Quotes

Below you'll find favorite quotes from your colleagues.  Submit yours

We post quotables by newest submission first.

"As long as we live; The future is bright; even if the road continues to be torturous!"

--Asavela Peko        

Volunteerism is currency that appreciates.

--Website of Administrators of Volunteer Resources BC        

"Be the change you want to see in the world"...and, if you can't be that change, then either get out of the way of the person who wants to be that change or support the individual with your financial resources.

--Mahatma Gandhi...modified by Nicole S. Lawrence        

Men have always volunteered, they just called themselves coaches, trustees, and firemen!

--Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize        

Volunteering is so pervasive it's invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.

--Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize        

Anything can be accomplished as long as you don't care who gets the credit.

--Unknown        

Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself.

--Thomas Jefferson        

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to him his own.

 

--Benjamin Disraeli        

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.

--Karl Reiland        

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life -- the children; those who are in the twilight of life -- the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life -- the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

--Hubert Humphrey        

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

--Martin Luther King        

Our nation will succeed or fail to the degree that all of us -- citizens and businesses alike -- are active participanats in building strong, sustainable and enriching communities.

--Arnold Hiatt, President, The Stride Rite Foundation        

In American Society today, we need to have volunteerism. I truly believe that it is the glue that will hold us together and it will be the energy that will take us into the 21st century.

--U.S Senator Barabara Mikulski        

What volunteers bring is the human touch, the individual, caring approach that no government program, however well-meaning and well-executed, can deliver.

--Edward James Olmos        

You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.

--Ben Franklin        

In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all -- security, comfort and freedom.... When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.

--Edward Gibbon        

It's not how high we jump off our feet in church, it's what we do with them when we hit the ground!

--Governor Tom Ridge        

Volunteers are not servants. Volunteers are partners working together for improving America's future.

--Mayor Richard Daly        

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it!

--President Bill Clinton        

We are not here to enjoy the things on earth, but to pass them around. The people who do it are the happiest people you know!

--President George Bush        

We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country- to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!

--Gen. Colin Powell        

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

--Henry Drummond        

Bloom where you are planted.

--Mother Jones        

If you don't believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.

--Anita Roddick        

Your corn is ripe today, mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both that I should labor with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account . . . Here then I leave you to labor alone; you treat me in the same manner. The seasons change, and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security.

--David Hume        

May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.

--Thomas Jefferson        

The greatest poverty that can afflict the human spirit is the loss of a generous heart. You will know that success has slipped away when your passion for helping others grows cold.

--Bill Lane Doulos        

My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

--Thomas Paine        

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

--Booker T. Washington        

In my career, I learned that giving your services for free gives you a good return on your investment, not just financially but morally. It supplements your personal integrity.

--Stevie Wonder        

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson        

I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

--Jonas Salk        

Reach for the stars. You might not get them, but you won't wind up with a handful of mud either!

--Unknown        

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

--Marilyn Von Savant        

The debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future.

--Abigail Scott Dunaway        

If your ship doesn't come in. Swim out to it.

--Jonathan Winters        

A volunteer is like a rare gem. When placed in the right setting and cared for, they will shine and give pleasure to all who see them.

--Unknown        

He who has never fallen knows no heights.

--Unknown        

Whatever you can do, or dream you can... begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

--Goethe        

There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.

--William f. Halsey, Jr.        

When people forget themselves, they usually do things others remember.

--James Coco        

When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.

--Bel Kaufman        

Go out and do something for somebody. Go out and give something to somebody. It will take you away from yourself and make you happy.

--Joseph Jefferson        

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

--Eleanor Roosevelt        

Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others.

--Unknown        

Our good works are like stones cast into the pool of time; though the stones themselves may disappear, their ripples extend to eternity.

--Unknown        

The only one who likes change is a wet baby!

--Unknown        

When we dream alone, it is only a dream, but when we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.

--Unknown        

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

--Martin Luther King        

Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!

--Unknown        

Pages

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

"As long as we live; The future is bright; even if the road continues to be torturous!"

-- Asavela Peko     Submitted by Asavela Peko, Founder, Learner's Movement of South Africa, Delft    Cape Town, South Africa

Volunteerism is currency that appreciates.

-- Website of Administrators of Volunteer Resources BC     Submitted by Susan J. Ellis

"Be the change you want to see in the world"...and, if you can't be that change, then either get out of the way of the person who wants to be that change or support the individual with your financial resources.

-- Mahatma Gandhi...modified by Nicole S. Lawrence     Submitted by Nicole S. Lawrence

Men have always volunteered, they just called themselves coaches, trustees, and firemen!

-- Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize     Submitted by Susan

Volunteering is so pervasive it's invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.

-- Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize     Submitted by Susan

Anything can be accomplished as long as you don't care who gets the credit.

-- Unknown     Submitted by Sue

Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself.

-- Thomas Jefferson     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to him his own.

 

-- Benjamin Disraeli     Submitted by several colleagues

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.

-- Karl Reiland     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life -- the children; those who are in the twilight of life -- the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life -- the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

-- Hubert Humphrey     Submitted by Barbara H.

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

-- Martin Luther King     Submitted by Several people

Our nation will succeed or fail to the degree that all of us -- citizens and businesses alike -- are active participanats in building strong, sustainable and enriching communities.

-- Arnold Hiatt, President, The Stride Rite Foundation     Submitted by Barbara H.

In American Society today, we need to have volunteerism. I truly believe that it is the glue that will hold us together and it will be the energy that will take us into the 21st century.

-- U.S Senator Barabara Mikulski     Submitted by Barbara H.

What volunteers bring is the human touch, the individual, caring approach that no government program, however well-meaning and well-executed, can deliver.

-- Edward James Olmos     Submitted by Barbara H.

You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.

-- Ben Franklin     Submitted by Prof. Andrew Lewis, Director of Community Development, The Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations

In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all -- security, comfort and freedom.... When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.

-- Edward Gibbon     Submitted by Prof. Andrew Lewis, Director of Community Development, The Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations

It's not how high we jump off our feet in church, it's what we do with them when we hit the ground!

-- Governor Tom Ridge     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

Volunteers are not servants. Volunteers are partners working together for improving America's future.

-- Mayor Richard Daly     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it!

-- President Bill Clinton     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

We are not here to enjoy the things on earth, but to pass them around. The people who do it are the happiest people you know!

-- President George Bush     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country- to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!

-- Gen. Colin Powell     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

-- Henry Drummond     Submitted by Linda Soos-Davis

Bloom where you are planted.

-- Mother Jones     Submitted by Keeble

If you don't believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.

-- Anita Roddick     Submitted by Pam Betz

Your corn is ripe today, mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both that I should labor with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account . . . Here then I leave you to labor alone; you treat me in the same manner. The seasons change, and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security.

-- David Hume     Submitted by Meagan Goreski

May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.

-- Thomas Jefferson     Submitted by Rex Morey

The greatest poverty that can afflict the human spirit is the loss of a generous heart. You will know that success has slipped away when your passion for helping others grows cold.

-- Bill Lane Doulos     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

-- Thomas Paine     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

-- Booker T. Washington     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

In my career, I learned that giving your services for free gives you a good return on your investment, not just financially but morally. It supplements your personal integrity.

-- Stevie Wonder     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

-- Jonas Salk     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

Reach for the stars. You might not get them, but you won't wind up with a handful of mud either!

Submitted by Linda Gray-Mitchell

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn Von Savant     Submitted by Carol Freed

The debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future.

-- Abigail Scott Dunaway     Submitted by Carol Freed

If your ship doesn't come in. Swim out to it.

-- Jonathan Winters     Submitted by Paul Goebel

A volunteer is like a rare gem. When placed in the right setting and cared for, they will shine and give pleasure to all who see them.

Submitted by Marianne Bourgault, Volunteer Coordinator, Perkins Branch Library

He who has never fallen knows no heights.

Submitted by Sabrina Mathusz

Whatever you can do, or dream you can... begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

-- Goethe     Submitted by Joe Copeland

There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.

-- William f. Halsey, Jr.     Submitted by KA Felker

When people forget themselves, they usually do things others remember.

-- James Coco     Submitted by KA Felker

When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.

-- Bel Kaufman     Submitted by Lynne Ferrell

Go out and do something for somebody. Go out and give something to somebody. It will take you away from yourself and make you happy.

-- Joseph Jefferson     Submitted by Lynne Ferrell

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt     Submitted by Nan Hawthorne

Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others.

Submitted by Raymond

Our good works are like stones cast into the pool of time; though the stones themselves may disappear, their ripples extend to eternity.

Submitted by Heidi

The only one who likes change is a wet baby!

Submitted by Theresa Osborne, Executive Secretary for the Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia

When we dream alone, it is only a dream, but when we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.

Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

-- Martin Luther King     Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!

Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

Let each man be judged by his deeds, I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I willed.

-- Rudyard Kipling     Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

The gain a man witholds from his brother becomes his own deprivation.

Submitted by Karen McCumber

Here's to all volunteers, those dedicated people who believe in all work and no pay.

-- Robert Orben     Submitted by Charlie Ripple, VISTA Volunteer, Community Housing Partnership, Minnesota/USA

He who upsets a thing should know how to rearrange it.

-- Sierra Leonean Proverb     Submitted by John Stankiewicz, President, Northern Ohio Valley Area Search and Rescue, WV, USA

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. 

-- Ethiopian Proverb     Submitted by John Stankiewicz, President, Northern Ohio Valley Area Search and Rescue, WV, USA

Give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.

-- Epictetus     Submitted by Cassie Diaz-Bello, Assistant Staff Counsel for the ABA Center for Pro Bono, Illinois USA

You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for which you get not pay but the privilege of doing it.

-- Albert Schweitzer     Submitted by Jacki Lansman

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Jacki Lansman

In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.

-- Marianne Williamson     Submitted by Alan D. Finney, Volunteer Coordinator-KUHF Radio, Texas, USA

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-- Theodore Roosevelt     Submitted by Liz Mirzaian, Manager, Department of Volunteer Resources, California Science Center, Los Angeles, California

We are not called upon to do all the good possible, but only that which we can do.

-- Mother Theodore Guerin     Submitted by Cheryl Casselman, Providence Volunteer Ministry marketing associate, Indiana

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

-- Mark Twain     Submitted by Cindy McMahon, Coordinator, Volunteer Center of Asheville & Buncombe County, NC, US

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

-- Will Rogers     Submitted by Joan Perry, DVS, Bon Secours-St. Francis Hospital, Charleston, SC

All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. 

-- Edmond Burke     Submitted by Elizabeth, KY/USA

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

-- Edmond Burke     Submitted by Jackie Bowers, The Salvation Army - Territorial Volunteer Services Director - Central Territory, Illinois

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.

-- John Wesley     Submitted by Jenny Gerard, United Way, Georgia, USA

A volunteer is a person who believes that people can make a difference - and is willing to prove it.

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

With a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair.

-- Persian Proverb     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.

-- Ashleigh Brilliant     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

There are three ways of trying to win the young. There is persuasion, there is compulsion, and there is attraction. You can preach at them: that is a hook without a worm. You can say, "You must volunteer," and that is of the devil. You can tell them, "You are needed." That appeal hardly ever fails.

-- K. Hahn, Readings from the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School     Submitted by Sarah Oliver, Asst. Regional Director, Women in Community Service, Washington, USA

We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit.

-- Robert H. Shaffer     Submitted by Tammy Herron, Director of Volunteers, American Red Cross, Kingsport Chapter, TN USA

The essence of volunteerism is not giving part of a surplus one doesn't need, but giving part of one's self. Such giving is more than a duty of the heart, but a way people help themselves by satisfying the deeper spiritual needs that represent the best that is in us.

-- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend     Submitted by Marcia Livingston, Consultant, Washington Mutual Bank, WA USA

Volunteer activities can foster enormous leadership skills. The nonprofit professional volunteer world is a laboratory for self-realization.

-- Madeleine Kunin     Submitted by Marcia Livingston, Consultant, Washington Mutual Bank, WA USA

Ain't Nothin' to It, But to Do it!

-- Maya Angelou     Submitted by Selena, Volunteer Illini Projects, Inc., IL

We cannot live for ourselves alone.Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.

-- Herman Melville     Submitted by Phyllis J. Dorr, Volunteer and Intern Program Manager, Museum of Health

If you want to touch the past TOUCH A ROCK.  If you want to touch the present TOUCH A ROSE.  If you want to touch the future TOUCH A LIFE.

Submitted by Elaine Sonmor, Program Coordinator, Successful Mothers Support Program, Battlefords Health District, Saskatchewan, Canada

Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes a bouquet!

Submitted by Lisa Letto, Coordinator, Nutrition Resource and Volunteer Centre, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

-- Robert F. Kennedy     Submitted by Carol Freed

One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something. 

-- Henry David Thoreau     Submitted by Nan Hart, Director, RSVP and The Volunteer Center, Vermont, US

I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.

-- Rabindranath Tagore     Submitted by Stacey Claire M. Carantit, Volunteer Coordinator - Conestoga View Nursing Home, Lancaster, PA

The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation.

-- Peter Marshall     Submitted by Cynthia McClure, Ph.D, Clinical Director, Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, Virginia

We can't do much about the length of our lives,  but we can do plenty about its width and depth.

-- Evan Esar     Submitted by Cynthia McClure, Ph.D, Clinical Director, Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, Virginia

Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.

Submitted by Lorena Poppe, Program Coordinator, Pride, Inc., North Dakota

I am only one, but still I am one;  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

-- Edward Hale     Submitted by Amy Charpentier, Stetson University Circle K International President, Stetson University, Florida

The main quality of leadership..........is courage! If you can dream it, you can do it! 

 

-- Walt Disney     Submitted by Bill Weller, Director, Partners in Self Sufficiency, Clearwater, Florida

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community... and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-- George Bernard Shaw, Irish Playwright     Submitted by Mellisa Ferland, Community Center Building Committee Chair, New Hampshire, USA

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

-- Helen Keller     Submitted by Robin McCartha, RSVP of Richland and Lexington Counties, SC/USA

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by ... those who ... struggle to make one small difference after another.

-- Ellen Goodman     Submitted by James Noonan, Volunteer Program Manager, The Horizons Initiative, Boston, MA

First, there's the job-where the goal is simply to earn a living and support your family. Then there's the career--where you trace your progress through various appointments and achievements. Finally, there's the calling-- the ideal blend of activity and character that makes work inseparable from life.

-- Robert Bella     Submitted by Marcia Ferris, Program Manager w/ NSSC, Brainerd MN USA

A candle loses nothing of its light when lighting another.

-- Kahlil Gibran     Submitted by Lauren Quaile, Bonner Scholar - University of Richmond

Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.

Submitted by Anonymous

All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.

Submitted by Dorothy Thompson, SCP Director-The Salvation Army, NJ, USA

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.

-- Emily Kimbrough     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

If you ever need a helping hand, it is at the end of your arm. As you get older you must remember you have a second hand. The first one is to help yourself. The second hand is to help others.

-- Audrey Hepburn     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own.

-- Abraham Lincoln     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

When you stop giving and offering something to the rest of the world, it's time to turn out the lights.

-- George Burns     Submitted by Anna Soulek, Student, Wyoming, USA

This is the true joy in life being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. . . 

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. 

Life is no brief candle to me. It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-- George Bernard Shaw     Submitted by Harvey LeCato, Certified Trainer, Sertoma Int'l, Colorado

It is not enough to merely exist. It's not enough to say, 'I'm earning enough to live and support my family. I do my work well. I'm a good parent.' That's all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every person has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man's help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too. 

-- Albert Schweitzer Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1952     Submitted by Gene Budbill, Snohomish County Chapter, American Red Cross, Washington, USA

I did not find the world desolate when I entered it. My fathers planted for me before I arrived, so I plant for those who come after me.

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

Pages

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.

-- Karl Reiland     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

-- Martin Luther King     Submitted by Several people

The greatest poverty that can afflict the human spirit is the loss of a generous heart. You will know that success has slipped away when your passion for helping others grows cold.

-- Bill Lane Doulos     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

-- Booker T. Washington     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

-- Jonas Salk     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

Go out and do something for somebody. Go out and give something to somebody. It will take you away from yourself and make you happy.

-- Joseph Jefferson     Submitted by Lynne Ferrell

Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others.

Submitted by Raymond

Our good works are like stones cast into the pool of time; though the stones themselves may disappear, their ripples extend to eternity.

Submitted by Heidi

You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for which you get not pay but the privilege of doing it.

-- Albert Schweitzer     Submitted by Jacki Lansman

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Jacki Lansman

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

-- Edmond Burke     Submitted by Jackie Bowers, The Salvation Army - Territorial Volunteer Services Director - Central Territory, Illinois

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.

-- John Wesley     Submitted by Jenny Gerard, United Way, Georgia, USA

Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.

-- Ashleigh Brilliant     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes a bouquet!

Submitted by Lisa Letto, Coordinator, Nutrition Resource and Volunteer Centre, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada

I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.

-- Rabindranath Tagore     Submitted by Stacey Claire M. Carantit, Volunteer Coordinator - Conestoga View Nursing Home, Lancaster, PA

Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.

Submitted by Lorena Poppe, Program Coordinator, Pride, Inc., North Dakota

I am only one, but still I am one;  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

-- Edward Hale     Submitted by Amy Charpentier, Stetson University Circle K International President, Stetson University, Florida

First, there's the job-where the goal is simply to earn a living and support your family. Then there's the career--where you trace your progress through various appointments and achievements. Finally, there's the calling-- the ideal blend of activity and character that makes work inseparable from life.

-- Robert Bella     Submitted by Marcia Ferris, Program Manager w/ NSSC, Brainerd MN USA

If you ever need a helping hand, it is at the end of your arm. As you get older you must remember you have a second hand. The first one is to help yourself. The second hand is to help others.

-- Audrey Hepburn     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

It is not enough to merely exist. It's not enough to say, 'I'm earning enough to live and support my family. I do my work well. I'm a good parent.' That's all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every person has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man's help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too. 

-- Albert Schweitzer Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1952     Submitted by Gene Budbill, Snohomish County Chapter, American Red Cross, Washington, USA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Put yourself in someone's shoes" is a common phrase. But it is not a common thing that we do everyday. We are, most of the time, self-centred. Especially in this modern, fast-paced life. It is only when we stop for a moment and give our time to others, that we realise the true meaning of empathy. 

Submitted by Abdul Manan Bin Hassan, ASP, PRIS DEPT, Changi, Singapore

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. 
 

-- Horace Mann     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

Submitted by Lisa Clegg, Coordinator, M.O.V.R.C. Foster Grandparents Program

Better one friend with a dish of food than a hundred with a sigh.

-- Yiddish Proverb     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

It is one of the beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson     Submitted by Dominica Larkin, Volunteer Coordinator, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Canada

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor is given by what he gave.

-- Calvin Coolidge     Submitted by Joe Hammontree, 4-H AmeriCorps VISTA, Shiawassee MSU Extension, Michigan, USA

To serve, not to be served.

-- The charge to service for AARP members from Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, AARP founder     Submitted by Carolyn Hunter, ASD, AARP Utah, USA

Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.

-- Danny Thomas     Submitted by Jack Gomez, Girl Scounts of Shagbark Council, Illinois

Someone asked the anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978), "What is the first sign you look for, to tell you of an ancient civilization?" The interviewer had in mind a tool or article of clothing. Ms. Mead surprised him by answering, a "healed femur". When someone breaks a femur, they can't survive to hunt, fish or escape enemies unless they have help from someone else. Thus, a healed femur indicates that someone else helped that person, rather than abandoning them and saving themselves. Isn't that what we in philanthropy are all about? Healing femurs of one sort or another?

Submitted by Leslie Paige

In order to motivate others, you must first become a source of motivation by yourself. It simply means that if you want to get anything done through others, you must first do it yourself.

-- Hazrat Ilyas Attar Qadri     Submitted by Muhammad Umer Attari

I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.

-- Lily Tomlin     Submitted by Joyce Flaugher

[I am a co-creator], an active agent in this universe who makes things happen. If I want the world to change, I have to change it.

-- Danah Zohar     Submitted by Renee Harms

It wasn't the reward that mattered or the recognition you might harvest. It was your depth of commitment, your quality of service, the product of your devotion -- these were the things that counted in life. When you gave purely, the honor in giving, and that was honor enough.

-- Captain Scott O'Grady     Submitted by Kristyna

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."

-- Muhammad Ali     Submitted by David Edwards

If you're watching to learn....Watch!
If you're watching for a break....Speak up!
If you're watching for me to stop....Leave!
If you're here to help....Grab a shovel!

-- Original Composition     Submitted by Suzanne Carroll

In doing your best serving others for free, a lot of eyebrows will raise and sneers will curve many a-faces. But in the end those incredulous to what you put up with to help, no longer matter. It's not between you and those snobs, but with whom you have given your hand to lift, and of course to God who is watching and noting it in your book.

-- Inspired by Mother Theresa     Submitted by Ding Franco

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I 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 Susie Kapelovitz

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to him his own.

 

-- Benjamin Disraeli     Submitted by several colleagues

We are not here to enjoy the things on earth, but to pass them around. The people who do it are the happiest people you know!

-- President George Bush     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

-- Henry Drummond     Submitted by Linda Soos-Davis

May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.

-- Thomas Jefferson     Submitted by Rex Morey

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.

-- Bel Kaufman     Submitted by Lynne Ferrell

With a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair.

-- Persian Proverb     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

If you want to touch the past TOUCH A ROCK.  If you want to touch the present TOUCH A ROSE.  If you want to touch the future TOUCH A LIFE.

Submitted by Elaine Sonmor, Program Coordinator, Successful Mothers Support Program, Battlefords Health District, Saskatchewan, Canada

All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.

Submitted by Dorothy Thompson, SCP Director-The Salvation Army, NJ, USA

When you stop giving and offering something to the rest of the world, it's time to turn out the lights.

-- George Burns     Submitted by Anna Soulek, Student, Wyoming, USA

Some get and forget. Some give and forgive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

-- I John 3:18     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

If you can't go where people are happier, try to make people happier where you are.

-- Ashleigh Brilliant     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. 

-- Mahatma Gandhi     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson     Submitted by Fiona Dawe, Executive Director, YouthNet, London, England
You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.
-- Winston Churchill     Submitted by Elise Slobodin, Planning Executive, UJA-Federation, New York USA

Too often we under-estimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

-- Dr. Felice Leonardo Buscaglia     Submitted by several colleagues

If you insist on measuring yourself, place the tape around your heart rather than your head.

-- Carol Trabelle     Submitted by Caitlin Rohrer, Girl Scouts, Trillium Council, Pennsylvania

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

-- Mercy Mission Kenya     Submitted by Henri Nouwen

If just one person believes in you
Deep enough and strong enough
Believes in you hard enough and long enough
Before you knew it, someone else would think "If he can do it, I can do it"
Making it two.
Two whole people who believe in you.
And maybe even you can believe in you too.

-- Robin and the Muppet Gang, from "It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider"     Submitted by April

If you don't have any charity in your heart you have the worst kind of heart trouble.    

-- Bob Hope     Submitted by Judi Reed

The road to success is not crowded. Because while most are looking for ways to take, the truly successful people are finding ways to give. With a giving attitude, every situation is an opportunity for success.

Submitted by Gracie Harrison

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.

-- G. Thomas Gale     Submitted by Diane Klebanow

Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful.

Submitted by Bernadette Bowie

No one cares what you know, unless they know that you care.

Submitted by Charles D. Powell

It is imperative to ask our self every morning "what will I give those around me today?

One cannot feel self-worth without giving.

Submitted by Hisham El Rouby

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

"Be the change you want to see in the world"...and, if you can't be that change, then either get out of the way of the person who wants to be that change or support the individual with your financial resources.

-- Mahatma Gandhi...modified by Nicole S. Lawrence     Submitted by Nicole S. Lawrence

Volunteering is so pervasive it's invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.

-- Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize     Submitted by Susan

Our nation will succeed or fail to the degree that all of us -- citizens and businesses alike -- are active participanats in building strong, sustainable and enriching communities.

-- Arnold Hiatt, President, The Stride Rite Foundation     Submitted by Barbara H.

In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all -- security, comfort and freedom.... When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.

-- Edward Gibbon     Submitted by Prof. Andrew Lewis, Director of Community Development, The Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations

Volunteers are not servants. Volunteers are partners working together for improving America's future.

-- Mayor Richard Daly     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

The era of big government is over, but the era of big challenge is not. We need an era of big citizenship. There are many important people at this summit, but the most important title is 'citizen.' This is our republic. Let us keep it!

-- President Bill Clinton     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country- to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!

-- Gen. Colin Powell     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

Your corn is ripe today, mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both that I should labor with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account . . . Here then I leave you to labor alone; you treat me in the same manner. The seasons change, and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security.

-- David Hume     Submitted by Meagan Goreski

My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

-- Thomas Paine     Submitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey

The debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future.

-- Abigail Scott Dunaway     Submitted by Carol Freed

When we dream alone, it is only a dream, but when we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.

Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.

-- Marianne Williamson     Submitted by Alan D. Finney, Volunteer Coordinator-KUHF Radio, Texas, USA

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

-- Robert F. Kennedy     Submitted by Carol Freed

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community... and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-- George Bernard Shaw, Irish Playwright     Submitted by Mellisa Ferland, Community Center Building Committee Chair, New Hampshire, USA

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by ... those who ... struggle to make one small difference after another.

-- Ellen Goodman     Submitted by James Noonan, Volunteer Program Manager, The Horizons Initiative, Boston, MA

This is the true joy in life being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. . . 

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. 

Life is no brief candle to me. It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

-- George Bernard Shaw     Submitted by Harvey LeCato, Certified Trainer, Sertoma Int'l, Colorado

It is not enough to merely exist. It's not enough to say, 'I'm earning enough to live and support my family. I do my work well. I'm a good parent.' That's all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every person has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man's help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too. 

-- Albert Schweitzer Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1952     Submitted by Gene Budbill, Snohomish County Chapter, American Red Cross, Washington, USA

I did not find the world desolate when I entered it. My fathers planted for me before I arrived, so I plant for those who come after me.

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

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

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

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

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

Be the change that you wish to see in the world

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

A verse to start community meetings:
"A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living."

-- Rudolf Steiner, Austrian Philosopher and Scientist     Submitted by Sybille B. Hahn, Executive Director, CANES Home Support Services

Unless someone like you cares a whole, awful lot. Things aren't going to get better, they're NOT!

-- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax     Submitted by Sue Nelson, Agency Relations Director, Volunteer Jacksonville, Inc.

Let ... individuals make the most of what God has given them, have their neighbors do the same, and then do all they can to serve each other. There is no use in one man, or one nation, to try to do or be everything. It is a good thing to be dependent on each other for something, it makes us civil and peaceable.

-- Sojourner Truth (c. 1797­1883), African American suffragist and abolitionist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, appendix—ch. 19, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton     Submitted by Lois Gaetz, Director, St Cloud Area Faith in Action, MN/USA

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.

-- Tom Brokaw     Submitted by Cathie Waugh, Volunteer Coordinator, Habitat for Humanity, Colorado

Being a man or a woman is a matter of birth. Being a man or a woman who makes a difference is a matter of choice.

-- Byron Garrett, staff member of Arizona's Governor     Submitted by Nicolette Ryan, Volunteer Coordinator, Central Arizona Shelter Services

If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.

-- Lill Watson, aboriginal activist     Submitted by Keith Goheen, Volunteer Coordinator, First State Community Action Agency, Delaware USA

Paul Revere earned his living as a silversmith.   But what do we remember him for?  His volunteer work.  All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about.  Remember, no one gets paid to rebel.  All revolutions start with volunteers.

-- Susan J. Ellis     Submitted by Susan in response to a workshop participant who heard Susan say this and wanted it shared.

When were the good and the brave ever in a majority?

-- Henry David Thoreau     Submitted by Nancy McGee

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and to impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

-- Woodrow Wilson     Submitted by Lori Farley

I believe in the spirit of sharing and I believe we are what we are because of those around us.

I am what I am because of other people and they are what they are because of me being around.

One hand cannot clap on its own but it needs the other hand to make a clap. 

Many hands make light work.

-- Maasai tribal sayings     Submitted by Kores Ole Musuni

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

Men have always volunteered, they just called themselves coaches, trustees, and firemen!

-- Susan J. Ellis, president of Energize     Submitted by Susan

If you don't believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.

-- Anita Roddick     Submitted by Pam Betz

Reach for the stars. You might not get them, but you won't wind up with a handful of mud either!

Submitted by Linda Gray-Mitchell

If your ship doesn't come in. Swim out to it.

-- Jonathan Winters     Submitted by Paul Goebel

The only one who likes change is a wet baby!

Submitted by Theresa Osborne, Executive Secretary for the Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia

Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!

Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

Here's to all volunteers, those dedicated people who believe in all work and no pay.

-- Robert Orben     Submitted by Charlie Ripple, VISTA Volunteer, Community Housing Partnership, Minnesota/USA

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Jacki Lansman

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

-- Will Rogers     Submitted by Joan Perry, DVS, Bon Secours-St. Francis Hospital, Charleston, SC

If you ever need a helping hand, it is at the end of your arm. As you get older you must remember you have a second hand. The first one is to help yourself. The second hand is to help others.

-- Audrey Hepburn     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

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

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

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

-- Dodie Smith     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

Most of us in volunteer programs now realize that those 1000 points of light of George Bush #1 are really 500 candles burning at both ends and the only thing to trickle down from Reganomics was budget cuts.

Submitted by Nita Moser, Volunteer Coordinator, Battered Women's Project

Unless someone like you cares a whole, awful lot. Things aren't going to get better, they're NOT!

-- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax     Submitted by Sue Nelson, Agency Relations Director, Volunteer Jacksonville, Inc.

Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Alane Hill, Project Director, Friends Foster Grandparent Program

Don't ever question the value of volunteers. Noah's Ark was built by volunteers; the Titanic was built by professionals. 

Submitted by Dave Gynn, Coleman Professional Services, Ohio, USA

Paul Revere earned his living as a silversmith.   But what do we remember him for?  His volunteer work.  All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about.  Remember, no one gets paid to rebel.  All revolutions start with volunteers.

-- Susan J. Ellis     Submitted by Susan in response to a workshop participant who heard Susan say this and wanted it shared.

If you don't have any charity in your heart you have the worst kind of heart trouble.    

-- Bob Hope     Submitted by Judi Reed

I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.

-- Lily Tomlin     Submitted by Joyce Flaugher

If you're watching to learn....Watch!
If you're watching for a break....Speak up!
If you're watching for me to stop....Leave!
If you're here to help....Grab a shovel!

-- Original Composition     Submitted by Suzanne Carroll

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

Submitted by Catherine Aird

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.

-- Ben Franklin     Submitted by Prof. Andrew Lewis, Director of Community Development, The Learning Institute for Nonprofit Organizations

Bloom where you are planted.

-- Mother Jones     Submitted by Keeble

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. 

-- Ethiopian Proverb     Submitted by John Stankiewicz, President, Northern Ohio Valley Area Search and Rescue, WV, USA

With a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair.

-- Persian Proverb     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something. 

-- Henry David Thoreau     Submitted by Nan Hart, Director, RSVP and The Volunteer Center, Vermont, US

A candle loses nothing of its light when lighting another.

-- Kahlil Gibran     Submitted by Lauren Quaile, Bonner Scholar - University of Richmond

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

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

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

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

Be the change that you wish to see in the world

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

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

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. 

-- Mahatma Gandhi     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Alane Hill, Project Director, Friends Foster Grandparent Program

Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

-- Margaret Mead     Submitted by Maureen Stenquist

When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.

-- Chinese Proverb     Submitted by Jennifer Cali

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows

-- St. Francis of Assisi     Submitted by Nancy McGee

I believe in the spirit of sharing and I believe we are what we are because of those around us.

I am what I am because of other people and they are what they are because of me being around.

One hand cannot clap on its own but it needs the other hand to make a clap. 

Many hands make light work.

-- Maasai tribal sayings     Submitted by Kores Ole Musuni

We post quotables by newest submissions first.

"As long as we live; The future is bright; even if the road continues to be torturous!"

-- Asavela Peko     Submitted by Asavela Peko, Founder, Learner's Movement of South Africa, Delft    Cape Town, South Africa

Anything can be accomplished as long as you don't care who gets the credit.

-- Unknown     Submitted by Sue

Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself.

-- Thomas Jefferson     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life -- the children; those who are in the twilight of life -- the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life -- the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

-- Hubert Humphrey     Submitted by Barbara H.

It's not how high we jump off our feet in church, it's what we do with them when we hit the ground!

-- Governor Tom Ridge     Submitted by Redd Torres Eakin

Reach for the stars. You might not get them, but you won't wind up with a handful of mud either!

Submitted by Linda Gray-Mitchell

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn Von Savant     Submitted by Carol Freed

If your ship doesn't come in. Swim out to it.

-- Jonathan Winters     Submitted by Paul Goebel

He who has never fallen knows no heights.

Submitted by Sabrina Mathusz

Whatever you can do, or dream you can... begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

-- Goethe     Submitted by Joe Copeland

There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.

-- William f. Halsey, Jr.     Submitted by KA Felker

When people forget themselves, they usually do things others remember.

-- James Coco     Submitted by KA Felker

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt     Submitted by Nan Hawthorne

The only one who likes change is a wet baby!

Submitted by Theresa Osborne, Executive Secretary for the Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

-- Martin Luther King     Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!

Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

Let each man be judged by his deeds, I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I willed.

-- Rudyard Kipling     Submitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre

The gain a man witholds from his brother becomes his own deprivation.

Submitted by Karen McCumber

He who upsets a thing should know how to rearrange it.

-- Sierra Leonean Proverb     Submitted by John Stankiewicz, President, Northern Ohio Valley Area Search and Rescue, WV, USA

Give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths.

-- Epictetus     Submitted by Cassie Diaz-Bello, Assistant Staff Counsel for the ABA Center for Pro Bono, Illinois USA

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-- Theodore Roosevelt     Submitted by Liz Mirzaian, Manager, Department of Volunteer Resources, California Science Center, Los Angeles, California

We are not called upon to do all the good possible, but only that which we can do.

-- Mother Theodore Guerin     Submitted by Cheryl Casselman, Providence Volunteer Ministry marketing associate, Indiana

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

-- Mark Twain     Submitted by Cindy McMahon, Coordinator, Volunteer Center of Asheville & Buncombe County, NC, US

All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. 

-- Edmond Burke     Submitted by Elizabeth, KY/USA

We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit.

-- Robert H. Shaffer     Submitted by Tammy Herron, Director of Volunteers, American Red Cross, Kingsport Chapter, TN USA

Ain't Nothin' to It, But to Do it!

-- Maya Angelou     Submitted by Selena, Volunteer Illini Projects, Inc., IL

We cannot live for ourselves alone.Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.

-- Herman Melville     Submitted by Phyllis J. Dorr, Volunteer and Intern Program Manager, Museum of Health

One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something. 

-- Henry David Thoreau     Submitted by Nan Hart, Director, RSVP and The Volunteer Center, Vermont, US

The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation.

-- Peter Marshall     Submitted by Cynthia McClure, Ph.D, Clinical Director, Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, Virginia

We can't do much about the length of our lives,  but we can do plenty about its width and depth.

-- Evan Esar     Submitted by Cynthia McClure, Ph.D, Clinical Director, Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, Virginia

The main quality of leadership..........is courage! If you can dream it, you can do it! 

 

-- Walt Disney     Submitted by Bill Weller, Director, Partners in Self Sufficiency, Clearwater, Florida

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

-- Helen Keller     Submitted by Robin McCartha, RSVP of Richland and Lexington Counties, SC/USA

Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.

Submitted by Anonymous

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.

-- Emily Kimbrough     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own.

-- Abraham Lincoln     Submitted by Ed Madara, Director, American & NJ Group Self-Help Group Clearinghouses

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 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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 mode in which the inevitable comes to pass is through effort. 

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

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

I'm in the business of loving the hell out of people

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

They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Submitted by Desire'e Larson, Women's Way, North Dakota Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program

The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today. 

-- Saint Francis of Assisi     Submitted by Mike Corbin, Membership Chair, Metropolitan Detroit Volunteer Administration Network

To the world you may be one person, But to one person you may be the world.

Submitted by Anonymous

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

-- Mother Theresa     Submitted by Jenni

Throughout your life, there is a voice only you can hear. A voice which mythologists label "the call." A call to the value of your life. The choice of risk and individual bliss over the known and secure.

You may choose not to hear your spirit. You may prefer to build a life within the compound, to avoid risk. It is possible to find happiness within a familiar box, a life of comfort and control.

Or, you may choose to be open to new experiences, to leave the limits of your conditioning, to hear the call. Then you must act.

If you never hear it, perhaps nothing is lost. If you hear it and ignore it, your life is lost.

-- Jennifer James     Submitted by Debra English, Volunteer Coordinator, HealthPartners

Which is more subversive—and corrosive—to believe in altruism or to see it simply as a cloak of self interest? Even if altruism did not exist, it would be necessary to believe in it. Pessimists in power are prone to despotism.

-- Frank Prochaska in Schools of Citizenship: Charity and Civic Virtue, Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society, London, 2002     Submitted by Susan Ellis

It is only through the eyes of others do you see yourself. It is only through the work of your own do you find the difference in others.

Submitted by Foo Ji-Wei, Volunteerism Through Oneself, Nanyang Technological University, Welfare Services Club, Singapore

There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you don't do them.

-- Charles D. Gill     Submitted by Caitlin Rohrer, Girl Scouts - Trillium Council, Pennsylvania

The highest reward for a person's work is not what they get for it, but what they become because of it. 

-- John Ruskin     Submitted by Caitlin Rohrer, Girl Scouts, Trillium Council, Pennsylvania

At the end of our life our questions are simple: Did I live fully? Did I love well?

-- Jack Kornfield     Submitted by Caitlin Rohrer, Girl Scouts, Trillium Council, Pennsylvania

Silence equals nonexistence. If I don't raise my voice, it's like I never existed.

-- Margaret Cho, Comedienne Revolution     Submitted by Jennifer Smerud

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they are capable of being.   

-- Goethe     Submitted by Elizabeth Ellis

What the mind of a Man can conceive and believe, he can achieve.

Submitted by Albert Kwansa-Adjei

The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.

-- Ethel Percy Andrus     Submitted by Lindsey Garner

It just feels like through our little projects and visits, we are being the hands and feet of God.

-- Found in a newspaper and quoted by "Women from Faith" a United Methodist group located in Wolcott, NY.     Submitted by Linda Geno

And of all glad words
of prose or rhyme,
The gladdest are
"Act while there
yet is time"

-- Franklin P. Adams     Submitted by Pat Spain

One Hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of house you lived in... what kind of car you drove... what your bank balance was...but what will matter is that you were important in the life of a child.

-- Adapted from a quote by Forest Witcraft     Submitted by Lynn Hamilton

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery     Submitted by Zoe Mckenzie

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain!

Submitted by Vivian Greene

Take Care of People - People before Paper, People before Profits, People before Self and People before Projects

Submitted by Carol S. Ritter, Speaker on Non-Profit and Educational Leadership

If you see someone without a smile ....give them one of yours.

Submitted by Becky Heimbach