"Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have."
- Margaret Mead
Empowerment
"Regardless of what challenge you are facing right now, know that it has not come to stay. It has come to pass. During these times, do what you can with what you have, and ask for help if needed. Most importantly, never surrender. Put things in perspective. Take care of yourself. Find ways to replenish your energy, strengthen your faith, and fortify yourself from the inside out."
- Les Brown
Courage
"There are only four kinds of people in the world: Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver."
- Rosalyn Carter
Family
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
- Lao Tzu
Courage
"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
- Carl W. Buechner
Education
"Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know possible."
- Tia Walker
Compassion
"My caregiver mantra is to remember: the only control you have is over the changes you choose to make."
- Nancy L. Kriseman
Self-awareness
"To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors."
- Tia Walker
Compassion
"Be in the moment with them. They may not remember you are there, but YOU do."
- Joyce O. C.
Presence
"What I would say to my Dad on a bad dementia day, ‘We do better when we work together.’ I needed his help to be able to help him."
- Colleen K. G.
Teamwork
"Like airplane passengers, let’s not forget to put on our own oxygen masks first … we are no good to our loved ones if we collapse under the strain."
- Peter B.
Self-care
"You can stress about things out of your control, or you can turn them over to God. When you release things because there is nothing you can do, you turn them over to someone who has a bigger plan and a bigger control than you."
- Amy A.
Faith
"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love."
- Hubert H. Humphrey
Love
"The simple act of caring is heroic."
- Edward Albert
Compassion
"The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else."
- Carson McCullers
Compassion
"Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters."
- Amy Leigh Mercree
Compassion
"Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know was possible."
- Tia Walker
Compassion
"Be determined to handle any challenge in a way that will make you grow."
- Les Brown
Determination
"Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway."
- Emory Austin
Positivity
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the things which you think you cannot do."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage
"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing."
- Mother Teresa
Compassion
"Family is not an important thing. It’s everything."
- Michael J. Fox
Family
"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."
- Leo Buscaglia
Compassion
"The simple act of caring is HEROIC."
- Edward Albert
Courage
"Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves."
- Mason D. Wescott
Compassion
"Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is an attitude."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Forgiveness
"Although the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. That’s why I became a nurse."
- Diane McKenty
Service
"No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
- Lee Iacocca
Family
"One person caring about another represents life’s greatest value."
- Jim Rohn
Compassion
"Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy."
- Chogyam Trungpa
Compassion
"God gave burdens; he also gave shoulders."
- Yiddish Proverb
Resilience
"No matter what the relationship was between the parent and child—whatever it was—this is going to be extremely challenging because it is not logical. There’s no way to deal with it rationally or directly. You don’t reason it out. What I’ve said to so many people is: we always must lead with our love."
- Dr. Stephen Hoag
Love
"Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today."
- Amy Leigh Mercree
Compassion
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
- Dalai Lama
Compassion
"Doctors diagnose, nurses heal and caregivers make sense of it all."
- Brett H. Lewis
Service
"It is not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it."
- Lena Horne
Resilience
"Caring for our seniors is perhaps the greatest responsibility we have. Those who walked before us have given us so much and made possible the life we all enjoy."
- Senator John Hoeven
Responsibility
"When we truly care for ourselves, it becomes possible to care far more profoundly about other people. The more alert and sensitive we are to our own needs, the more loving and generous we can be toward others."
- Eda LeShan
Self-care
"Sometimes our work as caregivers is not for the faint of heart. But, you will never know what you’re made of until you step into the fire. Step bravely."
- Deborah A. Beasley
Courage
"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
- Mother Teresa
Generosity
"Offering care means being a companion, not a superior. It doesn’t matter whether the person we are caring for is experiencing cancer, the flu, dementia, or grief. If you are a doctor or surgeon, your expertise and knowledge comes from a superior position. But when our role is to be providers of care, we should be there as equals."
- Judy Cornish
Service
"When you’re a caregiver, you need to realize that you’ve got to take care of yourself, because, not only are you going to have to rise to the occasion and help someone else, but you have to model for the next generation."
- Naomi Judd
Self-care
"Affirmations are our mental vitamins, providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events and thoughts we experience daily."
- Tia Walker
Positivity
"Put one foot in front of the other, no matter what. Enjoy the hilltop views, have courage in the valleys, pay attention to the bends in the road, cry when you have to, laugh when you can, be helpful to others, share your joys as well as your sorrows, and remember that God created you for a purpose."
- Eleanor Brownn
Personal Growth
"In life, you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load. When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens everyone is struggling with."
- Brian Tracy
Compassion
"Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another’."
- Peggy Speers
Love
"Of all the lessons I’ve learned through my years of caregiving, the most important is to keep the love connection going. Just tell them that you love them again and again and again. You will never say it too much, ever."
- Joan Lunden
Love
"Although the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life."
- Diane McKenty
Service
"Love seeks only one thing: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward."
- Thomas Merton
Love
"Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are."
- Bernice Johnson Reagon
Personal Growth
"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside."
- Denis Waitley
Compassion
"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same."
- Francesca Riegler
Happiness
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."
- Grenville Kleiser
Happiness
"Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed, that’s all who ever have."
- Margaret Mead
Empowerment
"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing."
- Mother Teresa
Compassion
"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another."
- Dalai Lama
Peace
"Caregiving leaves its mark on us. No matter what we do to prepare ourselves the hole left behind looms large."
- Dale L. Baker
Compassion
"There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver."
- Rosalyn Carter
Awareness
"This is something caregivers have to understand: you have to ask for help. You have to realize that you deserve to ask for help. Because you need to keep working on your own life."
- Gail Sheehy
Self-care
"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better."
- Pauline R. Keezer
Empowerment
"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind."
- Bruce Lee
Resilience
"Humankind has not woven the web of life… All things connect."
- Chief Seattle
Connection to Earth
"If you’re someone people count on, particularly in the difficult moments, that’s the sign of a life lived honorably."
- Rachel Maddow
Integrity
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."
- Helen Keller
Love
"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."
- E. E. Cummings
Well-being
"And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick together."
- Robert Fulghum
Relationships
"It is so important, as a caregiver, not to become so enmeshed in your role that you lose yourself."
- Dana Reeve
Self-care
"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."
- Anne Lamott
Self-care
"Self-care is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Your well-being matters."
- Audre Lorde
Self-care
"Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow."
- Eleanor Brownn
Self-care
"Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean me first, it means me too."
- L.R. Knost
Self-care
"Nurturing yourself is not selfish—it’s essential to your survival and your well-being."
- Renée Peterson Trudeau
Self-care
"Caregiving is a constant learning experience. Most of us are untrained and learning as we go. Remain positive and stay on your path."
- Vivian Frazier
Personal Growth
"Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness."
- Harold Kushner
Happiness
"You have two hands. One to help yourself, and one to help others."
- Audrey Hepburn
Service
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
- Aesop
Compassion
"The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least."
- Booker T. Washington
Happiness
"Don’t wait until everything is just right… With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger."
- Mark Victor Hansen
Strength
"Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are."
- Bernice Johnson Reagon
Personal Growth
"There is no education like adversity."
- Benjamin Disraeli
Learning from Mistakes
"We can all make a difference in the lives of others in need, because it is the most simple of gestures that make the most significant of differences."
- Miya Yamanouchi
Contribution
"Never underestimate your problem or your ability to deal with it."
- Robert H. Schuller
Courage
"Patience and fortitude conquer all things."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Resilience
"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed."
- David Viscott
Courage
"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things."
- Norman Vincent Peale
Belief in Self
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
- Lao Tzu
Transformation
"Most of us are pretty good at keeping promises to others and pretty bad at keeping promises to ourselves."
- Lawrence LeShan
Self-awareness
"Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the dealing with it."
- Randall
Courage
"While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us."
- Benjamin Franklin
Inner Peace
"Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune."
- William James
Resilience
"A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose, a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve."
- John Maxwell
Goals
"When you visit someone’s CaringBridge website, send Well Wishes. That’s huge. It cheers you on … you see that people are there with you, through the heartache."
- Molly S.
Connection to Earth
"Take comfort in knowing you don’t need to fill up the silence to have a visit be meaningful."
- Margaret S.
Presence
"A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything."
- Irish Proverb
Healing
"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for."
Self-esteem
"You are appreciated more than words can say, and your work is valued beyond measure."
Gratitude
"You are not alone on this journey. Your love and care make a difference."
Empowerment
"Taking care of yourself is part of taking care of others."
Self-care
"Strength grows in the moments when you think you can't go on but you keep going anyway."
Strength
"Caregiving has no second agendas or hidden motives. The care is given from love for the joy of giving without expectation."
Compassion
"To love a person is to see all of their magic, and to remind them of it when they have forgotten."
Love
"Caring for others requires caring for oneself."
Self-care