Quotations: Thank You, Volunteers!
Some find their heroes 'mid the battle's strife;
The greatest heroes are in private life.
~Simeon Carter (1824–1911), Poems and Aphorisms: A Woodman's Musings, 1893
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls. ~David Thomas, as quoted in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891
Volunteers are America's silent strength. Those who give of themselves in a spirit of unselfish devotion to the needs of others are truly this Nation's most generous, unsung heroes. ~William Arthur Ward (1921–1994)
Volunteers wear work-boots but leave a trail of angel footprints. ~Terri Guillemets
...we celebrate the selfless individuals around our country who channel their civic virtues through volunteerism... devoted to a cause bigger than themselves... Volunteers help drive our country's progress, and day in and day out, they make extraordinary sacrifices to expand promise and possibility. ~Barack Obama, Presidential Proclamation, National Volunteer Week, April 2016, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov
There are two ways of spreading light; to be
The candle or the mirror that reflects it.
~Edith Wharton, "Vesalius in Zante (1564)," Artemis to Actæon and Other Verse, 1909
The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers. ~Terri Guillemets, "Helping freely," 2007
I can no other answer make but thanks,
And thanks; and ever thanks...
~William Shakespeare, Richard III, c.1592
...silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone... ~G. B. Stern, Robert Louis Stevenson: The Man Who Wrote 'Treasure Island,' 1954
Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather, The Business of Life, 1949
Each good deed strengthens our angel wings. ~Terri Guillemets
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England, 1917
How beautiful a day can be
When kindness touches it!
~George Elliston, Cinderella Cargoes, 1929
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him. ~Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965)
Not that which we give, but what we share,—
For the gift without the giver is bare...
~James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan proverb
Those humble, quiet, behind-the-scenes people are the reason anything ever gets done. ~Terri Guillemets
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, c.1596
I am but one
But I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But I can do something.
What I can do I ought to do,
And what I ought to do,
God helping me, I will do.
~Anonymous, in The Standard, 1902
No man stands so straight as one who stoops to help a child. ~James J. Davis, c.1920s
In about the same degree as you are helpful you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland, "The Fashion of a Man," The World's Miracle, 1929
If the only prayer you say in your whole life is
What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal. ~Albert Pike, 1860
Then said a rich man, Speak to us of Giving.
And he answered:
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
~Kahlil Gibran
Every action of your life touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. ~Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880), "Address to the Young"
The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden under ground, secretly making the ground green... ~Thomas Carlyle, "Varnhagen von Ense's Memoirs," 1838
For every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action... ~James Russell Lowell, "Rousseau and the Sentimentalists," 1867
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. ~Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1940
There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life — reciprocity. ~Confucius
Have you had a kindness shown,
Pass it on.
’Twas not given for you alone,
Pass it on.
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears...
Be a star in some one's sky,
He may live who else might die,
Pass it on.
~Rev. Henry Burton, "Pass It On," 1898
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~J. M. Barrie, A Window in Thrums, 1888