Service Quotes

"The motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be an outgoing motive. Service, of course--service. Giving, not getting. Your motive must be good if your work is to have good effect. The secret of life is being of service."

- Peace Pilgrim

"Always try to serve others. Don't even call it helping, call it service because you are benefited by that. If someone begs from you and you give them something, you shouldn't think you are helping them. Instead, he or she is helping you."

- Satchidananda

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no person can sincerely try to help another without helping him or herself. Serve and you shall be served. If you love and serve people, you cannot, by any hiding or stratagem, escape the remuneration."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The most satisfactory thing in all this earthly life is to be able to serve our fellow-beings—first, those who are bound to us by ties of love, then the wider circle of fellow-townsmen, fellow-countrymen, or fellow-men. To be of service is a solid foundation for contentment in this world."

- Charles W. Eliot

"Service to others is a creative process that releases energy which can manifest itself in many ways and bring deeper meaning into your life. When we love deeply enough, coupled with the desire to be helpful to those around us and to our world, we often find fulfillment and true closeness with others that can satisfy our desire to reach the heart of them."

- John Marks Templeton

"The value of all service lies in the spirit in which you serve and not in the importance or magnitude of the service. Even the lowliest task or deed is made holy, joyous, and prosperous when it is filled with love."

- Charles Fillmore

"The more you care about others, the more confidently you act. There is nothing you cannot do, no defeat you cannot survive, no fear you cannot overcome, when you are concentrated heart and soul in helping others."

- Robert O'Brien

"One of the great underlying principles governing our life is service. Most of us have to work, but do we serve? Do we work in a spirit of service? Do we work for Life and our fellows? Or do we merely work for self, in order to make a living?"

- Henry T. Hamblin

"I have faith that the time will eventually come when employees and employers, as well as all humankind, will recognize that they serve themselves best when they serve others most."

- B.C. Forbes

"The rare individuals who unselfishly try to serve others have an enormous advantage--they have little competition."

- Andrew Carnegie

"May no one who ever meets me Have a meeting of little consequence. May the simple fact of our meeting Assist in the fulfillment of their wishes. May I be a lamp In the darkness of life, A home for the homeless, And a servant to the world."

- Ancient Buddhist Blessing

"If you're wondering when you should give to or serve someone else, I believe in doing it spontaneously, perhaps in a shared moment of emotion. Or any time you feel like someone needs your support. Whether you do it all the time, occasionally, or when the opportunity arises, just do it. Reach out and give of yourself and your time. I have seen, time and again, that happiness and enjoyment arise from being of service in simple ways."

- Lucinda Bassett

"To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind."

- Pearl S. Buck

"You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

- Ruth Smeltzer

"There is nothing wrong with being successful in society and enjoying a degree of fame. But ultimately, the lives of those dedicated to the welfare and happiness of others, even if they remain unrecognized, are the ones truly worthy of respect."

- Daisaku Ikeda

"The practice of loving kindness must find its root deep within us. The story is told that Mohandas Gandhi once settled in a village and at once began serving the needs of the villagers who lived there. A friend inquired if Gandhi's objectives in serving the poor were purely humanitarian. Gandhi replied, "Not at all. I am here to serve no one else but myself, to find my own self-realization through the service of these village folk." As Gandhi wisely points out, even as we serve others we are working on ourselves; every act, every word, every gesture of genuine compassion naturally nourishes our own hearts as well. It is not a question of who is healed first. When we attend to ourselves with compassion and mercy, more healing is made available for others. And when we serve others with an open and generous heart, great healing comes to us."

- Wayne Muller

"Small service is true service while it lasts. . . The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun."

- William Wordsworth

"You ask me to give you a motto. Here it is: SERVICE. Let this word accompany each of you throughout your life. Let it be before you as you seek your way and your duty in the world. May it be recalled to your minds if ever you are tempted to forget it or set it aside. It will not always be a comfortable companion but it will always be a faithful one. And it will be able to lead you to happiness, no matter what the experiences of your lives are. Never have this word on your lips, but keep it in your hearts. And may it. . . teach you not only to do good but to do it simply and humbly."

- Albert Schweitzer

"The Hasidic masters tell the story of the rabbi who disappeared every Shabat Eve, "to commune with God in the forest," his congregation thought. So one Sabbath night they deputed one of their cantors to follow the rabbi and observe the holy encounter. Deeper and deeper into the woods the rabbi went until he came to the small cottage of an old Gentile woman, sick to death and crippled into a painful posture. Once there, the rabbi cooked for her and carried her firewood and swept her floor. Then when the chores were finished, he returned immediately to his little house next to the synagogue. Back in the village, the people demanded of the one they'd sent to follow him, "Did our rabbi go up to heaven as we thought?" "Oh, no," the cantor answered after a thoughtful pause, "our rabbi went much, much higher than that.""

- Joan Chittister

"When you make a choice to be of service to others, you gain the courage and sense of determination that will fuel your efforts. With a solid vision in place, you also become less concerned with your individual fear or self-doubt and more committed to taking the actions that will support your larger vision."

- Cheryl Richardson

"Giving kids clothes and food is one thing, but it's much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people."

- Dolores Huerta

"There is a big difference between service and working for the sake of getting something. When you serve, you are not tied to the outcome. You are not invested in what people do as a result of what you do, or what people think about what you are doing. You give what you have because it makes you feel good. You give what you have because you know that the unique way in which you do what you do will make someone else feel good. In situations when your service is not rewarded by monetary or public recognition, you are not depleted or defeated. You are encouraged to take your service to a higher level. You are inspired to pour more love into your work."

- Iyanla Vanzant

"We weaken the value of our gifts of service by adding to them love of praise of others, honor, or material profit. Our goal is simply the love of God, without any other consideration whatsoever. Not only does this unseen service help the individual being served and especially the one serving, but it also helps people who know nothing of them. Seeing this act of unselfish giving, they are encouraged to do little acts of kindness themselves. They sense that the real motive behind the service runs far deeper than the service act and are thus inspired in their own faith."

- C.M.M.

"It’s not about saving our world. It’s about saving theirs."

- Hank Pym

"Service to others is the rent you pay here for your room on earth."

- Muhammad Ali

"Of all the special things we choose to do for our planet, let one of them to be of service to animals."

- Paul Oxton

"Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy."

- Buddha

"An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves."

- Lydia M. Child

"If you get, give. If you learn, teach."

- Maya Angelou

"A life dedicated to serving others is the life we should all aspire to live."