Can any man or woman choose ...

Can any man or woman choose duties? No more than they can choose their birthplace or their father and mother.
Can any man or woman choose duties? No more than they can choose their birthplace or their father and mother.

More phrases

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.
 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.
 Thích Nhất Hạnh
Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

Quotes from the same author

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
Men and women are but children of a larger growth.
Life began with waking up and loving my mother's face.