Es antes la obligación que la devoción

Es antes la obligación que la devoción
 

In English?

Business comes before pleasure. :)

And also "business before pleasure". Either way is equivalent, and saying/writing it without "come" may be more typical of proverbs.

Even more succinctly, "Duty first."

I agree.
Robin, you can also check the Idioms in Tomisimo, as you can see here,
http://www.tomisimo.org/idioms/es/pr...cion-9765.html

(By the way, more contributions in the Idiom section, will always be welcome, as these are very easy to access, and to use...) (Just a plug... I mean, I couldn't miss this opportunity to get in a plug for the excellent section of Idioms...)