On these occasions in the past I have said, “It’s easy to make a buck; it’s tough to make a difference.” Then a parent suggested a re-wording: “It’s tough to make a buck but if you make a lot of bucks, you can make a real difference.” So for a time I offered both observations as a final word. This year and these times required still another revision: “It is a lot tougher to make a make a buck these days, but making a difference has its own rich reward.” So go forth from here and make sure that all the riches that you accumulate are rewarding to your heart and mind and to your fellow men and fellow women.
Anne Frank, Give!, March 26, 1944
How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but can start right now to gradually change the world! How wonderful it is that everyone, great and small, can immediately help bring about justice by giving of themselves!
John Wooden, first Basketball Hall of Fame player and coach, (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010)
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement address, June 12, 2005
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, (10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922)
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes.
Beck Weathers, on surviving Everest, 1996
I was lying on my back in the ice. It was colder than anything you can believe. I figured I had three or four hours left to live, so I started walking. All I knew was, as long as my legs would run, and I could stand up, I was going to move toward that camp, and if I fell down, I was going to get up. And if I fell down again, I was going to get up, and I was going to keep moving until I either hit that camp, I couldn't get up at all, or I walked off the face of that mountain.
Elisabeth Murdoch, James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Aug. 19, 2012
Profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster. Profit must be our servant, not our master.
Bill Drayton, Ashoka founder
The more eyes we have on society’s problems–and opportunities–the better our chances of coming up with viable solutions. –
Theodore Roosevelt
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Mark Twain
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Albert Schweitzer
The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
Nelson Mandela
As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.
Thomas Jefferson, letter from Thomas Jefferson to Rev. Charles Clay, January 27, 1790
The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, and we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.
Seth Godin, Seth's Blog,
All good ideas are terrible until people realize they are obvious. If you're not willing to live through the terrible stage, you'll never get to the obvious part. August 21, 2013
There are two lessons here. The first is that the easiest thing to do is merely amplify what a culture is already embracing. The second is that real change is cultural change, and you must go about it with the intent to change the culture, not to merely make the easy change, the easy sale. July 23, 2013
Malcolm X, said by Elijah Muhammad to Malcolm X as retold in The Autobiography Of Malcolm X
Don't condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water, just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won't have to say that yours is better.