To be of service is to work to help others, to serve. Service recognizes human interconnectedness and our ability to contribute to the lives of others in positive and active ways. Service is an active form of caring, compassion, or love. We call people who work for government “public servants” because their job is to support people, rather than to make a profit or to build a powerbase.
(The word service can also imply work as a servant for pay, a government branch, or a religious observance. Those are not what these quotations describe.)
I’m doing what I think I was put on this earth to do. And I’m really grateful to have something that I’m passionate about and that I think is profoundly important.
You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.
A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back — but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
I’m doing what I think I was put on this earth to do. And I’m really grateful to have something that I’m passionate about and that I think is profoundly important.
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.
The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer somebody else up.
[E]verybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
[W]e are challenged to rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. The individual or nation that feels that it can live in isolation has allowed itself to sleep through a revolution. The geographical togetherness of the modern world makes our very existence dependent on co-existence. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. Because of our involvement in humanity we must be concerned about every human being.
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 verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.
Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks — we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.
Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.
Every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.
We have to realize that part of helping is keeping our clarity of mind, keeping our hearts and our minds open.
Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world.
Those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest.
There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life — happiness, freedom, and peace of mind — are always attained by giving them to someone else.
When we know ourselves to be connected to all others, acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do.
When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it.
Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix.
Good leaders must first become good servants.
Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.
The idea that we can enjoy the benefits of society while owing nothing in return is literally infantile. Only children owe nothing.
