"As long as we live; The future is bright; even if the road continues to be torturous!"
--Asavela PekoSubmitted by Asavela Peko, Founder, Learner's Movement of South Africa, Delft
Volunteerism is currency that appreciates.
--Website of Administrators of Volunteer Resources BCSubmitted 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. LawrenceSubmitted by Nicole S. Lawrence
Men have always volunteered, they just called themselves coaches, trustees, and firemen!
--Susan J. Ellis, president of EnergizeSubmitted 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 EnergizeSubmitted by Susan
Anything can be accomplished as long as you don't care who gets the credit.
--UnknownSubmitted by Sue
Who then can so softly bind up the wound of another as he who has felt the same wound himself.
--Thomas JeffersonSubmitted 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 DisraeliSubmitted by several colleagues
In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.
--Karl ReilandSubmitted 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 HumphreySubmitted 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 KingSubmitted 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 FoundationSubmitted 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 MikulskiSubmitted 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 OlmosSubmitted by Barbara H.
You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.
--Ben FranklinSubmitted 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 GibbonSubmitted 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 RidgeSubmitted by Redd Torres Eakin
Volunteers are not servants. Volunteers are partners working together for improving America's future.
--Mayor Richard DalySubmitted 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 ClintonSubmitted 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 BushSubmitted 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 PowellSubmitted 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 DrummondSubmitted by Linda Soos-Davis
Bloom where you are planted.
--Mother JonesSubmitted by Keeble
If you don't believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.
--Anita RoddickSubmitted 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 HumeSubmitted 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 JeffersonSubmitted 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 DoulosSubmitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
--Thomas PaineSubmitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey
In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.
--Booker T. WashingtonSubmitted 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 WonderSubmitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey
You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.
--Ralph Waldo EmersonSubmitted by Dena Spanos-Hawkey
I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.
--Jonas SalkSubmitted 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!
--UnknownSubmitted by Linda Gray-Mitchell
Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
--Marilyn Von SavantSubmitted by Carol Freed
The debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future.
--Abigail Scott DunawaySubmitted by Carol Freed
If your ship doesn't come in. Swim out to it.
--Jonathan WintersSubmitted 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.
--UnknownSubmitted by Marianne Bourgault, Volunteer Coordinator, Perkins Branch Library
He who has never fallen knows no heights.
--UnknownSubmitted by Sabrina Mathusz
Whatever you can do, or dream you can... begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
--GoetheSubmitted 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 CocoSubmitted by KA Felker
When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.
--Bel KaufmanSubmitted 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 JeffersonSubmitted by Lynne Ferrell
It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.
--Eleanor RooseveltSubmitted by Nan Hawthorne
Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others.
--UnknownSubmitted 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.
--UnknownSubmitted by Heidi
The only one who likes change is a wet baby!
--UnknownSubmitted 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.
--UnknownSubmitted 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 KingSubmitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre
Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!
--UnknownSubmitted by Nancy Sutter, Volunteer Coordinator for Peel Children's Centre
"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, DelftCape 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.
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
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, DelftCape 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.
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.
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
Get free tips and updates directly to your inbox!
Sign up for your choice of monthly e-newsletters.