Volunteer Quotes from Ones
Who've "Been There"

Here are some great volunteer quotes to remind us all about the magic of volunteering.

First, a volunteer quote from Harry Chapin, a folk/rock artist, one of my favourite musicians and a big believer in the power of volunteering:

Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people.

From Saint Francis of Assisi:

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.

From author Loretta Girzaitis:

If someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers a kind word of encouragement, or attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen.

From jazz musician and humanitarian Quincy Jones:

Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing.

From theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician Albert Schweitzer:

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.

Another of my favourite volunteer quotes, from philosopher and priest Pierre Teilhard De Chardin:

The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one's self to others.

From Mother Theresa:

It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing.

From inspirational author Leo Buscaglia:

Too often we underestimate 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.

From political philosopher Thomas Jefferson:

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

And finally ...

No man or woman, even of the humblest sort, can really be strong, gentle, pure and good without the world being better for it; without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness...

... from clergyman and author Phillips Brooks.

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