Quotes About Selflessness

Once, there was a girl who found a sword in the woods. Once, there was a girl who made a bargain with the Folk. Once, there was a girl who'd been a knight in the service of a monster. Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself. Once, there was a girl… Hazel

They'd probably be happier if he did," he told me. "I'm the reason my father is in exile. The reason my mother married him in the first place. My one sister and her girlfriend had to take care of me when I was little, even though they were barely more than kids themselves. My other sister almost got killed lots of times to keep me safe. Things will be easier without me around. They'll see that.

Many women arrange their lives around the people they love. Unfortunately, that arrangement takes up most of our days.

A mother who is really a mother is never free.

La flatterie n'émane jamais des grandes âmes, elle est l'apanage des petits esprits qui réussissent à se rapetisser encore pour mieux entrer dans la sphère vitale de la personne autour de laquelle ils gravitent. La flatterie sous-entend un intérêt. (p.239/317)

A lover always thinks of his mistress first and himself second; with a husband it runs the other way.

To give up another person's love is a mild suicide; like a very bad inoculation as compared to the full disease.

No one warned you that having children reduced you right down to some smaller, rudimentary, primitive version of yourself, where your talents and your education and your achievements meant nothing. Clementine

I remember thinking about how mothers were prepared to run into burning buildings to save their children's lives. I thought I should be able to go through a bit more suffering, a bit more inconvenience to give my children life. It made me feel noble. But now I realize I'm a crazy woman running into a burning house for children who don't exist.

No one warned you that having children reduced you right down to some smaller, rudimentary, primitive version of yourself, where your talents and your education and your achievements meant nothing.

altruism without action, it didn't get better than that!

The reason why we often get poor advice is that it's hard to find a person who always has our best interest at heart, isn't envious in any way, and at no level thinks he knows what's best for you.

Consider, for example, lust versus love. When we lust after someone or something, we think in terms of what they (or it) can do for us. When we love, however, our thoughts are immersed in what we can give to someone else. Giving makes us feel good, so we do it happily. But when we lust, we only want to take. When someone we love is in pain, we feel pain. When someone whom we lust is in pain, we only think in terms of what that loss or inconvenience means to us.

When you don't know what to do with yourself, do something for someone else.

What you get is a living, what you give is a life.

The price of greatness is servanthood, sacrifice and humility

6. 2 Corinthians 5:15—"No longer live for themselves." "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Never lend if you need repayment; never give where you want a return.

There's always a mystery there as to why one person is more fortunate than another. All one can do is say I have been given a gift. A new gift of life. And all I can do is use that gift in the best way possible. Not selfishly for myself but for the sake of other people. And . . . I will do it not only because I've gotten that life, but for the sake of those who didn't get that life as well.

Giving is my way of being forgotten and remembered at the same time.

I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I'm more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.

Whoa, that's the kind of little sister I can dig!" said Edison. "Yes, we're all alike," I said. "We cover for you, we lie for you, we take the heat for you. We clean up your messes and mollify our parents for you. We never fail to come across with undying adoration, whether or not you deserve it, and we can't take our lives as seriously as yours. We snuffle up the crumbs from your table on the rare occasions you notice we're alive.

Per quanto ammirevole, il tuo bisogno impellente di sacrificare l'esistenza per il bene di un'altra persona poteva dipendere dal fatto che quando avevi la vita interamente nelle tue mani, non sapevi che fartene. Immolarsi a volte è un'inutile scappatoia.

Ese altruismo compulsivo parecía abnegación, sacrificio, pero era algo más escalofriante. Si Carol ya no tenía ni la más remota idea de lo que podía desear para ella, ¿qué sacrificaba? A Jackson le entristeció observar que, con los años, su mujer había reemplazado de un modo insidioso el placer con la virtud.