Service

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and found that life was service. I served and lo! Service was joy.

I find that I can have no enjoyment in the world but the continual drinking of knowledge. I find there is no worthy pursuit but the idea of doing some good for the world.

It is told that Buddha, going out to look on life, was greatly daunted by death. "They all eat one another!" he cried, and called it evil. This process I examined, changed the verb, said, "They all feed one another," and called it good.

If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behavior. Valiant acts will ensure the triumph of this Cause, and a saintly character will reinforce its power.

You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.

You can’t lead the people, if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people, if you don’t serve the people.

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.

Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball -- the further I am rolled the more I gain.

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole.

By the choices and acts of our lives, we create the person that we are and the faces that we wear. By the choices and acts of our lives we give to the world wherein our lives are lived, hoping that our neighbors will find our contributions to be of worth, and hoping that the world will be a little more gracious for our time in it.

I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one's life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful earth.

One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world.

I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.

Spiritual practice . . . involves, on the one hand, acting out of concern for others' well-being. On the other, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so.

No God can put a man in hell in another world, who has made a little heaven in this. God cannot make a man miserable if that man has made somebody else happy.

We are all children of the same mother, and the same fate awaits us all. We, too, have our religion, and it is this: Help for the living--Hope for the dead.

There is only one way to be happy, and that is to make somebody else so, and you cannot be happy by going cross lots; you have got to go the regular turnpike road.

Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. . . . You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet.

While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself; and my creed is this. Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.

Life's most important question is: What are you doing for others?

God does not have hands, we do. Our hands are God’s. It is up to us what God will see and hear, up to us, what God will do. Humanity is the organ of consciousness of the universe ... Without our eyes the Holy One of Being would be blind.

True patriots believe that we should measure a citizen's worth by contribution to country and community, not by wealth or power--that those whom America has benefited most should contribute in proportion to their good fortune--and that serving others should be esteemed more highly than serving self. 

It is better to fail at doing something, than to succeed in doing nothing.

There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the highest creed.

I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.

Even the least work done for others awakens the power within; even thinking the least good of others gradually instills into the heart the strength of a lion.

I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted, and behold, service was joy.

Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life.

We help others most by the example we set.

My heart is singing this morning. 
A miracle has happened! 
The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind,
and behold, all things are changed!

He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars.

If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.

Anything done for another is done for oneself.