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Saturday 24 February 2018

Dutiolatry


It seems to me a proof of the small advance our race has made in true wisdom, that we find it so hard to give up doing anything we have meant to do. It matters very little whether the affair is one of enjoyment or of business, we feel the same bitter need of pursuing it to the end. The mere fact of intention gives it a flavor of duty, and dutiolatry, as one may call the devotion, has passed so deeply into our life that we have scarcely a sense any more of the sweetness of even a neglected pleasure. We will not taste the fine, guilty rapture of a deliberate dereliction; the gentle sin of omission is all but blotted from the calendar of our crimes.

William Dean Howells - Their Wedding Journey (1872)


Yes, some people are like that. Once they decide on something then pursuing it becomes a duty from which deviation is simply not allowed. Maybe we need such people but they can be frustrating to deal with.

5 comments:

Sackerson said...

Another nice divagation.

Sam Vega said...

Germans.

Demetrius said...

That reminds me the car needs washing.

Anonymous said...

Duty, a very useful concept and best laid on other people.

A K Haart said...

Sackers - I thought so too, although not in those words, as a nagging touch of dutiolatry compels me to admit.

Sam - indeed.

Demetrius - so does ours but not today.

Roger - it certainly is.