Life is filled with colors of different intensities. Some see every day through rose-colored glasses, where everything is perfect and working in the way it was meant to be, with no problems. To others, it is more grayish and in these times, there are a lot of people who usually read up on some volunteer quotes and go help others out. Quotes about volunteering not only inspire you to help the ones in need, but also help the people who are volunteering already. Since we live on this planet together, volunteering is a good way of adding more to society, even through the power of words.
Volunteering can take many shapes and forms, from helping people as individuals to helping certain groups of people in need. The people involved in them are all there for one common purpose - to help others. A volunteer quote from time to time can bring in more people and maybe boost the spirits of the current volunteer team. While the activity is commonly talked about, one can’t forget the quotes about volunteers, the people that make the thing whole. Using both, not only could you raise the benefits of volunteering, but also praise the process that helps it succeed. Volunteerism quotes are universal - you can hardly go wrong with them.
There are a lot of organizations oriented toward volunteering, so it is not strange that the same volunteering quotes are thrown around by the new and old recruits. While one quote about volunteering might work for one group of people, for others, it might not be enough. With some awesome quotes below to read, there might be one that could encourage the volunteer in you to rise. If one quote resonates with you - upvote it. And if you’ve already heard it being used, comment down below where and how it was used!
This post may include affiliate links.
“You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
“You make me teach it to someone else and I will never forget it.” - kitten levels tokyo
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
“It is not enough to be compassionate – you must act.” – Dalai Lama
“Every person can make a difference, and every person should try.” – John F. Kennedy
“There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” – Abraham Lincoln
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” — Audrey Hepburn
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Gandhi
“The quality of your life will be determined by the quality of your contribution. When you work to improve the lives of others, your life improves automatically.” – Kurek Ashley
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Theresa
“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” – James Matthew Barrie
“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.” – Albert Schweitzer
“You can study government and politics in school, but the best way to really understand the process is to volunteer your time.” – Rob McKenna
“I’ve learnt that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” – Maya Angelou
Plus you would never be able to use a zipper with catcher’s mitts on both hands… so, good advice!
“Never underestimate your ability to make someone else’s life better – even if you never know it.” – Greg Louganis
“Three keys to more abundant living: caring about others, daring for others, sharing with others.” – William Arthur Ward
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart.” – Elizabeth Andrew
“Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds.” – William J. Clinton
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” – Nelson Henderson
“Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” — William Shakespeare
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
“Help one another. There’s no time like the present, and no present like the time.” – James Durst
“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
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.”
“Volunteering creates a national character in which the community and the nation take on a spirit of compassion, comradeship, and confidence.” – Brian O’Connell
“Volunteering to help others is the right thing to do, and it also boosts personal happiness.” – Gretchen Rubin
“The heart of a volunteer is never measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.” – DeAnn Hollis
“How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.” – James Cash Penney
“Volunteering is so pervasive it’s invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.” – Susan J. Ellis
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” – Barack Obama
“In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.” – Antoine de Sainte-Exupery
“It’s okay to admit what you don’t know. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s more than okay to listen to the people you lead – in fact, it’s essential.” – Mary Barra
“Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver. And our world could stand to be a little kinder and braver.” – Brené Brown
“Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help.” – Heather French Henry
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” – Herman Melville
“I urge young people to consider public service, whether they do it now by volunteering in their community or prepare for public service as an adult.” – John Walters
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” – Kahlil Gibran
“There is no better exercise for your heart than reaching down and helping to lift someone up.” – Bernard Meltzer
“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.” — Kofi Annan
“You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.” – Seth Parker
“The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.” — Helen Keller
“While earning your daily bread, be sure you share a slice with those less fortunate.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“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
“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
“The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.” – Thomas Carlyle
“Volunteers will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no volunteers.” – Ken Wyman
“Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.” – David Thomas
“The most truly generous persons are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward.” – Carol Ryrie Brink
“From my early school days, I was brought up with the belief that we have a duty to use our talents, to volunteer and to make a contribution.” – Michael Hintze
“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” – Kahlil Gibran
“The day you find out who you are is when you look back and realize that it was never the words, rather your actions that defined you.” – Shannon L. Alder
“Volunteers help drive our country’s progress, and day in and day out, they make extraordinary sacrifices to expand promise and possibility.” – Barack Obama
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
“Volunteer. Sometimes the jobs no one wants conceal big opportunities.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Giving is not just about making a donation, it’s about making a difference.” – Kathy Calvin
“A pessimist, they say, sees a glass as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.” – G. Donald Gale
“If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of twenty million full-time volunteers.” – Whoopi Goldberg
“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” – Marianne Williamson
“Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.” – Helen Dyer
“Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.” – Ashleigh Brilliant
“The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.” – Ann Patchett
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
“It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.” – 14th Dalai Lama
“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
“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
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” – Sherry Anderson
“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
“The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter– to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.” – Leo Rosten
“If you want to touch the past, touch a rock. If you want to touch the present, touch a flower. If you want to touch the future, touch a life.”
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” – John E. Southard
“The broadest, and maybe the most meaningful definition of volunteering: Doing more than you have to because you want to, in a cause you consider good.” – Ivan Scheier
“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” – Betty Reese
“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan
“The greatest poverty that can afflict the human spirit is the loss of a generous heart. You will know that success has slipped away when your passion for helping others grows cold.” – Bill Lane Doulos
“Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.” – Mother Teresa
“A single act of kindness is like a drop of oil on a patch of dry skin—seeping, spreading, and affecting more than the original need.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
“Whatever community organization, whether it’s a women’s organization, or fighting for racial justice… you will get satisfaction out of doing something to give back to the community that you never get in any other way.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” – Henry Drummond
“As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“It’s impossible to be involved in all situations, but there’s no excuse not to be involved in something, somewhere, somehow, with someone.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
“Volunteer activities can foster enormous leadership skills. The nonprofit professional volunteer world is a laboratory for self-realization.” – Madeleine Kunin
“A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit.” – Greek Proverb
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” – Sally Koch
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss
“Some people will always be volunteers to explore, and it is, in my mind, a privilege.” – Julie Payette
“One of the gratuities about being a director is that you can volunteer yourself out of difficult details.” – Steven Spielberg
“Many people (who go to her as volunteers) have found peace, joy and unity in their families by helping the poor.” – Mother Teresa
“If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.” – Arabic Proverb
