Quotes Using Words Volunteer/Volunteering

Share your favorite quotes about volunteers and volunteering so that others can add a spark to their presentations!  Also look at the other categories of "Quotables":  poems, humor, songs, stories, and parables.

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

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