If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

The line frames public-spirited service as a moral default: if one does not expend one’s energies for the common good, any alternative “service” is implicitly lesser—self, faction, or vanity. Cast as a rhetorical question, it presses the reader toward a civic ethic in which personal talents and labor are owed, in some measure, to humanity at large. Attributed to Abigail Adams, the sentiment aligns with the republican-era ideal of virtue—citizens (and especially those with education or influence) should “lay out” themselves for others rather than pursue private advantage alone. The phrasing also suggests a religious or ethical undertone: service is inevitable; the only question is whether it is directed toward mankind.