Quotes About Selflessness

Good manners," said Emerson, "are made up of petty sacrifices.

The Sea of Galilee is teeming with fish and life," the priest began. "The Dead Sea is dead and devoid of life. They are both fed by the sparkling water of the River Jordan, so what's the difference? The Sea of Galilee gives all its water away. The Dead Sea keeps it all for itself. Like the Dead Sea, when we keep all that is fresh and good for ourselves, we turn our lives into a briny soup of salty tears.

Le monde est plein d'individus avides et égoïstes. C'est pourquoi l'être exceptionnel qui s'efforce de servir autrui généreusement et sans arrière-pensée possède un énorme avantage sur le reste de l'humanité, car il ne rencontre guère de concurrence.

Now, if we stop thinking about ourselves for a while and begin to think of the other person's good points, we won't have to resort to flattery so cheap and false that it can be spotted almost before it is out of the mouth.

People who talk only of themselves think only of themselves. And those people who think only of themselves, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, longtime president of Columbia University, said, are hopelessly uneducated. They are not educated, said Dr. Butler, no matter how instructed they may be.

when I went fishing, I didn't think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted.

Thus they are able to reign over all the mountain streams. So the sage, wishing to be above men, putteth himself below them; wishing to be before them, he putteth himself behind them. Thus, though his place be above men, they do not feel his weight; though his place be before them, they do not count it an injury.

Adler's statement is so rich with meaning that I am going to repeat it in italics: It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.

when you are displeased, it is much easier to criticize and condemn than it is to try to understand the other person's viewpoint; it is frequently easier to find fault than to find praise; it is more natural to talk about what you want than to talk about what the other person wants; and so on.

You must lay aside your greed; have no unworthy motive in your desire to become rich and powerful. It is legitimate and right to desire riches, if you want them for the sake of your soul, but not if you desire them for the lists of the flesh.

What I want for myself, I want for everybody.

If you done it, it ain't bragging.

Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, when I give I give myself.

When I give, I give myself

poor boy! I never knew you, Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you

This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labour to others

Man or woman, I might tell you how I like you, but cannot, And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot, And might tell that pining I have, that pulse of my nights and days. Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give, I give myself.

Use for yourself little," he said, "but give to others much."26

Despite the pecuniary spirit of Poor Richard's sayings and the penny-saving reputation they later earned Franklin, he did not have the soul of an acquisitive capitalist. "I would rather have it said," he wrote his mother, 'He lived usefully,' than, 'He died rich.' 

the best way to serve God was doing good to others.

spend most of his time so that he may glorify God by doing good for others, and getting of good for himself." The Lord, quite conveniently, smiled

It is a joy for me to have a son who has inherited the main traits of my personality: the ability to rise above mere existence by sacrificing one's self through the years for an impersonal goal.

My father once told me that a great man walks the back roads. He does what's right every day and no one knows it but those lucky enough to be loved by him.

his very benevolence is selfish;