Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
I have always believed helping your fellow man is profitable in every sense, personally and bottom line.
—Mario Puzo (1920–99) Novelist, Screenwriter, Journalist
God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
My piece of bread only belongs to me when I know that everyone else has a share, and that no one starves while I eat.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Don’t be afraid of outgiving God. It is impossible to do that.
—Chuck Swindoll (b.1934) American Evangelical Christian Pastor, Author
Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Look around the habitable world: how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.
—Arabic Proverb
The vicious count their years; virtuous, their acts.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Do not commit the error, common among the young, of assuming that if you cannot save the whole of mankind you have failed.
—Jan de Hartog (1914–2002) Dutch-American Novelist, Playwright
There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. So you have to begin there, not outside, not on other people. That comes afterward, when you’ve worked on your own corner.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
The chief duty I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it.
—Unknown
There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them… he cried, “Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?” God said, “I did do something. I made you”.
—Unknown
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
In this world we must help one another.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer