ”

“ Our volitional habits depend, then, first, on what the stock of ideas is which we have; and, second, on the habitual coupling of the several ideas with action or inaction respectively. How is it when an alternative is presented to you for choice, and you are uncertain what you ought to do? ”

“ I know not, I will do my duty, said the last.
Thy duty do? rejoined the voice,
Ah, do it, do it, and rejoice;
But shalt thou then, when all is done,
Enjoy a love, embrace a beauty [186]
Like these, that may be seen and won
In life, whose course will then be run;
Or wilt thou be where there is none? ”

“ So far as I commonly think and act, I do so precisely as do most other fairly sensible folk—that is to say, I think and act in accordance with the thoughts, traditions, and habits of my day and generation. ”

“ All duty should be regarded as sacred, and its faithful and unselfish performance one of the leading rules of conduct. All personal and selfish considerations should be extracted and cast away from the doing of one's duty, and when this is done, Duty ceases to be irksome, and becomes joyful. ”

“ And in the second division we may distinguish between the habitual tendency to be actuated by one motive, namely, the desire to do duty for duty’s sake, and all other motives, such as love, benevolence, etc. ”

“ Every thing must render its reason, and show cause for its being. We will not be commanded, at least only by such as we choose to obey. Does some one say, "Thou shalt," or "Thou shalt not," we ask, "Who are you?" ”

“ What moves to action, whether that action be merely voluntary or also volitional, whether it does or does not involve a formal act of choice or resolve, is, in all and every case, the desire or the desires: and the real stimulus in desire, the direct and actual mover (whether it be pleasant or painful) , is and must be always felt, and can never be thought. ”

“ Nobody was hard with him or with me. There was duty to be done, and it was done, but not harshly. ”

“ If, to inflict scruples on your conscience, they should enclose a stamped envelope, give a penny to the first beggar you meet on leaving school. Relieve the conscience, but, whatever you do, don't answer. ”

“ “People, in general,” he said, “only ask advice not to follow it; or if they do follow it, it is for the sake of having someone to blame for having given it.” ”

“ We do what we must, and call it by the best names we can, and would fain have the praise of having intended the result which ensues. ”

“ You have not found your place until all your faculties are roused, and your whole nature consents and approves of the work you are doing; ”

“ let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.” ”

“ What will you do with your accomplishments? What, with the largest portion of your mind—sentiments—tastes?”
“Save them till they are wanted. They will keep.” ”

“ Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? ”

“ You explain how you prefer to have a thing done and you give your reasons, and the butler or gardener will apparently agree, and they will do it for a few days according to your wish; but as soon as they think that you have forgotten, they will return to their own custom. ”

“ I hold, if the Almighty had ever made a set of men that should do all the eating and none of the work, he would have made them with mouths only and no hands; ”

“ You can do nothing with them, your arms break in your hands. Fling the rubbish away, cease from your own wisdom, [32] and throw yourselves upon my method and secret,—upon me! Believe that the Father hath sent me ”

“ Take up the discipline, lest ye perish from the right way,” as if they should say, “We will not serve the Lord, nor keep His discipline; do you do it in your turn, lest, like us, ye perish from the way which opens the heavenly realms to those who{54} follow righteousness.” ”

“ He said, therefore, with a grave, severe, and almost solemn air, which showed the inflexibility of his determination: “Listen to me, wife—and you also, my son—when, at my age, a man makes up his mind to do anything, he knows the reason why. ”

“ There are three successive states of morality answering to the three principal stages of human life; the personal, the domestic, and the social stage. ”

“ Dost thou not understand that there are two distinct forces in us, that of the soul and that of the body—that is, a movement and a regulator? ”

“ Having accomplished what Thou hadst decreed, and delivered the thing Thou hadst written down, the wicked doers among Thy people would, then, compass me about and would do with me in Thy path as would please them. ”

“ I must, in applying for a place, give an account of my character and a list of my accomplishments. So my rascals ever did with me, though in good truth I seldom listened to their recital. Honesty--there I score a trick. ”

“ We lay it down, then, as an established and fundamental position, that the mind acts or puts forth its volitions without being efficiently caused to do so—without being impelled by its own prior action, or by the prior action of anything else. ”

“ The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine. ”

“ So he raised his eyes to heaven and said, ‘Glory to Thee, O Lord, O Creator and Provider, who providest whom Thou wilt without stint! O my God, I cry Thee pardon for all sins and repent to Thee of all offences! O Lord, there is no gainsaying Thee in Thine ordinance and Thy dominion, neither wilt Thou be questioned of that Thou dost, for Thou indeed art Almighty, extolled be Thy perfection! Whom Thou wilt Thou makest rich and whom Thou wilt Thou makest poor! Whom Thou wilt Thou exaltest and whom Thou wilt Thou abasest and there is no god but Thou! ”