Build up virtue, and you master all.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
No one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
Beautiful is the activity which works for good, and beautiful the stillness which waits for good; blessed the self-sacrifice of one, and blessed the self-forgetfulness of the other.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Never say anything to hurt anyone. Moreover … refrain from double talk, from shrewd and canny remarks that are designed to advance our interests at someone’s disadvantage. We are to turn our back upon evil, and in every way possible, do good, help people and bring blessings into their lives.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by the constant daily application of the best you have within you.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
One of the darkest evils of our world is surely the unteachable wildness of the Good.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the happiness of others, is a just criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it, is a criterion of iniquity.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
What I don’t understand about you is this, she said. You hold to your old belief in goodness with a tenacity that is virtually unshakable. Yet you are so good at being what you are! You hunt your victims like a dark angel. You kill ruthlessly. You feast all the night long on victims when you choose.
So? I looked at her coldly. I don’t know how to be bad at being bad.
She laughed.
I was a good marksman when I was a young man, I said, a good actor on the stage. And now I am a good vampire. So much for our understanding of the word ‘good.’
—Anne Rice (1941–2021) American Author
Let nothing be done in your life, which will cause you fear if it becomes known to your neighbor.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
Good nature is often a mere matter of health.—With good digestion we are apt to be good natured; with bad digestion, morose.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Though it is possible to utter words only with the intention to fulfill the will of God, it is very difficult not to think about the impression which they will produce on men and not to form them accordingly. But deeds you can do quite unknown to men, only for God. And such deeds are the greatest joy that a man can experience.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Nothing is rarer than real goodness.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
He is good that does good to others. If he suffers for the good he does, he is better still; and if he suffers from them to whom he did good, he has arrived to that height of goodness that nothing but an increase of his sufferings can add to it; if it proves his death, his virtue is at its summit; it is heroism complete.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Men of real merit, whose noble and glorious deeds we are ready to acknowledge are not yet to be endured when they vaunt their own actions.
—Aeschines (389–314 BCE) Greek Orator, Statesman
A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
Our acts make or mar us, we are the children of our own deeds.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Goodness and greatness go not always together.
—Unknown
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will—the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.
—Buddhist Teaching
To become a good man, one must have faithful friends, or outright enemies.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.
—Garrison Keillor (b.1942) American Author, Humorist, Radio Personality
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
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