--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those things that I must do I shall…" description: "\"Those things that I must do I shall desire to do.\" — Walter Russell" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/walter-russell-3334_desire_those-things-that-i-must-do-i-shall-desi_2446935.png" --- # Those things that I must do I shall desire to do. ![“Those things that I must do I shall desire to do.” quote by Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/walter-russell-3334_desire_those-things-that-i-must-do-i-shall-desi_2446935.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/walter-russell-3334_desire_those-things-that-i-must-do-i-shall-desi_2446935.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dd4/walter-russell-3334_desire_those-things-that-i-must-do-i-shall-desi_2446935.png) > “Those things that I must do I shall desire to do.” [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. One should cultivate desire for duties, turning obligation into motivation. **In simple terms:** Desire what you must do. Key Takeaway Find purpose in tasks. Themes motivation purpose duty Mood reflective determined Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - work projects - personal goals - daily chores - volunteer work Key Concepts Stoicism self‑determination Questions to Reflect On - How can you align duty with personal values? - What small change makes a task feel meaningful? A Different Perspective Desire may not replace intrinsic interest. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) [Shall Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shall-desire-536046/) [Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things/) [Things Shall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-shall-536047/) ## Related quotes > [Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/hereafter-in-a-better-world-than-this-i-shall-desire-more-love-and/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Eternity will not be long enough to learn all he is, or to praise him for all he has done, but then, that matters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/eternity-will-not-be-long-enough-to-learn-all-he-is-or-to-praise-him/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If we love God, we shall desire godliness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/if-we-love-god-we-shall-desire-godliness/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [I shall desire and I shall find The best of my desires; The autumn road, the mellow wind That soothes the darkening shires. 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Four be the things I'd been better without:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-parker/four-be-the-things-i-am-wiser-to-know-idleness-sorrow-a-friend-and-a/) [Dorothy Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-parker/) > [“We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/we-learn-an-art-or-craft-by-doing-the-things-that-we-shall-have-to-do/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [“If we do not understand the things which are below ourselves, how shall we understand those which are above us?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-j-arnoudt/if-we-do-not-understand-the-things-which-are-below-ourselves-how/) [Peter J. 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I have, myself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/i-believe-that-every-man-can-multiply-his-own-ability-by-almost/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [The electric energy which motivates us is not within our bodies at all. It is a part of the universal supply which flows through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/the-electric-energy-which-motivates-us-is-not-within-our-bodies-at/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [Your body is merely a machine made to express the thoughts that flow through you and nothing more. It is but an instrument for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/your-body-is-merely-a-machine-made-to-express-the-thoughts-that-flow/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [The Life Triumphant is that which places what a man gives to the world in creative expression far ahead of that which he takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/the-life-triumphant-is-that-which-places-what-a-man-gives-to-the/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [Man's ignorance of the Law of Love in personal and world relationships will not serve as an excuse to save him from disaster. Wealth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/man-s-ignorance-of-the-law-of-love-in-personal-and-world/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [Knowledge is cosmic. It does not evolve or unfold in man. Man unfolds to an awareness of it. He gradually discovers it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/knowledge-is-cosmic-it-does-not-evolve-or-unfold-in-man-man-unfolds/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [This New Age is marking the dawn of a new world-thought. That new thought is a new cosmic concept of the value of man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/this-new-age-is-marking-the-dawn-of-a-new-world-thought-that-new/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [The personal ego must be suppressed and replaced with the 'universal ego.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/the-personal-ego-must-be-suppressed-and-replaced-with-the-universal/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [War, and more wars, are helping Government to siphon the earnings of its people into its treasury for its own selfish purpose, which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/war-and-more-wars-are-helping-government-to-siphon-the-earnings-of/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [Most sculptors make the mistake", he said, "of thinking of eyes as form and they therefore make them as spherical surfaces. Eyes are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/most-sculptors-make-the-mistake-he-said-of-thinking-of-eyes-as-form/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [There is no use for energy of any kind whatsoever unless there is a plan back of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/there-is-no-use-for-energy-of-any-kind-whatsoever-unless-there-is-a/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [There is no violent surface indication of the ecstasy which great thinkers alone enjoy. There is nothing dramatic about it, but there is some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/there-is-no-violent-surface-indication-of-the-ecstasy-which-great/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [“...That inner ecstasy of the mind is the secret fountain of perpetual youth and strength in any man. He who finds it finds onmipotence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/that-inner-ecstasy-of-the-mind-is-the-secret-fountain-of-perpetual/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) > [The Russell Cosmogony with its new concepts of light, matter, energy, electricity and magnetism is a simple yet complete, consistent and workable cosmogony which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-russell/the-russell-cosmogony-with-its-new-concepts-of-light-matter-energy/) [Walter Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) [Explore all 133 Walter Russell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-russell/) ## More Desire quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) [Ted Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-martinez/) > [Passion is what you need to be good, an unforgiving passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-easton/passion-is-what-you-need-to-be-good-an-unforgiving-passion/) [David Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-easton/) > [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/) [John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/) [Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [In discovering books, you became free to explore the full range of human motives, desires, secrets, and lies. All my life, people have scolded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/in-discovering-books-you-became-free-to-explore-the-full-range-of/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) > [I have never been in, nor have I had any strong particular desire to be in, what is termed a costume drama, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/i-have-never-been-in-nor-have-i-had-any-strong-particular-desire-to/) [Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [“from THE DEVIL YOU KNOW : She wanted him too. He could see it in the rapid rise of her breasts. 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