Quotes About Selflessness

Developing an outward mindset is a matter of learning to see beyond ourselves. Our hope for you, the reader, is that this book will make such mindset change completely tangible to you and that you will achieve the results at work and at home that only an outward mindset can bring.

When my mindset is outward, I am alive to and interested in other people and their objectives and needs. I see others as people whom I am open to helping. When my mindset is inward, on the other hand, I essentially turn my back on others; I don't really care about their needs or objectives.

being able to operate with an outward mindset when others do not is a critically important ability. It is the most important move.

Because most who are trying to put an end to injustice only think of the injustices they believe they themselves have suffered. Which means that they are concerned not really with injustice but with themselves. They hide their focus on themselves behind the righteousness of their outward cause.

people who consistently work with an outward mindset excel in three ways that those who work with an inward mindset do not. They 1. see the needs, objectives, and challenges of others 2. adjust their efforts to be more helpful to others 3. measure and hold themselves accountable for the impact of their work on others

The bravest and most noble are not those who take up arms, but those who are decent despite everything; who improve what it is in their power to improve, but do not imagine themselves to be saviours. In their humble struggle is true heroism.

If you suffer and make your loved ones suffer, there is nothing that can justify your desire.

If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love.

Impermanence and selflessness are not negative aspect of life, but the very foundation on which life is built. Impermanence is the constant transformation of things. Without impermanence, there can be no life. Selflessness is the interdependent nature of all things. Without interdependence, nothing could exist.

We talk about social service, service to the people, service to humanity, service for others who are far away, helping to bring peace to the world - but often we forget that it is the very people around us that we must live for first of all. [...] Are we working for other humans, or are we just working for the name of an organization?

We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations, and suffering of the person we love. This is the ground of real love. You cannot resist loving another person when you really understand him or her.

The Buddha recommends we live our daily life in this way, seeing everything in the light of interbeing. Then we will not be caught in our small self.

Of course, you have the right to suffer, but as a practitioner, you do not have the right not to practice. We all need to be understood and loved, but the practice is not merely to expect understanding and love. It is to practice understanding and love. Please don't complain when no one seems to love or understand you. Make the effort to understand and love them better.

Only the person who is empty of self is happy; he has no jealousy, no hatred, no anger, because there is no self to compare.

So to love someone, you have to understand the real needs of that person, and not impose on her what you think is needed for her to be happy. Understanding is the foundation of love.

I think there's a role for everybody. Even a guy who's not known as a scorer, like a DeAndre Jordan - he sets the best screens, he blocks the most shots, he gets the most rebounds, he's great for your team, he helps you win games. Like, he helps you win big.

I can't selfishly take journeys anymore because I have to take a little boy along with me.

I don't want my life to just be about me.

I am not keen just for the position; I'm keen to help and to serve. If I can really avoid any bad things on my country, I will not hesitate one second.

Having a baby dragged me, kicking and screaming, from the world of self-absorption.

Before my accident I was a little too... selfish and self-absorbed and for me, to now be at the place where I can kinda give back and inspire people. I'm blessed. I'm really blessed.

Saints were saints because they acted with loving kindness whether they felt like it or not.

Kolkata Knight Riders is not about me. It is about the team.

My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them.