#Selflessness Quotes

“No longer mourn for me when I am dead than you shall hear the surly sullen bell give warning to the world that I am fled from this vile world with vilest worms to dwell: nay, if you read this line, remember not the hand that writ it, for I love you so, that I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot, if thinking on me then should make you woe. O! if, I say, you look upon this verse when I perhaps compounded am with clay, do not so much as my poor name rehearse; but let your love even with my life decay; lest the wise world should look into your moan, and mock you with me after I am gone.”

“Every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good. But it finds its own success at last, and then the prudent also extol.”

“A servant wants to be rewarded for what he does. A lover wants only to be in love's presence, that ocean whose depth will never be known.”

“I honor those who try to rid themselves of any lying, who empty the self and have only clear being there.”

“Never self-possessed, or prudent, love is all abandonment.”

“Today I'm out wandering, turning my skull into a cup for others to drink wine from. In this town somewhere there sits a calm, intelligent man, who doesn't know what he's about to do!”

“A Candle never Loses any of its Light while Lighting up another candle.”

“You can Light Up the Whole World by Giving without any Expectation Back.”

“It is impossible to need excuses when the focus of your life shifts from 'What's in it for me?' to 'How can I serve?'”

“The mass of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.”

“The only way to reach the mountain peaks of life is to forget about self and help other people reach greater heights.”

“If you still are growing, you go through the archetype of the statesman or stateswoman. You stop asking "What are my quotas?" and stop saying "What is in it for me?" and "How much can I get?" You begin to say, instead, "What are your quotas?" and, "How may I serve?" Providing for others becomes much more important in your life than what you can get for yourself.”

“Anonymously perform acts of kindness, expecting nothing in return-not even a thank you.”

“When you SEEK HAPPINESS for yourself, it will always elude you. When you seek happiness for OTHERS, you will find it yourself.”

“Necessity does everything well. In our condition of universal dependence, it seems heroic to let the petitioner be the judge of his necessity, and to give all that is asked, though at great inconvenience.”

“Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end, and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own.”

“There are many eyes that can detect and honor the prudent and household virtues; there are many that can discern Genius on his starry track, though the mob is incapable; but when that love which is all-suffering, all-abstaining, all-aspiring, which has vowed to itself, that it will be a wretch and also a fool in this world, sooner than soil its white hands by any compliances, comes into our streets and houses,--only the pure and aspiring can know its face, and the only compliment they can pay it, is to own it.”

“It's probably more fulfilling for me to be offering what I offer than it is for the people who receive it.”

“If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.”

“The only thing that saves the world is the little handful of disinterested men that are in it.”

“No thoughtful man ever came to the end of his life, and had time and a little space of calm from which to look back upon it, who did not know and acknowledge that it was what he had done unselfishly and for others, and nothing else, that satisfied him in the retrospect, and made him feel that he had played the man.”

“The object of love is to serve, not to win”

“The princes among us are those who forget themselves and serve others.”

“We are expected to put the utmost energy, of every power that we have, into the service of our fellow men, never sparing ourselves, not condescending to think of what is going to happen to ourselves, but ready, if need be, to go to the utter length of self-sacrifice.”

“When you focus on serving, there is no fear in you.”

“Only the wasteful virtues earn the sun.”

“The greatest joy comes from giving and serving, so replace your habit of focusing exclusively on yourself and what's in it for you. When you make the shift to supporting others in your life, without expecting anything in return, you'll think less about what you want and find comfort and joy in the act of giving and serving.”

“Labor is service and service is life. And when we serve something more than ourselves, we feel alive.”

“Happiness is in the mind, experiences of joy or pleasure should be found in the body; but ongoing joy, pure unadulterated joy, that feeling of bliss for no reason comes when you feel like your life matters because it matters to more than yourself.”

“Life wants you to serve something more than yourself. When you serve something more than yourself, you are served. It's the most ironic thing in the world.”

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment.”

“Love is giving and it has nothing to do with what you receive.”

“Whenever somebody reaches above their own limitations - I always tell people, the best time to go give is when you have nothing.”

“Power moves with you when you have an intent to serve more than yourself.”

“Ultimately, no man or woman is happy unless they have found a way to contribute beyond themselves.”

“Grace is that thing that shows up to guide you when you've done the first two steps and you're intent on doing something larger than just yourself. That's when all of the sudden things are great.”

“The only way a relationship will last is if you see it as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take.”

“I am interested in entertaining people, in bringing pleasure, particularly laughter, to others, rather than being concerned with "expressing" myself with obscure creative impressions.”

“When I give, I give myself.”

“I give you my hand, I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself?”

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

“I have never been interested in personal gain or profit. This business and this studio have been my entire life.”

“The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements, but rather with the things we do for others”

“He left her. She was dissatisfied with him. He had preferred to incur her anger rather than cause her pain. He had kept all the pain for himself.”

“I love conversations with kids in the meet and greet lines — little people with little voices! I love babies. Someday I would love to be a parent, but I want that time to come when I’ve experienced so much of the world. My life will be devoted to making that child’s life as wonderful, beautiful, magical and perfect as it can possibly be. I want to wait until there is no ounce of me left that has anything self-centered to experience.”

“[The seers call him wise] whose every attempt is free, without any desire for gain, without any selfishness.”

“Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

“Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.”

“Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do. No sooner do we perform a good action than we begin to desire credit for it. No sooner do we give money to some charity than we want to see our names blazoned in the papers. Misery must come as the result of such desires.”

“We become forgetful of the ego when we think of the body as dedicated to the service of others - the body with which most complacently we identify the ego.”