Quotes About Selflessness

My wife used to say that her idea of hell would be marrying Ghandi, Ben said ... Think about it: Ghandi was always the good one. Everyone else looked so rude and loud and self-centered by comparison.

Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you.

Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful; it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you.

Women tend to act heroically within their own moral universe, regardless of whether anyone else knows about it - donating more kidneys to nonrelatives than men do, for example. Men, on the other hand, are far more likely to risk their lives at a moment's notice, and that reaction is particularly strong when others are watching, or when they are part of a group.

Brotherhood has nothing to do with feelings; it has to do with how you define your relationship to others. It has to do with the rather profound decision to put the welfare of the group above your personal welfare. In such a system, feelings are meaningless. In such a system, who you are entirely depends on your willingness to surrender who you are.

I once asked Cortez whether he would risk his life for other men in the platoon. "I'd actually throw myself on the hand grenade for them," he said. I asked him why. "Because I actually love my brothers," he said. "I mean, it's a brotherhood. Being able to save their life so they can live, I think is rewarding. Any of them would do it for me.

As people come together to face an existential threat, Fritz found, class differences are temporarily erased, income disparities become irrelevant, race is overlooked, and individuals are assessed simply by what they are willing to do for the group.

According to the Times notice, Mr. Bauman called his employees into a meeting and asked them to accept a 10 percent reduction in salary so that he wouldn't have to fire anyone. They all agreed. Then he quietly decided to give up his personal salary until his company was back on safe ground. The only reason his staff found out was because the company bookkeeper told them. Bauman

The choreography always requires that each man make decisions based not on what's best for him, but on what's best for the group. If everyone does that, most of the group survives. If no one does, most of the group dies. That, in essence, is combat.

If war were purely and absolutely bad in every single aspect and toxic in all its effects, it would probably not happen as often as it does. But in addition to all the destruction and loss of life, war also inspires ancient human virtues of courage, loyalty, and selflessness that can be utterly intoxicating to the people who experience them.

Both are profound acts of selflessness that distinguish us from all other mammals, including the higher primates that we are so closely related to.

Real leaders don't care [about receiving credit]. If it's about your mission, about spreading the faith, about seeing something happen, not only do you not care about credit, you actually want other people to take credit...There's no record of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi whining about credit. Credit isn't the point. Change is.

Becoming a linchpin is not an act of selfishness. I see it as an act of generosity

Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get. Even

We're not born to be selfish. And the economics of living in community make it clear that short-term hustle rarely benefits anyone. But when you're flailing and looking for something (anything) to stand on, there's pressure to choose the selfish path. To a drowning man, everyone else is a stepping-stone to safety.

The future of your organization depends on motivated human beings selflessly contributing unasked-for gifts of emotional labor.

Real gifts don't demand reciprocation (at least not direct reciprocation), and the best kinds of gifts are gifts of art.

Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because she can.

Real gifts don't demand reciprocation (at least not direct reciprocation), and the best kinds of gifts are gifts of art. Alcoholics

repeat itself; it can't. But the creative journey still follows a pattern. It's a practice of growth and connection, of service and daring. It's also a practice of selflessness and ego in an endless dance.

There's no record of Martin Luther King, Jr., or Gandhi whining about credit. Credit isn't the point. Change is.

When we do the work for the audience, we open the door to giving up our attachment to how the audience will receive the work. That's up to them. Our job is to be generous, as generous as we know how to be, with our work.

The fact that we can't repay him is precisely why his gift is so valuable

Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because she can. How