Giving back to our communities and the world at large is fundamental to everyone’s well-being. If we each give back only a little of what we have received, we better ourselves, our communities, and our world. Some of the many benefits of giving back are: we develop a sense of purpose, we learn more about our community, and we discover new ideas. We frequently find new interests and new people to enjoy them with.
Giving back is important because everyone needs a bit of help sometimes. It’s also important because we become better, more compassionate humans by giving of our time, our resources, and our knowledge. As these 65 heartfelt quotes about giving back remind us, the essence of happiness is found not in what we get, but what we give.
Giving Back Quotes
- “Your mind expands when you give, your heart expands when you share, and your soul expands when you are charitable.” Matshona Dhliwayo
- “Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” Sherry Anderson
- “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” Mother Teresa
- “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.
- “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” Oscar Wilde
- “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” William Shakespeare
- “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
- “At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished… it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” Denzel Washington
- “Compassion is even more powerful than courage. Sure, with courage you can conquer a world – but only with compassion can you heal and build it.” Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “If you become a helper of hearts, springs of wisdom will flow from your heart.” Rumi
- “What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” Aristotle
- “I have found that among other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” Maya Angelou
- “Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through you. Always be kinder than necessary.” Germany Kent
- “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Mohammed Ali
- “Giving is an act of generosity. Giving is sowing a seed. The seed will produce a great harvest of fruits.” Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.” Brian Tracy
- “A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement, and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate — these are the folks who reap the largest rewards. The only way for even a putative meritocracy to hope to pass ethical muster, to be considered fair, is if those who are the luckiest in all of those respects also have the greatest responsibility to work hard, to contribute to the betterment of the world, and to share their luck with others.” Ben Bernanke
- “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” Kahlil Gibran
- “You don’t have to be rich to give; your gift can be as simple as a smile.” Frank Sonnenberg
- “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” Booker T. Washington
- “He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.” Confucius
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi
- “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Audrey Hepburn
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank
- “Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.” Erma Bombeck
- “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” Albert Einstein
- “The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.” Helen Keller
- “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.” Martin Luther King Jr.
- “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” Tom Brokaw
- “Help one another. There’s no time like the present, and no present like the time.” James Durst
- “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Dr. Suess
- “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.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” Betty Reese
- “One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.” Malayan Proverb
- “Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” James Matthew Barrie
- “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another.” Charles Dickens
- “A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” Steve Maraboli
- “The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.” Thomas Carlyle
- “Even if you just change one life, you’ve changed the world forever.” Mike Satterfield
- “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” John Bunyan
- “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” Edward Everett Hale
- “There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.” Mandy Hale
- “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.” Albert Schweitzer
- “If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” Will Smith
- “Give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.” Steve Maraboli
- “Not for ourselves alone are we born.” Marcus Tullus Cicero
- “I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.” Jana Stanfield
- “What is hard work? It takes strength, energy, and stress to truly care about others enough to place oneself last, but it is easy to wrap oneself up and selfishly scramble on the heads of others.” Criss Jami
- “The simple gift of giving becomes an elaborate rich aftertaste of a natural blissful feeling, lingering endlessly in my lifetime.” Wes Adamson
- “It’s easier to take than to give. It’s nobler to give than to take. The thrill of taking lasts a day. The thrill of giving lasts a lifetime.” Joan Marques
- “Kindness is all about giving and has nothing to do with getting.” Art Rios
- “No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anne Frank
- “Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable, and peaceful place.” Natalie Portman
- “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” Elizabeth Andrew
- “Sometimes, we may discover we helped the wrong person, but that should not be a reason to stop helping other people in need, even though we were fooled previously. If you want to do good there are opportunities everywhere. Don’t let the fools spoil your good heart.” Nico J. Genes
- “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” Ben Carson
- “As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.” Mary Anne Radmacher
- “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” Napoleon Hill
- “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” Mother Teresa
- Lift up your eyes and see the good in the world, for we are people with an amazing capacity to do great good. And if only the minority choose to exercise this capacity to the smallest degree, oh how wondrous and sweet the deeds performed at but a few hands!” Richelle E. Goodrich
- “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” St. Francis of Assisi
- “Doing something for yourself gives motivation but doing something for others gives meaning.” Maxime Lagacé
- “The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” John E. Southard
Summary
We are each given the opportunity to choose some things about our lives. Giving back is a choice that many make, even when they have little. You might ask how you can give back. There are as many ways to give back as there are people in the world. Donate unused items, volunteer, share your financial resources or your knowledge.
We hope these 65 heartfelt quotes about giving back have inspired you to find your own way to give back to your community and your world.
I’m Alice Judy and AnQuotes is a fun hobby for me. We know that everyone loves a great quote and our mission here is simple – to be the best and most interesting quote site in the world! If you have quotes you would like us to cover, please contact us.
