“His duty he always faithfully did; but duty is sometimes a dry obligation, and he was for irrigating its aridity whensoever possible with a fertilizing decoction of strong waters.”

“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty”

“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.”

“There was something lacking – in him, he thought, not in the place. He was not up to it. He was not strong enough to take what was so generously offered. He felt himself dry and arid, like a desert plant, in this beautiful oasis. Life on Anarres had sealed him, closed off his soul; the waters of life welled all around him, and yet he could not drink.”

“There is one thing...which a man can always do, if he chuses[sic], and that is, his duty.”

“To the right person, the person who is truly born to it, duty is a form of love, through which all is possible. Duty is not always a denial of things, but an expansion of them to others. Duty is not always a chore, but is best carried out with love.”