Swami Vivekananda on What is Duty

#. The idea of duty varies much among different nations: in one country, if a man does not do certain things, people will say he has acted wrongly; while if he does those very things in another country, people will say that he did not act rightly; and yet we know that there must be some universal idea of duty.....The important thing is to know that there are gradations of duty and of morality---that the duty of one state of life, in one set of circumstances will not and cannot be that of another.

#. To give an objective definition of duty is.....entirely impossible. Yet there is duty from the subjective side. Any action that makes us go Godward is a good action, and is our duty; any action that makes us go downward is evil, and is not our duty.