"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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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.

Bloom where you are planted.

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

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.

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

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.

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

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

He who has never fallen knows no heights.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The only one who likes change is a wet baby!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

A candle loses nothing of its light when lighting another.

Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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. 

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.

Some get and forget. Some give and forgive.

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