#Usefulness Quotes

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

“We do not make a world of our own, but fall into institutions already made, and have to accommodate ourselves to them to be useful at all.”

“Everything is useful which contributes to fix the principles and practices of virtue.”

“Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.”

“Conservation means development as much as it does protection.A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.”

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it”

“The sure way of knowing nothing about life is to try to make oneself useful.”

“If I had not had so much ambition and not tried to do so many things, I probably would have been happier, but less useful.”

“It is, of course, the merest truism to say a party is of use only so far as it serves the nation.”

“Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.”

“If you are wise, all men will be your friends and kindred, for you will be useful.”

“It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.”

“I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful.”

“The honest ratepayer and his healthy family have no doubt often mocked at the dome-like forehead of the philosopher, and laughed over the strange perspective of the landscape that lies beneath him. If they really knew who he was, they would tremble. For Chuang Tsǔ spent his life in preaching the great creed of Inaction, and in pointing out the uselessness of all things.”

“I'm grateful to be of use. I will not be misused or abused, but I will be of use to anybody.”

“True education is that which proves useful in life and makes you industrious.”

“Mold clay into a bowl. The empty space makes it useful.”

“Clay is molded to form a cup, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the cup depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends. Therefore turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.”

“Shape clay into a vessel;It is the space within that makes it useful.Cut doors and windows for a room;It is the holes which make it useful.Therefore benefit comes from what is there;Usefulness from what is not there.”

“The most complete seems lacking. Yet in use it is not exhausted.”

“We put thirty spokes to make a wheel: But it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges. We make a vessel from a lump of clay; But it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful. We make doors and windows for a room; But it is the empty spaces that make the room livable. Thus, while existence has advantages, It is the emptiness that makes it useful.”

“We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it liveable.”

“Cut out doors and windows for the house. The holes make it useful.”

“I am never weary of being useful... In serving others I cannot do enough. No labor is sufficient to tire me.”

“Ability without honor is useless.”

“A vessel is formed from a lump of clay with care, however, it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful.”

“The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness.”

“Movement will fail sooner than usefulness.”

“When the uncarved wood is split, its parts are put to use. When the sage is put to use, he becomes the head.”

“Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.”

“Thirty spokes meet in the hub,but the empty space between themis the essence of the wheel.Pots are formed from clay,but the empty space within itis the essence of the pot.Walls with windows and doorsform the house,but the empty space within itis the essence of the home.”

“I have known some men possessed of good qualities which were very serviceable to others, but useless to themselves; like a sun-dial on the front of a house, to inform the neighbours and passengers, but not the owner within.”

“Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it.”

“I have found out that though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, yet the work open to me is endless.”

“To be of use to the world is the only way to be happy.”

“Socrates and Plato are right: whatever man does he always does well, that is, he does that which seems to him good (useful) according to the degree of his intellect, the particular standard of his reasonableness.”

“My opinion with respect to immigration is, that except of useful mechanics and some particular description of men and professions, there is no use of encouragement.”

“As with all children, the feeling that I was useful was perhaps the greatest joy I experienced.”

“Usefulness, whatever form it may take, is the price we should pay for the air we breathe and the food we eat and the privilege of being alive.”

“The secret of salvation is this: keep sweet, be useful, and keep busy.”

“Lose no time; be always employed in something useful.”

“Sometimes they're nothing, sometimes they're something, sometimes there's a connection that years later may show up. All of this information is useful.”

“I do not doubt that we would become more useful if we praised God more, and others would join us, for they would see that God has blessed us.”

“The used key is always bright.”

“What's a Sun-Dial in the shade?”

“I'd never done anything useful as far as my writing.”

“I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!”