Quotes

We post quotables by newest submission first.

Some get and forget. Some give and forgive.

--Marquis on a street corner Submitted by Fr. Bryan Bayda, The Welcome Home, Manitoba

Help one another; there's no time like the present and no present like the time.

--James Durst, poet/songwriter/troubadour Submitted by Sarah H. Elliston, Sr Associate, Volunteer Resource Center , Cincinnati, OH, USA

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.

--Sally Koch Submitted by Terry Mack, Manger of Volunteer Resources, The Support Network, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of twenty million full-time volunteers.

--Whoopi Goldberg Submitted by Ann Rubin, Manager of Volunteer Services, Hospice of Michigan

Each one of us should lead a life stirring enough to start a movement.

--Max Lucado, in On the Anvil Submitted by Anonymous

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

--Aesop Submitted by Judy P. King, Director of Volunteer Services, Georgia

There is only one thing worse than training your volunteers and having them leave - and that's not training them, and having them stay.

--Unknown Submitted by Eileen Macmillan, American Friends of the University of Edinburgh, CA

There are two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we receive, and the larger kind we feel for what we give.

--Edward Arlington Robinson Submitted by Katherine Morton, Volunteer Program Coordinator, AIDS Calgary Awareness Association, Calgary, AB Canada

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.

--St. Francis of Assisi Submitted by Claire Rochon, Manager, Fund Development, Street Kids International, Canada

Unless your department has a budget infinitely greater than most, you will not get rich being a volunteer director/coordinator, but your life will be indescribably enriched by the people you meet and work with. A wise lady once told me that when you find your ideal job, you will do it for less than they pay you and when you find your calling you will do it for free. This is my ideal job. I hope you find yours.

--Martin Tichenor, Volunteer Director for a medium security prison in Missouri, written to a newly "appointed" volunteer coordinator Submitted by Linda Lowe, Volunteer Coordinator, City of Thornton, Thornton, CO, USA

How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world

--Anne Frank Submitted by Sue Staggs, State Director, Tomorrows Leaders Today, Texas

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

--Gandhi Submitted by Devi Singh, India, AP (Hyderabad)

I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered people have torn down, other-centered people can build up.

--Martin Luther King Submitted by John Richards, Aquinas College, Perth, Australia

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.

--Clara Barton Submitted by John Richards, Aquinas College, Perth, Australia

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

--Emerson Submitted by Linda Steed, Volunteer Coordinator, Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, Shawnee Alliance for Seniors

It's good to be blessed. It's better to be a blessing.

--Unknown Submitted by Kathy Carter, Volunteer Coordinator of Foster Care Citizen Review of Palm Beach County

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you are alive, it isn't.

--Richard Bach Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

There are only two rules to change: One is to begin; the second is to continue.

--Unknown Submitted by Sue Staggs, State Director, Tomorrows Leaders Today, Texas

There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, 'what happened?'

--Casey Stengel Submitted by Sue Staggs, State Director, Tomorrows Leaders Today, Texas

You have to become involved to make an impact. No one is impressed with the won/loss record of the referee.

--John Holcomb Submitted by Sue Staggs, State Director, Tomorrows Leaders Today, Texas

Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.

--Gandhi Submitted by Douglas Eggleston, Director, Emergency Services - American Red Cross, VA

As many arrows, loosed several ways, come to one mark...so many a thousand actions, once afoot, end in one purpose.

--William Shakespeare Henry V, Act I, Sc.2 Submitted by Sue Smith, Great Works Regional Land Trust, ME

Past the beggar and the suffering walks he who asks, 'Why, oh God, do you not do something for these people?' To which God replied, 'I did do something, I made you.'

--Sufi saying Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

You've got to think about 'big things' while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

--Alvin Toffler Submitted by David Ontonovich, CDHVS, National Coordinator, Volunteer Resources - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

--Albert Einstein Submitted by Jill C. Howland

You can't leave footprints in the sands of time while sitting down.

--Nelson Rockefeller Submitted by Mary St. John, Grants Admin., Pets & People Humane Society, Inc., Oklahoma USA

Be the change that you wish to see in the world

--Gandhi Submitted by Brian Cugelman, IYV Webmaster, UNV , Germany

If your heart is full, it shouldn't matter if your pockets are empty.

--Karen Dawson, Volunteer at Clay Elementary School Clay, WV Submitted by Beth Anderson, AmeriCorps*VISTA, West Virginia

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other people.

--Aristotle Submitted by Marilyn Gitsidis, Program Assistant, Seniors Support Services, Hellenic Home for the Aged, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.

--Knights of Pythogoras Submitted by Tara Huxley, Camp Director Boys and Girls Club Community Services of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

--Helen Keller Submitted by Raven Alexander, Student Director, Florida Atlantic University Volunteer Center, Florida

To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

--Mother Teresa Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.

--Dodie Smith Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

--Henry Ford Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Don't wait for the last judgement - it takes place every day.

--Albert Camus Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.

--Mignon McLaughlin Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumps, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.

--Theodore Roosevelt Submitted by Robin Popik, City of Plano Volunteer Program, Texas

It is better to shoot for the moon and miss, than shoot for nothing and hit it.

--Reverend Eloise Page, Casadaga, Florida Submitted by Abby Walters, President, Flying Turtle Enterprises, Inc., Florida

Good ideas remain ideas - unless we act upon them.

--Unknown Submitted by Andy Fryar, Vice President - Volunteering Australia, Australia

Some people see things as they are and say 'why', I look at things that never were and say 'why not'.

--Robert F. Kennedy Submitted by Emma, North Carolina, USA

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

--Goethe Submitted by Dorman Stanley, CONTACT Lubbock, Texas

The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.

--Ghandi Submitted by Jackie Lonning, Co-VP of Scheduling, Student M.O.V.E. (Mobilizing Outreach Volunteer Efforts), Storm Lake, IA, USA

Destiny is not necessarily what we get out of life, but rather, what we give.

--Cary Grant Submitted by Diego Ojanio Franco, Chairman, The Cedarwork Project, Inc., Quezon City, Philippines

One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people.

--Dick Gregory Submitted by Linda Hutchinson, Volunteer Coordinator, Victim Services Program, Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, Kentucky USA

A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit.

--Greek Proverb Submitted by Judy Gross, Volunteer Coordinator, Central Blood Bank of Pittsburgh

We are all like one-winged angels. It is only when we help each other that we can fly.

--Luciano de Crescenzo Submitted by Lori Ropa, American Water Works Association, Denver, CO USA

Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.

--Unknown Submitted by Helen Dyer, Parks Funding and Volunteer Coordinator, Teller County, CO Division of Parks

Life is never so busy that there is no time to serve.

--Unknown Submitted by Sharon Tan

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

--Albert Schweitzer Submitted by Deborah Stroup, Coordinator of Volunteers, Wolfner Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

He who does nothing for others does nothing for himself

--Goethe Submitted by Susan E. Koch, Luther Crest Vol. Dir., PA.

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