Quotes About Selflessness

Generosity is the only legitimate selfishness.

The woman who picked us up when we fell down or wiped our faces or fed us lunch or yelled us down from treetops or out of mud (all of it so casually, with barely a break in the conversation or an extra breath) may have been our mother but could just as easily have been someone else's. We hardly noticed. The women merged into a kind of laughing, chatting, benevolent blur, a network of distracted love and safekeeping.

Just because you are afraid you won't have anything tomorrow doesn't mean you shouldn't help people today.

We pray as if God's chief objective is our personal comfort. It's not. God's chief objective is His glory.

Going all in and all out for the All in All is both a death sentence and a life sentence. Your sinful nature, along with its selfish desires, is nailed to the cross. Then, and only then, does your true personality, your true potential, and your true purpose come alive. After all, God cannot resurrect what has not died. And that's why so many people are half alive. They haven't died to self yet.

the true value of an offering isn't measured by how much we give. It's measured by how much we keep... By definition, a sacrifice must involve sacrifice...

Consecration is death to self. I know there is a fear that if we give more of ourselves to God, there will be less of us left, but it's the exact opposite. It's not until we die to self that we truly come alive. The more we give to God, the more we have and the more we become. It's only in losing our lives that we will really find them.

The paradigm shift happens when we come to terms with the fact that the world doesn't revolve around us.

When we are born into this world, the world revolves around us. We're spoon-fed on the front end and diaper-changed on the back end. It's as if the entire world exists to meet our every need. And that's fine if you are a two-month-old baby. If you're twenty-two, it's a problem! Newsflash:

Jesus could have aborted his redemptive mission with one call for angelic backup. But Jesus wasn't trying to save himself. He was trying to save you.

Dios no hace milagros para satisfacer nuestros caprichos egoístas. Dios hace milagros por una razón, y solo por esa razón: porque quiere dar a conocer su gloria. Nosotros solo tenemos la suerte de ser sus beneficiarios.

From the secular to the sacred, we can focus on ourselves or others.

Never leave the impression that you're the hero or the smartest

When the Bible speaks of love, it measures it primarily not by how much you want to receive but by how much you are willing to give of yourself to someone. How much are you willing to lose for the sake of this person? How much of your freedom are you willing to forsake? How much of your precious time, emotion, and resources are you willing to invest for this person?

But none of us are called to sacrifice others to safeguard ourselves, no matter how important we may seem. The proper position of leadership is in front, partaking in the dangers of the lowliest of soldiers. This is what Jesus did, and it is the height of foolishness. May we, in our weakness, be granted to access such heights.

Atonement does not always directly help the one we have sinned against. It does not always help anyone at all. Had Boromir run of with Aragorn, he could have been of greater help in tracking the orcs after Merry and Pippin were captured than he was in giving his life to defend them.

Don't make another's pain the source of your own happiness.

contrary to conventional leadership in which the leader's focus is on himself and what he can accomplish and achieve. Rather, the focus is on those being served. Servant leaders do many of the same things other leaders do—cast vision, build teams, allocate resources, and so on. The big difference is their orientation and their motivation; these make all the difference in the world. They possess an others-first mindset. The servant leader constantly works to help others win.

What our closest friends do for us is to teach us true selflessness. We learn that while it might be safer for them if we keep them out, true friendship means letting them in. We cannot decide for them what they are willing to suffer with us and for us. While we certainly don't want to see our friends suffer, friendship isn't about protecting each other from pain so much as it is about helping each other to become what God has called us to be.

If I serve you in hopes of Paradise, deny me Paradise. If I serve thee in fear of hell, condemn me to hell. But if I love thee for love of thyself, then grant me thyself.

Genuine leaders make things better not just for themselves but for others, whether or not their contribution results in financial reward or popular recognition. (...) most people I think of leaders are untitled (...) they achieve greatness by working quietly in their organizations and communities, in their own lives, and in helping those around them.

Everything we were grabbing for, we are to instead give. It is the only way to truly seize it.

I consider myself a student of success. I'm no better or smarter than anyone else. I'm just another starving man showing others where the food is.

The only way to make my life matter is to choose less. And the first thing I need less of is me. Once that issue is settled, I am in a position to live a life that lasts longer than I do.