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The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Joy and duty are intertwined and should be considered as one concept.

In this quote, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. expresses the idea that joy and duty are not separate entities but are instead deeply connected. He suggests that fulfilling one's obligations or duties can lead to true happiness, indicating that a joyful life is one that encompasses both personal fulfillment and responsibility to others.

Themes

JoyDutyHappinessFulfillmentResponsibility

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech on community service, one could use this quote to emphasize the joy found in helping others.

More from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

There are many things which we can afford to forget which it is yet well to learn.
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On the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth of life as an end in itself, as against the saints who deny it.
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If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.
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Why should you row a boat race? Why endure the long months of pain in preparation for a fierce half hour that will leave you all but dead? Does anyone ask the question? Is there anyone who would not go through all the costs, and more, for the moment when anguish breaks into triumph or even for the glory of having nobly lost? Is life less than a boat race? If a man will give the blood in his body to win the one, will he spend all the might of his soul to prevail in the other?
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The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts, but learning how to make facts live.
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Beware how you take away hope from another human being.
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